The Handstand Basics

The Handstand Basics My name is Peter Wraae Marino, and I have been teaching gymnastics for more than 25 years. I am often asked what the most important skill a gymnast should master. I always answer “The handstand.” Sooner or later, you will be doing a handstand in just about every event. Many other skills, such as handsprings and cartwheels, contain a hidden handstand. Mastering the handstand will certainly make learning other skills easier and will help to reduce the learning curve. This handbook contains basic handstand exercises, all of which can be done at home or the gym. The exercises are written in order so you will steadily progress toward a perfect freestanding handstand. Let’s begin your journey into becoming knowledgeable about handstands and the basic skills

Headstand Basics

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required. Equipment for The Handstand Basics

You will need the following equipment:

•Tape

•Wall

•Block

•Spotter Tape Depending on the surface you are using, you might need chalk instead of tape. Make sure to use an easy-to-remove type of tape. Any color will work with the exer- cises in this book.

WallYou will need access to a wall. Make sure there is nothing sharp on the wall, suchas pins, nails, or thumbtacks. The illustrations in this handbook show a brick wallfor emphasis. In the real world, however, you do not want to use a brick wall, butrather a wall that is smooth and allows you to glide your feet easily and without in-jury.

BlockThe block is optional equipment and is used in two exercises in this book. Thereare some alternative exercises in which the block has been used.

SpotterSome exercises require a spotter. Make sure the spotter is at least the same sizeand build as you or bigger.

Form

A good handstand completely depends on form. Training to perform the correctbody positions for the handstand will allow you to progress much faster towardsachieving it.We will cover everything you need to learn to perform a proper handstand: warm-ups, safety exits from the handstand, shoulder flexibility, lunges, hands and arms,technique, challenges, and more.

Open Shoulders“Open Shoulders” simply means that the angle of your shoulders is 180 degrees(that is, they form a straight line with the rest of your body).If you are arching in your handstand then you probably don’t have fully openshoulders. This is a very common mistake that takes lots of practice to understandand master.You can work on two main things to improve your open shoulders.

1.Make sure that you are not arching your back. Keep your body in a slightly

hollow position and work toward being in a straight line.

2.Make sure your ears are next to your arms. You do not want to throw your

head back, but instead tilt it slightly so you can see the floor below you.If you have problems opening your shoulders, then you should work on yourshoulder flexibility. See the section called “Shoulder Flexibility” for relevant exer-cises.

Open Shoulders Using a BlockNow that you understand what open shoulders means, it is time to practice it.This exercise enables you to fix your shoulders open and begin to understand whatis required without the stress of holding up your entire body weight.

Straight LegsWhen you are in the handstand position, always keep your legs straight. A commonbeginner’s mistake is to hang the legs. This is usually because you are archingwhile doing a handstand (bad form).

Pointed ToesThe rule of thumb is always to point your toes when your feet are not on theground.A common beginner’s mistake is to point the toes first when in the handstandposition and not during the kick up to the handstand.

HeelsIn all handstands where your legs are together, your heels should touch each other.

WalkingWalking while in a handstand position is not recommended for learning the hand-stand. In this handbook you will see no exercises that require you to walk on yourhands. Some challenges at the end of the handbook include walking on yourhands, but these are not about learning to do a handstand; they are included forhaving fun once you have learned it.

The reason we do not walk on our hands when learning a handstand is that it pre-vents working on good form. The result is that every time a handstand starts to fail,you will walk instead of correct your handstand.Avoid walking on your hands!

Hollow BodyThe hollow body position is one of the most important positions to understandand master. It is also one of the hardest to do correctly.

Here are the steps to produce a hollow body position:

•Tilt your pelvis forward.

•Suck in your belly button.

•Tighten your gluteus.

•Tilt your shoulders slightly forward.

Allow only your lower back to touch the floor.

Practice the hollow body position on the floor.In the illustration at right, the hollow body position is exaggerated. In a handstand,your body should be straight, with a very little hollow body position.

Straight Arms

Keep your arms straight and parallel at all times. Even if you lose balance, keepyour arms straight. Use your fingers and shoulders to maintain balance and form.

Ears Between Ears Your ears should always be between your arms when executing a handstand. Even when you are in the standing position preparing to do the handstand, your ears should be between your arms. A common mistake is to throw your head back during a handstand. This will result in your ears not being between your arms. You want your ears between your arms because it will help shape the body in a straight line. Throwing your head back will cause your body to arch and prevent you from having open shoulders in your handstand.

Shoulders Shrugged Shrug your shoulders toward your ears. Do this at all times before and during your handstand. This muscular tension will give you greater control

Arms Parallel Keep your arms parallel at all times. If your arms are not parallel, then your handstand will be very unstable. Bent arms will also result in using unnecessary muscle energy to hold your handstand. Have another person look at your arms. It is not easy to know if your arms are par- allel if you can’t see them. You can also practice in front of a mirror to see if your arms are parallel.

Arms Not Parallel

Hands Pointed Forward All of the handstands in this book require that you have your hands pointed for- ward. This helps you keep a stable balance when doing a handstand. Some handstands require other hand positions, but they are used only when exe- cuting advanced handstands.

Finger Spread Wide Spread your fingers as widely as you can. The bigger the surface you can cover with your hands, the more stable your handstand will be.

