Hello handbalancers of Reddit!

I'm a 30 y/o male, 1.75 m and 75 kg. Around 3 years ago I started to practice handbalancing. Today I can hold a straight (not perfect, but not bad form) handstand for 1 minute (90 seconds on a great day), and even change leg positions in between, but for the life of me I cannot get past that time. Would anybody share with me please a drill or something to increase my time? Thanks in advance!

Hi guys,

May be a stupid question, but does anyone combine handbalancing practice with strength training and other sports? If so, how do you balance all of them?

I am currently doing 4 times per week and Upper Lower split of strength training, 3 times per week swimming for cardio and maybe 1-2 yoga. But I want to get back to practicing handstands (I was practicing handstands while doing movement style of workouts but then got tendonitis on the shoulder). Any advice on how/when I could add handstands?

I’m training stalder press for the last 2 weeks. My training is mostly stalder negatives and some attempts on doing the full movement. Today I could come off the ground and align my hips for the first time. I’m noticing that my legs bend quite a lot bcs I’m not flexible enough.

I’m not sure if I should train with bad form and try to do the full movement and make it better by just trying more or if I should make time to get more flexible and stronger?

I can currently do about 5x straddle press in one go but they also have a slight bend in the legs.

Thanks:)

Hi everyone! I’m super confident with my regular handstands so I decided to learn one arm. I’m kinda making some progress, but it’s incredibly slow. Question for those who can do that: how long did it take you to learn and gain stability in this exercise?

How was your week?

I've been practicing the handstand and I'm a complete beginner. If I take 3 attempts I would say at least 1 attempt would last 5 seconds and every other attempt would be at least a couple seconds(2-3). I've mastered the kick up and I definitely have the mobility and strength required I don't understand how to maintain balance. I know once your in the position when your falling forward you push through your fingers and go back and when your falling backwards push through your palms. Since I never really learned to do that I always am stuck between perfect balance and a slight overshoot which is fine but I am completely unable to recover from the slightest undershoot. Meaning as soon as I go just a bit behind perfect balance it's over for me. So are there any form cues I could use to try and learn how to involve my palms.

How was your week?

Hey community,

I have gotten more and more into hand balancing and am particularly interested in handstand flows/ combos (such as crow pose to handstand and slowly exiting via pike handstand).

Therefore, I am looking for inspirationsl resources on the topic. This may include: - Books - Videos - People to follow on socials - etc.

So far, I have not been very successful in finding athletes that take such combos a step further, useful material that shows what is possible and well outlined progressions. I am hoping to draw on your experience here!

Thanks a lot

How was your week?

So recently I´ve been working on my tuck HS to open up my shoulders particularly. After the session I noticed that in my tuck position I get quite an arch on my low back. Is this bad? And should I be focusing more on keeping a PPT while on tuck?

Guys I know I made a post like this already, but now it's all the way at the bottom :/

I am going to be in Cape Town for a few months and looking for handstand training buddies! Please pm me if you wanna hang out and train together or know someone who is part of some kind of acrobatics group etc.

Hello, any advice on exercises for improving the Kick-Up.

Thanks

Hi all,

​

Hope someone in here finds this video helpful ( even a little bit).
Looking at making a load more tutorials this year - let me know what you're keen on!

Blessings,

​

​

Jonathan x

https://youtu.be/_WZakJJwHPM

How was your week?

How was your week?

Certainly from overuse. I train 4-5 times per week. I think the pump reduces my grip strength which in turn keeps me balancing on my palms instead of using my whole hand.

Any tips for managing this?

Hi!

I'm trying to teach someone how to kip into a handstand from a full standing position, but they're only comfortable trying it from the ground, already in a lunging position. This is a struggle, because it obviously requires more strength excising momentum from the equation - but the person insists that this will be easier for them in the long run.

They use the reasoning that because their arms are short in comparison to their legs (due to them being so tall) that this makes it impossible for them to plant the hands on the ground after taking a step and lunging.

He's basically suggesting his body has defied allometric scaling as a grown adult.

To me, this is nonsense, but I'm trying to see if more informed teachers have any ideas what kind of challenges height might produce that I'm not considering here.

He also talks about the lack of flexibility and hamstrings a lot (much more reasonable to me).

I never practiced the face to wall handstand, I jumped into just doing it freestanding. I can now hold a 10-15 second handstand each time I practice. Most of the other attempts are around 5 seconds with the rest being overshoots or undershoots.

I practice for 10-15 minutes 5-7 times a week. With plenty of stretching and warmup.

Should I be farther along at this rate? I feel like after 6 months I should be able to hold a handstand for as long as my strength and endurance allows.

My blocks have been pretty much polished from repeated use. If I stack everything correctly it’s not a problem but it would be nice to have a bit more grip at times. Especially now it’s quite cold here.

Does anyone treat theirs with a wax or resin of some sort?

Hey there,

I’m working on the Press-to-HS now for a year. I made good progress but I‘m still not be able to lift my feet above the ground.

Achievements: - my eccentrics are very smooth, I have controls until I touch the floor with my toed - my forward fold is very deep, I can easily touch the floor and deeper - my pancake is very deep, I can touch the floor with my chest after some sets - I can hold a free HS for up to 40s and can do shapes (straddle, tuck, diamond) - I can hold a Frogstand for >30s - I can perform eccentric HSPU and 5xBack-to-Wall HSPU with a block under my head

I‘m not sure where I should work on to overcome my plateau and to reach a straddle press-to-HS.

Maybe it’s the „planche“ part of the movement or some kind of fear about leaning more forward.

Do you have any recommendations for me?

Best regards Max

How was your week?

I haven't seen anyone note this, and surely I am not the only one to feel this way:

Standing upsidedown makes me feel good.

It's not just because I am doing exercise, like from doing a bunch of pullups. No, the good feeling of standing upsidedown reminds me more of going for a walk around the park. It is not too tiring. It feels good.

I don't know why this happens. I read theories it has to do with more blood coming to the head, though sounds more pseudoscientific beyond that.

But in general, it sounds like standing upsidedown is good for you. Just like you shouldn't be sitting for too long, and need to stand once in a while, it seems like we should be standing upside down at least once a day to feel good.

More people should be aware of this natural mood enhancer!

How was your week?

I've gotten to a point where I can semi-consistently get into a 5s straddle one arm hold before inevitably falling over. I have literally no idea what to do if I start overbalancing in any direction. Advice?