Handstand Balancing

Been practicing handstands against the wall for a couple of years and not able to progress onto without wall support.

For starters, when doing handstands where does all the weight go on the wrists? Does the weight sit on the heel of the hand or does it suppose to sit in the middle? At the moment the weight sits on the heel of my hands.

I tried to shift my weight onto the middle of my hands according to beastskills.com but it hurts my wrist. I kept being persistant but instead I damaged the tendons in my right wrist. Not a smart idea.

I couldn't press my fingertips or the centre of my hands against the floor when trying to regain/maintain balance or stop myself from falling over. I'm not sure if its weak wrists or whatever. What should I do?

Years!?

Wrist prep is a definite must for handstand development especially if you are a heavy adult.

You probably also aren't balanced enough since you cannot control the handstand. You will need to spend more time understanding the stacking and line that lets you perform smaller movements in the hands to keep balanced.

I cannot recommend handstand 1 enough. Seriously the best thing out there. Hardly anyone considers the prep of wrist and shoulders when teaching handstands. This program covers all of that.

i've also been practicing handstands on my own for about 4 years and still don't have a freestanding handstand.  the longest i've held a handstand is probably around 8 seconds.  i just said, "screw it," and i'm paying for hand balancing lessons now.  i just started a few months ago, though.  they're expensive, though.  but my main interest in movement practice is being good at handbalancing, so it's pretty important to me.

there are different opinions about where to put the weight in the palm.  some people seem to think that placing the weight closer to the wrist gives better alignment, but i also noticed that jim from beastskills puts his weight in the knuckles.  

Daniel Burnham said:

Years!?

Wrist prep is a definite must for handstand development especially if you are a heavy adult.

You probably also aren't balanced enough since you cannot control the handstand. You will need to spend more time understanding the stacking and line that lets you perform smaller movements in the hands to keep balanced.

I cannot recommend handstand 1 enough. Seriously the best thing out there. Hardly anyone considers the prep of wrist and shoulders when teaching handstands. This program covers all of that.

I ain't too heavy, only 64 kgs. At the moment I do wrist curls with dumbbells to develop wrist strength. Is that any good? I'll look into handstand 1.

This article may be helpful so you can progress in your handstand training.

http://es.scribd.com/doc/40551528/The-Handstand-a-Four-Stage-Training-Model

i had a hand balancing lesson on monday, and i balance close to the wrist, and my instructor told me to put the weight around the knuckles.  

my understanding is that he said to put the weight "around" the knuckles and not "on" the knuckles, because the balance point will shift around, so he said just to focus on keeping the weight around the knuckle area.

There are a few different thoughts on weight placement in the hands during handstand. I prefer a wide spread of the fingers to really 'grip' the floor. And I try to center my weight around the knuckle area. I find if you start to overbalance forward (butt first) if your grip is strong enough, you can press down with the fingers to pull yourself back. However, if my weight drops into my palms I begin to fall back down (chest first) and I can only save myself by bending the arms to rebalance the weight.

Having said that, by your post it seems that your wrists are prepared enough for the handstand.  I strongly recommend H1.

It has fantastic write prep exercises and also body line drills. 

Orlando Hernandez Celli said:

This article may be helpful so you can progress in your handstand training.

 

http://es.scribd.com/doc/40551528/The-Handstand-a-Four-Stage-Training-Model

The wrist placement on page 6 (figure 4 and 7), i don't understand it despite reading it again and again. Do you you think it basically means have your hands placed at 45 degrees away from each other?

I just tried and it seems to work, I was able to transfer some weight on the knuckles without agitating the tendons between the forearm and the heel of the hand. I think I'm getting somewhere. Thank you.

jules said:

There are a few different thoughts on weight placement in the hands during handstand. I prefer a wide spread of the fingers to really 'grip' the floor. And I try to center my weight around the knuckle area. I find if you start to overbalance forward (butt first) if your grip is strong enough, you can press down with the fingers to pull yourself back. However, if my weight drops into my palms I begin to fall back down (chest first) and I can only save myself by bending the arms to rebalance the weight.

 

Having said that, by your post it seems that your wrists are prepared enough for the handstand.  I strongly recommend H1.

It has fantastic write prep exercises and also body line drills. 

What do you mean by around the knuckles? Cheers.

Sailor Venus said:

Do you you think it basically means have your hands placed at 45 degrees away from each other?

Too much jargon. I have no idea what they are trying to say.  I'm most comfortable with my hands slightly turnout during handstanding. And slightly I mean the space between index finger and middle finger is pointing to 12 O'clock.

Sailor Venus said:

 

What do you mean by around the knuckles? Cheers.

Bascially the weight should be biased toward the knuckles (top of the palm of the hand). This is because here, you have more control in the handstand. If the weight shifts to the palm, it is really hard to 'save'  the handstand. But if you start to tip over butt first, you can grip the floor and have more control.