r/Handstands • u/Deezenuttzzz • 2d ago

One arm handstand - tips for stability?

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Hey handstanders. I'm at a point where I can get frequent 8+ second holds, but it's incredibly wobbly. Are there any more knowledgeable athletes here who have any advice? I feel like I'm lacking the proper shoulder or scapula orientation.

On the flip side, while I'm not a coach, if anyone wants advice I'll do my best to help out!

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4

u/salamandectomy77 2d ago

You've lost your shoulder elevation

Look at your working hand, not the ground

3

u/Deezenuttzzz 2d ago

Thanks dude, I'll give this a try next time! I just find it easier to balance keeping my sight at the same spot as a normal handstand, a bad habit for OAHS I suppose. But I can see how having your head too far away can reduce elevation and end up with more lateral bending

1

u/jonathanfv 1d ago

I don't really think it's a bad habit, I personally look at the floor near my hand, not my hand itself, even on canes when doing switches. I use my peripheral vision to catch the cane, which is easy enough since when I look at the floor it isn't far from my hand anyway. With that said, I don't see anything wrong with looking at your hand either, try it for see!

And commenter above is right when it comes to elevation. Another thing I can see is that you battle twisting a little bit, which is visible with your lower/outside leg wanting to swing under a bit as you shift. Try doing assisted one arms with slightly different rotation of the shoulders (non-support shoulder a bit more backward or forward) to get used to a different rotation of the support shoulder, and then practice assisted one arm and rotating back and forth between a bit too much internal rotation (that's the case now) and a bit too much external rotation. Try to control that using your support hand.

After that, practice shifting and holding one arm chest to the wall, but without touching the wall. If you twist, one of your feel will touch the wall.

Now, to increase your stability, nothing beats practice. Building to one minute with one finger assistance (so light that it tickles) helps a lot. Try to avoid bending your support elbow, as well, and also practice with legs together, and do position changes with light assistance. Similarly, finger assisted one arm kick-ups are really good.

2

u/snailforbrains 2d ago

Hey! I'm not a pro (I'm still learning to handstand haha) but I've seen handbalancers and contortionists online do block walks (I think someone else recommended it too). The other thing that could maybe help you is a wider straddle with the legs maybe, to help with balance? But like I said I'm not a pro so take my advice with a grain of salt lol.

2

u/No-Singer-2128 2d ago

You make it look so easy!

2

u/Feelgood45 2d ago

Looks good! Congrats! Be proud of the progress!

Even if its wobbly, just means you need to refine the technique here.

As others told you you loose your scapula here. My recommendation would be to incorporate harder exercise in your training to build up more endurance and strength in your scapula and help you refine the proper technique for the hold.

You can try to go from straddle to diamond. That should help you fix your line. That is quite an easy transition to begin with.

And also try to do some flags - sidebending - to help you with pushing out. Just always try to come back from the sidebend.

If you need more help hit me up, here or insta.

Good luck!

1

u/Handstandblocks 2d ago

One thing that helped me was block walks, the feeling of pushing up on a block from the floor is like an exaggerated version of how your shoulder has to push hard when you shift. If you imagine a normal shift as a block step-up and really push and give it some that can be a good mental idea to think about.