HANDSTAND MOTIVATIONAL MONTH 2017! Join us today, and get INVERTED

E

ering

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Welcome to Handstand Motivational Month 2017!

We're back! Regardless of whether you’re just starting out on your handstand journey, or you’re increasing that one minute figa to three, join in the various activities we have planned for this month. Discover why the world is prettier upside down, and let’s have fun standing on our hands together!

This week, we are looking at the mechanics and progressions for the handstand. Moreover, we’ll be setting personal goals for the month.

Introduction/Background Reading
Warm Ups

We recommend performing some light warm up activities to get everything nice and warm, and to reduce risk of injury. Do your warmups, mobility work (especially for the wrists!), and progress safely.
Progressions

Here are some progressions for your handstand practice. Please ensure that you’re comfortable with each progression in the list before moving on to the next.

1) Front Support/Plank (60s)

2) Hollow Hold (60s)

3) Wall Plank: While wall planks are one way to build strength for HS, the goal is to transition slowly to a CTW HS with your shoulders directly over your wrists, rather than increasing hold times here.

4) 60sec Chest to Wall HS
  • How to exit a chest-to-wall HS? Walk your hands out or do the "Pirouette Bail" (Protip: Don't hold the CTW HS to absolute failure so you have energy to exit safely.)
5) 60sec Back to Wall HS
At this point, when you're comfortable with both a chest and back to wall facing wall-handstand, you could do re-balancing drills such as Toe Pulls and Heel Pulls:
  1. Toe Pull & Heel Pull.
  2. Freestanding HS (10-30s+)
  3. FSHS Leg Changes: e.g. Straight legs to Tuck + vice versa. Straight to Straddle + vice versa.
Intermediate to Advanced:
  1. FSHS (1min+)
  2. OAHS Preparation
  3. OAHS +
Goal Setting:

• Improve your form

• Increase your hold time

• Try different entries/exits

• Try different HS shapes/positions

• Improve pressing strength

Beginner FAQ

Can I do this even if I’ve never done a HS before?

Yes! Read the progressions above and find a suitable level for yourself to work at. Post form check videos and ask if you need any help.

But I'm too scared

That's why you start with the wall planks and practice HS bails/exits.

But my wrists hurt

Then maybe your focus should be on the wrist mobility and hollow hold for now, so your wrists and core get stronger.

WHAT TO DO

DO practice getting comfortable in a chest-to-wall handstand. When you're comfortable there, you can start playing with kicking up into a back-to-wall HS.

DO practice your kick up to handstand technique, either against a wall, or freestanding if you're comfortable with bailing out and already have decent consistency. 10 reps per session is a good start.

DO choose a progression from the list that you're comfortable with to work on.

DO NOT ever neglect the wrist warm up. Your wrists are the weakest link and your entire body weight is going on them, so please, respect them!

DO NOT only train banana back-to-wall handstands if you're just starting out. Aligned handstands will make it easier to transition to other skills.

DO leave a comment below with the following info:
  1. Stats: What is your gender, age, height, weight?
  2. Goal: What is your goal for this month? (e.g., Freestanding Handstand for 10 seconds)
  3. Current Progression: What progression are you at? (e.g., Chest to Wall Handstand with fingers far from wall for 30s) What will you be working on? (e.g. Kick Ups + Heel Pulls)
  4. Have a Form Check Video? They are highly encouraged. Every week, on Monday, we will have a check-in thread where you can tell us what's going on and get your questions answered.
Special thanks to /@fromgenesistorevelation for his contributions to the writing of this motivational month.

Happy Handstanding! :)

Handstand Motivational Month (2017) Thread
  1. Week One
  2. Week Two
  3. Week Three
  4. Week Four
  5. Final Thread
 
@lsouza You've been posting some awesome form advice vids on your IG which go right along with this month. :) Maybe we can use some in upcoming weeks' posts, /@ering and /@fromgenesistorevelation
 
@ering I’m in! Female 5’7” older than dirt. Want to progress from half hand stand to full. Courage is my biggest barrier. I do Pilates or yoga three times a week.
 
@dont Courage where? Fear of falling or just self-confidence (both!)?

I say go for it anyway; it's a difficult barrier to overcome although the more time you spend failing can be a good thing - kick over too far, learn to spin out of a hold. Roll if you need to, or even just re-positioning (like going into a straddle, or returning to half-stand) to re-gain balance.

It can be tough to learn not to anticipate falling. It's something you will unlearn with continued practice!
 
@ering I want in! I like handstands, but I was never great at them. And I've gotten a lot worse since I've been slacking in my workouts in general. This will be a good motivator.

Stats: Male, 5'10", Old AF (I retired from the Air Force in 2005)

Goal: Get stronger (hold a stomach-to-wall handstand for 90 secs) and balance be able to consistently kick up into a free-standing HS and hold for 30 secs.

Current Progression: Wall handstand for 30 secs. Able to find balance free-standing only 10% of the time and hold it for 5-10 secs.

Also, my shoulders are really weak in an open position like an overhead squat or a good handstand, so I'm going to work on my pike handstand prep against the wall. Which looks like this:
https://imgur.com/8pC1his
 
Can we log workouts here? I’ll just do it, if that’s not cool, let me know and I’ll delete this...

Monday stomach-to-wall hold: 55 second

Free-standing HS: many tries but only 5 to 10 secs of balance

Pike handstand against wall: 3 x 15 sec

HSPU negatives: 2 x 5 (the last 2 were too fast and I had to use a yoga block for a crash pad.)

Tuesday In the AM, my arms were fried and I could only hold STW for 30 secs (but I did 2 reps)

By evening I held 55 secs again. Did a yoga class and got in some good shoulder stretches.

Wednesday Before the noon yoga class I got into freestanding HS a few times for 5 - 10 secs. Completely failed when attempting a hollowback HS against the wall. Arms (tris) are still weak like little baby.
 
@ering I just posted a video of me singing a 40 second long Japanese song while doing a handstand 2 days ago in another subreddit check it out if you want, but I thought this post was pretty funny since I just made that.
 
@ering Oh, I'm so in, I really want to be able to do a freestanding handstand!

STATS: F/36/5'5.5"/135
GOAL: Go vertical
CURRENT PROGRESSION: Wall Plank
 
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