Feb/102
Handstand Muscles
Today’s post will answer another question from the many I regularly receive.
“Hey I am Stefan I am now starting out with doing the handstand, but my question is what muscles are involved in doing the handstand and what exercises can I do to improve it?”
Let’s start with the first question, what muscles are involved in the handstand? And the answer is all of them.
When you’re starting out you need to be able to keep your body tight if you want to have any chance of staying upside down. This means every muscle must be engaged from the tips of your fingertips down to your toes.
This doesn’t mean you flex everything as hard as possible but you must stay tight. As you advance you’ll learn how to use only as much tension as is needed and no more. This allows you to go for longer periods. But to start out with squeeze all those muscles, arms, back, abs, legs and even the toes.
Now onto the second question. There is a rule of thumb in training. In order to get good at something you must do that thing. So if you want to get good at handstands you must do a lot of handstands. There is no way around this.
This is true but in some cases you’re better off working on easier skills. Do skills that are easier then the handstand itself that build up the same abilities that the handstand needs. For the handstand these include a wall handstand, frogstand, forearm stand, and headstand. All the details and proper progression for this is laid out in the Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart DVD.
Work on easier skills that lead up to the harder ones. For anything else in hand balancing check out the Hand Balancing Mastery Course.
As an analogy, if you wanted to learn the piano you wouldn’t start out with the Rach 3 but instead focus on scales and simple songs first. This concept holds true for all skills you desire to build.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Jan/102
More Questions Answered
I figured I’d dive into the email file and answer a few questions today.
“I’ve been working on the one armed handstand pushup and have gotten one armed handstand planks. Do you have any tips for faster progression with the one armed handstand pushup. I’m at partial ROM at the moment.”
Jesse
First off congratulations Jesse, you are much further along then most everyone, including myself.
I can’t give you my personal experience as I haven’t got to that point yet. But I can offer what others have said will work.
The basics of progressing from two hands to one would be to use your off hand less and less. You can do this by raising it on an object or just using less pressure (like going on to the fingertips. This way your ‘working’ arm must do more work.
For more on the one hand handstand pushup I recommend you check out the book Convict Conditioning by a man who was able to work up to this awesome move. You can read my full Convict Conditioning review here.
“I only started hand balancing because I thought it will make me taller??? I’m 16 and 5′9 will I be 6 ft if I do hand balancing???”
Naqib
This is the first time I got this question. And its interesting. Does hand balancing make you taller? Probably not. Hand balancing and inversion can offer many benefits and keep the spine straight and aligned. This probably won’t make you taller but it certainly won’t make you shorter. Considering that you’re young its likely that you’ll still keep growing.
“I have been practicing handstands for 3 years. I probably practiced it the wrong way because I can barely hold it for 5 seconds. What can I do to extend the life of my handstands?”
Brian
Don’t mean to be harsh but yes you must be doing something wrong. It took me about a year to work up to thirty seconds and I think that was too long!
You must be neglecting something basic like keeping the body tight. Without seeing you do a handstand I can’t advise you better than that. No matter what it is though, I encourage you to revisit the lead-up stunts as described in the Secrets of the Handstand Quick Start Guide.
Sir I am practicing yoga since 1 & 1/2 years. I can do difficult postures excluding this handstand. In yoga all boys generally perform curved Handstand instead of straight Handstand. Sir I have one question, What is the role of our back while performing handstand? Is it responsible for balancing Or Handstand is only depends on power in our hands? Also I am 20 year old. I listened that age is one of the barrier in practicing the handstand. Is it true? If possible Please tell me sir, at what age you have started the Handstand?
Aniruddha
Whether you have a straight or curved handstand the back is not involved in the balance. IT is used to keep you stable, but you do not arch more or less in order to stay balanced. Balancing comes from the hands and also the shoulders. (For beginners I recommend keeping the shoulders immobile and focusing on the hands.)
As for age there’s a few things going on. Kids are better off at gaining skills. They have more myelin which allows them to gain skills quickly. And by starting early you have more time to build your skill. (Full details on this can be found on the Skill and How to Build It CD found in the Hand Balancing Mastery Course.)
They also weigh less and are closer to the ground. So yes, younger people are much better off at hand balancing. But age is no barrier. You can become good, even great, if you’re dedicated.
That’s enough questions for today. Pay attention to the next post for something special. Until then…
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Jan/102
Gymnastic Handstand
The gymnastic handstand or straight handstand is a more difficult move then the natural or curved handstand. For that reason I believe a beginner should work on the curved handstand first and once they become proficient at that then they can move onto the straight handstand.
Working on the straight handstand will take a good bit of dedication as you must learn to maintain a straight body while upside-down, something that certainly doesn’t come natural. As with any move its best to learn it in the easiest possible way first. For that reason we go to the wall.
When working on the gymnastic handstand it is better to face the wall with your body rather then have your back to it. This makes it easier to get into the straight body position. You can cartwheel into position or walk your feet up the wall.
Once you are in the handstand get your hands as close to the wall as possible. Stick your head through your arms. This alone will help your back to stop curving. While keeping the arms locked push through with your chest to open up the shoulders. If this is difficult you may need to work on shoulder flexibility.
Another key part is the lower body. You want to maintain what is known in gymnastics as a hollow body position. That is you tuck your pelvis in. Think as if you were trying to reach your tail bone to your navel and shorten that distance. You may need to practice this position while not in a handstand if it is unfamiliar to you.
Once you have a good position hold for time against the wall. Work up to 2 minutes for multiple sets. If you can do this you have good endurance not just to hold the handstand but to keep your position while you do it. At that point the gymnastic handstand should feel natural to you.
The next step is to transition to freestanding. Instead of just kicking up out in the open start in the straight handstand against the wall and come off a little bit to find your balance. But that will have to be an article for another time…
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Jan/100
Recent Results
A little while back I told you I was getting back into a regular practice of hand balancing. Well, its been a couple weeks and despite holiday craziness I’m happy to report great results.
I quickly did the lead-up stunts found in the Secrets of the Handstand Quick Start DVD before jumping right into the handstand (just like I recommend to anyone starting out). After I hit my goals there I moved on to another series of exercises.
And about that wrist pain I’ve been having? I’m doing something new that is blowing that out of the water. I’ve got a bit more experimentation and research to do before I report on that later.
One of my main goals this month was to hit a 60 second freestanding handstand again. Guess what? I did 63 seconds this morning. That puts me ahead of schedule.
I’ll be telling you a bit more about my training, my goals and how I’m going after them soon.
It looks like this whole email is about what’s coming soon, so I’ll end it by saying there’s two new videos coming later this week.
One is on the biggest tip I can give you for hand balancing success.
The other is on what to do if you want to achieve a straight handstand.
And soon the best resource, short of a personal coach, will be available to anyone who wants to MASTER hand balancing.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Oct/091
Block Building Handstand
Rafael Guerrero's Block Building Handstand
One very impressive handstand stunt is to raise yourself off the ground by block building.
Start in a handstand with a stack of bricks or similar objects nearby. Shift over to one hand and grab a block with the other. Set that block down, shift your weight onto that arm then repeat on the other side. You build yourself up one block at a time.
This is an advanced skill as you’ll have to be in a one arm handstand much of the time even in just momentarily.
But its sure to impress anyone watching. And once you reach the top you can go down the same way or maybe jump off your blocks.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. The Halloween Sale is going strong. Check out how you can save on all hand balancing and acrobatic programs here.
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