learn the HS entrance or not?

A great deal of time and effort can be spent with beginners on correct HS entry.  However in my opinion this effort would be better spent on learning correct HS alignment first.  Only after this has been mastered is it reasonable to expect someone to enter into a HS with correct form.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

that's make sense, thanks for clarification.

I was reading this old post today and this came in my mind: would it be good to learn and practice an "exit" from the handstand instead?

I'm not still able to do a free handstand, but even with a wall HS i was somethimes afraid of losing balance and falling ( this is why before starting H1 I was doing wall HS with back against the wall, which i now realize is not the right way). Then I spent some time learning how to roll forward from the HS and now I fell much more comfortable ...however it was not easy at all to learn it, I had some sort of psycological problem blocking me!

hmm....I usually bail in a circular motion. if i overbalance and go blind(back to the ground, chest to the sky) i'll automatically cartwheel out. I rarely do that with chest to wall handstands now, i just walk out my hands and walk my legs down the wall. there have been times though where i've overbalanced chest to wall handstands(from trying to pull away from the wall) and i do the same cartwheel motion out. 

rolling out of the handstand seemed more dangerous to me

we all got different demons. (too many concussions is mine, so i fear hitting the back of my head.)

Learning a forward roll and subsequently a forward roll from handstand is a good idea, both for its own sake and also to remove the fear of falling forwards.

Joshua Slocum said:

Learning a forward roll and subsequently a forward roll from handstand is a good idea, both for its own sake and also to remove the fear of falling forwards.

it's not a "paralyzing" fear, just that once when i tried it i flopped to my back instead of rolling. newb. 

i know the sake of it, ill probably just ask someone to help me get over it while at a seminar or if i work upto finally "deciding" to doing it on a particular day after a session. 

guess the fact that i revisited that fear will keep it in mind to do it soon, anyways

Every time I've tried to roll out I hit the top of my spine quite hard as I roll out so I avoid that completely now

Well, I guess there is a proper way of doing the forward roll from HS so that you don't hit the ground very hard, and it depends also on the surface....I started on the bed (!!!!) just to be sure! now even with a single thin mat I'm fine.

I don't know if I do it right and probably have still to improve, but I' m pretty sure this skill will be part of one of the next GB courses, so juzt have to wait.

Anyway, a good advice I received was to bend the arms ( like in a HSPU) bring the head slightly forward and ,when it is about to touch the ground, look at your toes, then the movement is almost automatic (the gravity will do the rest), but you have to maintain control over your core and legs.

On the other hand, I'm a little bit concerned that circular movements falling from HS have more chances of causing some injury, because of the type of stress/ torque on the spine.

EDM said:

On the other hand, I'm a little bit concerned that circular movements falling from HS have more chances of causing some injury, because of the type of stress/ torque on the spine.

it's more like i drop a leg and i fall towards that direction, like a cartwheel than spinning per ce. 

in this case it should be safe enough

EDM said:

in this case it should be safe enough

yeah, mileage varies  

Joshua Slocum said:

Learning a forward roll and subsequently a forward roll from handstand is a good idea, both for its own sake and also to remove the fear of falling forwards.

Yes, in fact, I think this is a bit of a deficiency in the course. Maybe those who know how to roll or cartwheel out of the handstand by instinct don't think of it as a big deal, but for me, it's going to be a major blocker. I'm still held back by the early iMs, so not there yet, but I imagine it will be very hard for me to kick up into Chinese handstand, or even get close to the wall, because of fear of falling without control.

For many beginners, like myself, the course would benefit much by also having instructions and progressions for learning how to save oneself when falling, and getting comfortable with that, before we are asked to stand close to a wall or more.

There are other sources which contain this information though, so I will add this practice myself before I progress, for my own benefit.

Erik Rissanen said:

Yes, in fact, I think this is a bit of a deficiency in the course. Maybe those who know how to roll or cartwheel out of the handstand by instinct don't think of it as a big deal, but for me, it's going to be a major blocker. I'm still held back by the early iMs, so not there yet, but I imagine it will be very hard for me to kick up into Chinese handstand, or even get close to the wall, because of fear of falling without control.

 

For many beginners, like myself, the course would benefit much by also having instructions and progressions for learning how to save oneself when falling, and getting comfortable with that, before we are asked to stand close to a wall or more.

 

There are other sources which contain this information though, so I will add this practice myself before I progress, for my own benefit.

I think you'll find it to be much less of an obstacle than you're making it out to be. With the wall handstand there's really no risk of falling forward unless you're doing something very wrong. And since you've mastered a headstand, you can always lower down into that if you're feeling very unstable. 

And if it does turn out to be a real issue for you, people here will be more than happy to help you figure out a good solution. 

Lots of pillows....

Joshua Slocum said:

I think you'll find it to be much less of an obstacle than you're making it out to be. With the wall handstand there's really no risk of falling forward unless you're doing something very wrong. And since you've mastered a headstand, you can always lower down into that if you're feeling very unstable. 

 

And if it does turn out to be a real issue for you, people here will be more than happy to help you figure out a good solution. 

I think there is a very real risk of falling forward (assuming "forward" means landing on the back). The range of balance is pretty narrow and it is possible to fall in both directions. Especially when learning to kick into handstand, when one has not learned yet the exact required momentum needed to hit the balancing point spot on.

Sure, I don't think it's a big deal, but it does require practice. I used to train judo as a kid and it was no problem being thrown up in the air and land on the mat. But we learned how to do that in a controlled fashion. Same thing for handstands. I am going to practice falling and rolling or pirouetting so I no longer need to worry about it and it comes by instinct. An uncontrolled, misplaced fall on hardwood is not something I will enjoy, and the fear of it would interfere with learning the skill of balancing.