OAHS Development

[Philip Chubb]

So I have been handstanding for a while now under various teachers even including H1 from Coach himself and was working toward one arm now. Here's my right arm at the moment. Anything sticking out as needing work?

[Christian Sørlie]

Not being past the temptation to not lift the arm ;-) I would say your legs twist to much.

[Jordan Bruce]

Looking good.  If you're not already doing them, I would also suggest lots of work with flags (at least that's what I call them).  Flags basically consist of lowering one leg while continuing to keep the other in the air.  You can do this from either a straddle handstand or a legs-together handstand.  This forces increased loading of the hand/wrist on the side that the leg is lowered from.  I found that once I could easily do multiple sets of 5+ on each side with strict form, that my one arm handstand came quickly.  

 

Or, you could just try megadoses of Vitamin D. 

[Mikael Kristiansen]

I watched it again and there are a bunch of details that need to be cleared up to stop you from building bad habits. I will get back to you later today when I have time

[Philip Chubb]

Crunluath, thank you! I will work on that! I have actually been wondering if I should learn flags or OAHS first. That makes sense.

Handbalancer, thank you! I am looking forward to your critique! Do you think I should learn flags first too?

Christian, the temptation! Thank you! I felt that happening. I'll work to correct it.

[Mikael Kristiansen]

In the video, one of the biggest issue is the bend in the elbow which is already present on 2 arms. This will cause you to get your weight towards the heel of your palm. Stretching your biceps might help and I know they do that in Kiev. My elbows are more noticably hyper extended now than 5 years ago, though not to an extreme degree. I When you go over to 1 arm, you have to push through your shoulder more than when you are on 2 so you get your shoulder closer to your head, as it will have a tendency to move away when you place more weight on it. Also, when you push and go to finger support you have to ONLY bend the elbow while keeping the shoulders square and the trapezius of your free arm shrugged. There is a whole chapter of details on this which is too massive to cover in text. This is a detail that most people who teach handstands but are are not handbalancers do not know, and this is one of the main reasons why the gap in skill level between professional balancers/sports acro vs. "amateurs", bboys, etc, is so big.

 

You are also twisting at your hips. This is common and something you just need to work a LOT on correcting. It happens due to various causes and without hands on spotting it just requires a lot of practice and filming yourself to figure out. Yuris seminar will probably help you a lot with this. He knows his stuff pretty well.

 

As for flags, i think you should do exercises for it, but it is way harder than a regular straddle 1 arm so it will take more time. Also I can notice that with your particular handstand and obvious strengths you will bend your arm and lean away heavy from your shoulder when doing it, more in the bboy fashion. It requires a lot of sideways flexion and a very strong 1 arm handstand to be able to do it from only the waist, but by all means do practice the exercises for it.

 

How is your tuck and pike handstand? Are you able to hold a very tucked handstand while looking to the celing/at your toes and a pike handstand while looking at your toes? Also can you look at your toes and do legs together-straddle-tuck-straddle-legs together?

[Philip Chubb]

Thank you for such immense detail! Okay in order.

The bent arm is something I got called on recently. It's definitely easy to bend and not notice. But I can straighten it if I really really think about pushing through my arm. I'll do that more and stretch my biceps!

My other arm needs to stay the way it is except at the elbow. I'm relaxing my shoulder and that's the issue there. Okay I think I understand the gist of that.

Is there a particular way to stop the hip twist or know when it's happening? Usually my feet will hit a wall in front of me.

I would much rather have a more handbalancer/circus one arm handstand than a bboy one. So I'll try not to bend my arm and bend more at the waist. What should I focus on for doing a real flag?

I can look at my toes in a normal and straddle one but I'm not sure about a tuck. Should I work on that?

Thank you for your time! If I get anywhere near half your level of skill, I'll be happy.

[Mikael Kristiansen]

Hip twist usually happens because you do not yet have proprioception enough to know where your legs are at all times. Basically it first happens because it is more natural and intuitive for your body to twist the hips when moving over to 1 arm. Your toes need to be on a line sideways when you lean the legs over, no matter how your straddle looks. Then as you move from 2 arms to fingers support, it can happen again. Most people have a tendency to move the shoulder which again creates movement in the hips. Same goes again when learning to remove the free arm, which is by far the hardest stage to learn to control the twist. Basically you learn to control it by developing your technique and proprioception so your legs get well positioned. Learning to deal with it while on 1 arm is basically about strength and developing your balance so you become able to correct it intuitively. It is a very long process that improves slowly.

 

For flags, are you able to touch your toes on each side by leaning the leg far down in a straddle? This is important and the first baby steps towards flags. Here as well you are not allowed to twist and the toes must be on a line while moving all the way down. Shoulders need to push out hard so you dont lean away too much.

 

For tuck straddle and pike, you should be able to look at your toes in all those. Its especially good to work on looking at your toes with legs together and lower to 90 degrees pike. This is one of the staple exercises my russian coach does with every student. Develops shoulder strength/active flex. balance, proprioception and the full package. Also you should be very free with your legs on 2 arms so you can mess around as much as you want without it affecting your balance at all.

 

Are you able to block walk up and down? Those are a helpful tool for building 1 arm handstand.

[Philip Chubb]

I can touch the ground but coming back up is hard. It's getting better though and I'm sure I'll have it soon. I recently tried block walking. I got majorly humbled. I'll be working on it more for sure!

I can move my legs how I want in a handstand but while looking at them is a whole new bag of tricks. Thank you!!

[Philip Chubb]

I'm starting to be able to hold the position for 30 seconds at a time and my left hand is nearly weightless when I am on my right arm, (left hand is coming along) but I can't figure out how to eliminate the hip twist to save my life. Can anyone see what's wrong?

