Handstand wall run vs. walking on hands

Hey guys,

I was just reading up on handstand wall runs and they seem to come highly recomended from coach sommer. I was wondering what is the difference between using the wall and just walking on your hands. I learned to walk on my hands before I could even hold a respectable handstand and became quite proficient at it as it is just fun to do. I have done the wall runs and I much prefer to just walk, so is there a benefit in doing the wall runs or should I just continue to practice walking?

Andrew

Well, the extra instability from the movement of the arm will increase your strength, and odds are that you will end up spending more time on one hand when you are touching your shoulder than when you are just plodding along walking. I've heard talk of eventually reaching up and touching your hip as you get better at it! Bottom line is that if you are walking and spending a second on one hand before you land the next step, it will end up being similar. The shoulder touching simply forces you to spend a certain amount of time on the one hand. The movement of the shoulder in the socket on the free arm is also good for the shoulder, but if you do reasonable shoulder warm-ups and arm swings and such I suppose that's not a big deal. The more time you spend on each individual hand the better, it forces you to press with your shoulder and traps to maintain posture, as opposed to a momentary balance.

Wall runs have been predecessory skill training in my coaching for HS walking but also necessary for HS pirouettes and basic strength.

A simple way to do wall runs without HS walking is to do them in place. We used to do these all the time. Ashley usually was good for 50-100 reps of these.

For most beginner and intermediates unable to stay in a freestanding handstand for minutes at a time, the problem with simply walking on the hands as opposed to HS Wall Runs is that the constant falling and kicking back up greatly dilutes the training effect on the shoulder girdle. They quite simply lack both the technical proficiency and the strength to achieve the desired training effect with unsupported handstand walking.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer