A Great Handstand is Not by Accident
Have you ever seen a properly prepared handstand and gazed in wonder and awe? While you might be able to spot a trained handstand when you see it, sometimes it is difficult for the untrained eye to decipher exactly what it is that distinguishes the good from the bad.
Let's begin on the floor, where a trainee's wrists must be both flexible and strong in order to support their entire bodyweight above. In the modern digital age of keyboards, laptops, cell phones, and texting, many people develop wrist tightness or even pain. A consistent routine of a few simple wrist stretches and push-up variations, however, can do wonders in terms of regaining pain-free range of motion in the joint.
Your handstand world can be limitless with the proper progressions by your side.
Traveling up the body, one must possess shoulders capable of full overhead flexion in order to perform a proper handstand. This is a rare sight in adult fitness gyms where bench pressing has become the default mode of expressing one's upper body strength. To counter-balance this, trainees should engage in focused efforts to strengthen their mid-traps and external rotators while also stretching internal rotators such as their pecs and lats.
Lastly, consider the core strength and body awareness needed to balance oneself vertically in a controlled, static handstand. Not only are the legs straight and together with knees locked and toes pointed, but also the abs and glutes are contracted in order to align the body into posterior pelvic tilt. Countless tiny adjustments are made from fingers, wrists, shoulders, and midline in order to keep the handstand line straight and as still as possible.
"A great handstand is not by accident," says Coach Christopher Sommer. "It's from hard work, perseverance, learning, studying and most of all, love of what you are doing." So next time you see a "great handstand" in action, commit yourself to taking the requisite steps on the path towards your own personal handstand mastery.