I took my hand off in case that gives any more clues as to what's failing.

[yuri marmerstein]

Ribs in!  Your line is pretty good until you shift most of your weight over, then look what happens. 

 

Try going to one arm like you did, then come back to two arms.  Compare the line on two arms when you come back to when you started.  Remember the body position should stay the same as you shift.

 

As a general rule here, don't let your legs go past the line of your hands.  This is very hard to control.  Keep your legs straight over the hands or keep them slightly towards the heels. 

[Mikael Kristiansen]

Decent alignment on 2 arms, but when you move to 1 arm you arch, which is essentially what that twist is if you look at your left leg. Both legs need to stay more "rolled in" towards a pike. Dont misunderstand, you are not supposed to pike at your hips, but if your legs are allowed to travel backwards AT ALL, you are dead at the level of balance you are at now. You dont have enough proprioception and power in your fingers yet to be able to counteract the bigger mistakes you will make, and thats why you will need to learn through proper positioning. When you find the proper position, be aware that it most likely will feel completely wrong in the beginning. 

 

Take a look at this. Its a little wonky as I did it after 10 hours of rehearsals, but notice how my back stays completely straight on both 1 arms and on 2 arms. Even when I make a mess at 0.08 my back stays where it is.

 

 

1 arm handstand is merciless when it comes to twisting unless you have a high degree of control. Even though your free arm doesnt carry a lot of weight you are still having a base of support which is around 5 times as big as when you are balancing on 1 arm. Removing it when twisted will make you rotate off and fall. To me it looks like you also need to work more on becoming more casual and free in your handstand. Looking around, moving your legs quickly, rotating them, jumping on your arms by kicking your legs, move fast then stop abruptly, etc.

 

Block walking would also be another thing to start to work on now(if you are not already). Become stable on walking up and down 3-5 times in a row with ease. Get a solid down first and then work on walking up. This will teach you to move between these positions better as well as forcing you to lift your free arm which is also a big challenge in itself. 

[Philip Chubb]

Thank you, Yuri and handbalancer! Remove the arch from the shift, be able to move more freely in the handstand, and work on blocks. I'll get started on all of those!

[Philip Chubb]

I've been trying to fight this hip twist all this time. It's hard and I'm sure I'll get it or it'll drive me insane. One of the two will happen. Is this any better?

[Mikael Kristiansen]

it is a bit better yes. You are still opening your back a bit when you go over though which will mess with you even if your legs dont twist at first. Twisting is always an issue, but you get better at dealing with it. The biggest challenge with it will come when you get to working on removing the arm, as any impulse will be felt 10 times as strongly, so its important that you get stable and 100% aware of where you are when on fingertips. The stage you are at now, is long, takes patience and a lot of practice.

 

Dont let yourself fall before you get back to 2 arms. Get the habit of going back to 2 arms to build good habits. As you progress, press(or jump when you need) into handstand-legs together-straddle-1 arm right-1 arm left-back to 2 arms-straddle down to the floor for example. Building good habits and routines like this will help you a lot in the long run.

 

I would want to see a video of how a walk down(up as well if you are able) on blocks looks. 

[Philip Chubb]

So I need to bring my chest in more. Got it.

I am actually going to buy a real pair of blocks. I have been using a pair of small weight plates. But I'll buy a pair.

[yuri marmerstein]

Just make a pair. 

 

I didn't get to bring mine to Charleston because I left them in New York but they are basically 6 pieces of 1/4" plywood glued together

[Philip Chubb]

Glued... Makes sense. I was going to screw them in. Sounds much easier! Thanks Yuri! How many should I make?

[yuri marmerstein]

Start with one pair, but eventually you can do exercises that make use of 3 or more pairs.

 

Check out my video from a while ago:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pmd6NRJ7jI

 

(I hate watching old videos of myself)

[Philip Chubb]

Will do! And hopefully build up to that many blocks too.

[Philip Chubb]

Here's my latest video. The balance is getting easier but the line still needs epic amounts of work. Mikael told me I need to work more on my tucks to be able to use the right muscles to hold the handstand. No lean presses are extremely hard.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=4KSFLcl5HCE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D4KSFLcl5HCE%26feature%3Dyoutube_gdata_player

[Mikael Kristiansen]

Working on position and alignment with bodymass outside your line(tuck pike) is great stuff. As long as you do not allow yourself to compensate by leaning and tuck/pike to the degree you can handle with good form you are on the right track.

 

No lean pressing is hard. Of course there is a slight lean to compensate for your legs and lower body, but this lean is not allowed to break the line between arm and torso too much. Its supposed to feel like you just push so hard straight down into the floor from your traps that there is no choice but to go to handstand. If you feel that your wrists get more strained at one part of the press, or that you have to suddenly push more from the fingers, then you are probably planching it slightly at that part. When I rep straddle L or Lsit presses I usually stop after the first rep where I feel myself going more forwards with the shoulders. Planche pressing is of course also excellent, but it is a different skill.

[Philip Chubb]

I have been doing the tuck the way you said and it's funny how much it improves my holds directly after. It's a great stretch! I alternate it with some others and the ease in which I can bring my arms over my head is pretty noticeable.

Thanks for the tip about the wrist. That should help me know when I'm planching. I'm sure I need a ton more flexibility than I have at the moment.

[Philip Chubb]

Here's the latest video in my one arm work. I'm a bit dissapointed to see I'm still twisting so much. The worst is I can't even really feel it happen. Any critiques?

[thelmasrussell]

Looking excellent.  If you're not already doing them, I would also recommend plenty of perform with banners.  Flags generally involve decreasing one leg while ongoing to keep the other in the air.