Started by Robby S, March 27, 2013 · 9 Replies · 2,007 Views
(Well it's like 38 seconds to be exact) But I just thought I'd share and see if anyone has any tips or things they notice. I'm getting much more comfortable balancing on the parallettes, and I can consistently point my toes which is huge progress, because that has always been very difficult for me. I think strength is the main thing holding me back at this point, because I move around much more as I fatigue... as you'll see towards the end.
your back is arched, your hip angle is off, and your shoulder angle is off.
i don't think strength is the issue here. i'd recommend going back to wallstands and cleaning up your line.
Good effort! That's impressive. How consistent is that for you? And how is it on the floor?
I would also trend to agree towards working on your line. The new Handstand 1 course will be very good for this if you can get that.
you are compensating lack of shoulders mobility in different way, from pelvic tilt to arched back. step back or stop to improve the hold time and solve the gap between strength and mobility. then proceede.
You're stronger than you think you are. As others have said, work on that line 
Nice job though!
Thanks everyone, yeah I definitely know my line could use some improvement. Because of a wrist problem the only HS work I can do right now will be on the parallettes, would chest to wall be a better option for working on my line when on the parallettes?
Finnbar: I would say I average 20-30 seconds, this one is definitely longer than average.
Nice work! in my opinion it is your mobility that needs focus.
Shoulder mobility and work on your pelvic tilt.
I was in your situation for some time. I have now worked on my mobility for shoulders and pelvic tilt that is in H1 and it has done wonders to my handstand . I´ve lately felt the sensation of not realy have to "muscle" my handstand but rather feeling everything stacked on top of each other, shoulders over hands and elbows, hips over shoulders, feet and kneees over hips. This has resulted in longer handstands with LESS effort.
Good job with the balance Robby! With regard to the alignment I have to agree with the rest! One anecdote of myself: one day I stretched my thoracic spine, lats and chest, hip flexors (for the pelvic tilt) and off coarse shoulders really well and did a chest to wall handstand. Then I started to kick my legs off the wall and 'felt' the position that Mats described just for a brief moment. After that I was convinced, fell in love with the straight handstand and bought H1!
First off, nice work so far! You have good strength and fairly open shoulders.
A few criticisms:
I am surprised that no one noticed (or at least no one commented on) the slight elbow flexion that was used for balancing.
This is a pretty classic fundamental flaw in handstand development, because it shows that you haven't learned to use your shoulders and wrists exclusively for the balancing. This probably has a lot to do with slight alignment issues, which other people have commented on already.
I definitely think that a month or two of working on the mobility in H1 will dramatically (and I mean that in the strongest sense of the word) change how you balance and align yourself in a handstand.
You're doing great work, but you are clearly missing some very key components in your training that are very clearly covered in H1!
If you pick up H1, I think you will see right away how valuable the things you are missing will be to your training
Joshua, what' funny is I didn't even notice the slight bend at the elbows... Good eye!
Thanks for the recommendation for H1, I actually just got F1, so I think I'm going to start with that and then integrate H1 into it as well. Until then, I'm definitely going to spend some more time against the wall, really focusing on opening up my shoulders and keeping my elbows locked.
Thanks for all of the help everyone, what an awesome community.