Shoulder Flexibility

Shoulder flexibility is crucial for correct posture. Lack of flexibility will usually result in executing the handstand in the closed-shoulder position. Gymnasts lacking flexi- bility might not even know they are doing their handstand incorrectly. It is very important to have somebody look at your posture while you are standing on your hands. Many of the following shoulder-stretching exercises should be incorporated into your warm-up.

Bridge A common misconception about why we practice the bridge position is to make the back more flexible. It is true that the bridge does help the back become more flexible, but the main reason we practice is to be more flexible in the shoulders.

Standing Shoulder Stretch with Wall Place one hand flat on the wall with your body perpendicular to the wall.

Bridge Pressing Chest into Wall It can be hard to know if your chest is over your hands when you are in the bridge position. Using a wall you can help you get into the correct position.

Shoulder Stretch from Knees This is another variation of the above exercise when stretching from the standing position.

Press your shoulders towards the floor. When working on flexibility, try to press your shoulders to the floor.

Shoulder Stretch by Pulling Elbow Back

Bring one arm up until it is parallel with your head. Bend your elbow by reaching your hand back between your shoulders. Use your other hand to hold your arm in place.

Safety Exits

Safety exits are important to understand and practice before attempting a hand- stand. They will allow you to safely get out of a handstand that is about to fail. The next pages cover two of the most common safety exits: the turn-out and the for- ward roll-out.

Turn Out The turn-out

is used when you start to fall forward in your handstand. Why would you want to do a turn-out instead of a forward roll? One reason is that the floor might be too hard to roll on. Another is that there might not be enough room in front of you to do a roll.

Warm-Ups for handstand

Always warm up before doing any type of physical activity. Here are some basic warm-up routines to peform before your handstand exercises. This is not a com- plete warm-up, but it is a good starting point for you to create your own warm-up plan.

Arm Swing

This is a good exercise to warm up the shoulders. Swing your arms around in a cir- cle. When your arms come up, make sure they swing next to your ears.

Do this with both arms and in forward and reverse directions.

Lean Back Shoulder Stretch

Lean back as shown in the illustrations. You can adjust the amount of stretch by moving your hands closer or farther away. Hold for 20 seconds.

Wrists Outward

Sit with your legs folded underneath you in a tuck position. Lift one arm in front of you and bend your hand outward. With your other hand, apply a little pressure to the bent hand.

Go into the tuck position

Keep your hands on the ground

Extend your legs

Lift one leg and press it against the wall

Walk up the wall with your feet

Crawl toward the wall with your hands

Straighten your legs as soon as possible

Keep your arms straight at all times

Try to keep your arms close to your ears as you walk up

Both legs should be straight at this point

Keep crawling back toward the wall with your hands

Crawl back with your hands so you are as close to the wall as possible

Only your toes should be touching the wall

Your body should be as straight as possible

this position for 20 to 30 seconds

Lift the leg you are most comfortable lifting

Your foot on the lifted leg should not touch the floor

Fall forward

Place your foot on the ground

Keep your body in a straight line

Hold your arms next to the ears at all times

Every handstand that you get into with the lunge has a technique for getting down from the handstand. The technique for getting down is basically the reverse of getting up. The important thing to remember is which leg to lower first. The last leg that went into the hand- stand is always lowered first so you can step out into the starting position of your lunge. When you have stepped out, you should be in a lunge position ready to go into a handstand again with the correct leg forward.

Lower the leg that was the last one into the handstand

Keep your arms next to your ears at all times

Step back with the last leg down

Distance

Now that you understand how to execute the lunge, you need to understand the distance of the lunge.

Before you get started, you need to do some preparation. You need to make three lines on the floor.

Start by lying on the floor with legs together and arms stretched out above your head. Put a line on the floor at these three key locations:

1.At your hands

2.At your feet

3.In between the two outer lines

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These three lines will help you understand the correct distance when executing the lunge. Remember that not all people are the same height, which means that the distance will vary from person to person.

Do not be dependent on the markings; use them to get a feel for how far forward you should lunge and stand on your hands. You should know this distance without any markings.

Lunge with Correct Distance to Handstand

Using the lines you have created, you will now go from lunge to handstand. You have not yet learned how to do the handstand, but you must understand the lunge to handstand, because you will use this lunge in many of your exercises

Stage 1

Stand on the first line facing the two other lines

Look straight ahead

•Hold your arms straight and above your head

•Keep your arms next to your ears

Stage 2

Lunge forward

•Your foot should touch the middle line

•Hold your arms straight and always next to your ears

Stage 3

Place your hands on the last line

•Execute the handstand

As soon as your kick leg makes contact with the wall, lift your rear leg

In this exercise, you will be the spotter. The gymnast performs “Handstand Facing away from Wall”, but the wall is now replaced with a spotter.

Stand where the gymnast will be doing the actual handstand

Hold out the arm that is farther away from the gymnast

Grab the gymnast’s leg

Support the gymnast with both hands

Spotting Freestanding Handstand from Behind

In this exercise, you will be the spotter. The gymnast performs “Handstand Facing away from Wall,” but the wall is replaced with a spotter. Instead of standing to the side of the gymnast, you now stand in front of the gym- nast. This is not a spotting method we usually use for learning the handstand. Standing to the side is a safer spotting method, because you do not risk getting kicked in the face, but this method is acceptable if you know that the gymnast has good control over her handstand. This spotting method is usually used on certain handstands where you need to be behind the gymnast when she is in the hand- stand.

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The Handstand Basics