Looking for Handstand Criticism

Hi everyone, I've been practicing Hand balancing for about a year and a half now and i'll hopefully be attending the New England Center for Circus arts soon for some formal training. I've got a very solid handstand and I'm trying to improve my form as much as I possibly can right now. I think that I've more or less eliminated any arching and my body seems pretty straight to me, but i feel like I'm leaning forward slightly ie. my body isn't actually perpendicular to the ground. I'de love to hear any and all the critism that you guys have to offer, I've put in a picture below and also a link to a video, thanks.

Marlon,

very nice toe to wrist line, a bit over balanced towards the fingertips, but not bad.

What you should concentrate on is improving stability, as you are correcting your position too much.

In balance position there is a delicate balance between enough body tension to hold stability and balancing around

the 'dead-balance' point. Self taught balancers like bboys usualy have a very good development of the balancing action, but

poor body tension. Improving the body tension will enable you to hold the position with less effort, as paradoxily as it sounds. (more tension - and easier)

I hope this helps,

Ido.

Thanks so much for the response Ido, I'll definitely be working on improving my stability now.

Ido Portal said:

very nice toe to wrist line, a bit over balanced towards the fingertips, but not bad.

What you should concentrate on is improving stability, as you are correcting your position too much.

I thought a handstand was supposed to be slightly balanced more towards the fingertips...aren't you supposed to be pushing into the ground with your fingers the whole time you're in a HS?

Also, are there any exercises that can be done to help improve stability, besides the basics such as hollow rocks, and aside from just doing more handstands?

Also, sick handstand Marlon. I cant wait til mine is as straight as that, or til I can hold it for that long.

aren't you supposed to be pushing into the ground with your fingers the whole time you're in a HS?

Ideally you should be balancing on your wrists. The fingers are used to compensate for over-balancing and returning the body back to center.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

Ideally you should be balancing on your wrists. The fingers are used to compensate for over-balancing and returning the body back to center.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I think I might be doing something wrong then... I find I can stay up in a handstand much longer if I apply more pressure with my fingers instead of trying to balancing on the heel of my hand.

Any suggestions for how to fix this?

In my opinion, the heel of the hand is also the wrong place to balance on.

The point you should be aiming at and balance around is where your fingers join your hand. If you fall towards the back, apply pressure with your fingers, if you fall towards your stomach, apply pressure with the root of your hand (carpus).

At least this is, how I'm trying to balance.

I hope the namings of the parts of the hands make sense - I'm not a native speaker