Bodyline form check please

Currently working PE9 and just thought I'd play around (after I'd earnt it of course Coach) and see what my line looked like without the wall.

I'm thinking that the shoulders need to be more open (if my elbows look weird that's because they hyperextend quite a bit) and that my hips pike slightly as I enter PPT? 

Thanks in advance for your time!

EDIT:- I've just noticed the massive vein in my head - nice.

yes, hips are piked quite a bit. Also look at how far forward your torso is. If you drew a straight line from the palm to the toes, you can see on what side a large part of your weight is.

Also...your hands are on two different surfaces. Probably not a good idea

I've noticed that when I do handstands on carpets, my torso tends to lean forward (like in your picture). I don't know what it is about carpets, just something I've noticed from plenty of experience. I spent a good two weeks frustrated trying to figure out why my torso was leaning forward, and realized it was the carpet. A random bit of information for you Maybe see how your handstand looks on wood/tile/concrete and compare. The difference in my own alignment was shocking.

Thanks man much appreciated.

Damn those hips - opening them up while working PPT is tough. More hip flexor stretching needed I guess?

I take the point about the different surfaces and also the carpet thing. I'll go try some tiles and see how I go.

hip flexor stretching will do you some good, and hip flexor mobility too (F1 front lever mobility). I also like occasionally trying to PPT standing with my heels right up against a wall. This is more difficult than you would imagine. But I think it presents an advantage over the wall handstand because the wall handstand by its nature necessitates a pike in the hips.

Yep, different surfaces also affect your balance. Seems like tile is loads easier...except it gets annoying fast because sweaty palms become a problem (I have had my palm slip out underneath me on a few occasions). IMO, a piece of wood sanded down is the best thing to practice on. Hard surface, soaks up sweat. Win-win!

So I've been using a big sheet of 8mm MDF as a base and things are much steadier - and yes it has helped me keep the weight over my hands more. 

Looking forward through the course though I can see that the athlete in SE3 & SE4 seems to have a similar lean. Perhaps I shouldn't feel so bad about mine at this stage? 

Sisyphus said:

So I've been using a big sheet of 8mm MDF as a base and things are much steadier - and yes it has helped me keep the weight over my hands more. 

 

Looking forward through the course though I can see that the athlete in SE3 & SE4 seems to have a similar lean. Perhaps I shouldn't feel so bad about mine at this stage? 

Nice!

They've got a different kind of "lean", see here for a very relevant discussion https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/16857-allandillons-handstand-versus-yuval/

Note though that in SE4 his lumbar spine is sticking out but with open hips. You've PPT'ed with piked hips, and the lean I referred here is in your upper torso. If you go look all the way at the last 5x120 SE video, you can see just how open Allan's hips are in the first 30 seconds (flip the video upside down to see it better), despite the curve in the lower back.

So an improvement I think. Certainly feels more stable - one thing that I've noticed is that when I play with kicking / hopping to HS (ending up with my back to the wall) my shoulders are always much more open. Ah well - too early in the H1 journey to worry about it. Back to the 60s wall work...