Acrobatic gymnastics is how we both first got into gymnastics - using your partner(s) as apparatus rather than rings, bars etc. Learning to balance on one another, get pitched into the air to do somersaults and land back on the supporters, and so forth. Like ordinary gymnastics, it demands a lot of training, developing balance and strength, flexibility etc but also trust in each other within the group (two or four, formally, for the guys) and developing a sixth sense of knowing how each other is thinking, confidence in being caught and landed safely, and so forth. Today's post celebrates this style, both with teams who are world champions and also groups of guys who have just got together to try something. If this second idea attracts you, good luck but always think about safety - there are standard positions to catch guys coming down from on top, for example, so seek expert coaching help. Plenty of safety mats around for new starters is an essential. But it is fun, and world champ...

Apart from a sense of balance, handstands (at least, the properly shaped ones) require good core strength. It's always a great feeling to achieve a better handstand (or planche)... Yes, there are plenty of training exercises! Perhaps not the best place to do handstands?     Finally, just check out this amazing little guy:    

Can you hold a handstand for 10 seconds? Aparently, only one person in 100 can do that. Of course, if you have an interest in gymnastics or acrobatics, you will have trained handstands quite intensively. When it comes to balance on ONE hand... that requires a lot of training alongside the careful physical conditioning that is essential to hold that position in any sort of decent shape. And that's where the ordinary gym comes in - to train those core muscles and ensure that your shoulders are sufficiently flexible to get into a decent shape. So we feature handstands in this blog from time to time: not all the attempts shown here are the ideal shape at al, but we do support anyone who gives it a go. And, of course, the guys who chose acrobatic gymnastics as their #1 sport are the ones that go on to do it professionally, as some featured in this post have done. Hopefully, they all inspire you to get fit. As a gymnastics coach, I also say "the more time you spend on your hands... ...