press handstand questions again

[Katharina Huemer]

So...as you might already know, I am obsessed with press handstands!

I have mastered a few steps already and my goal of piking through all the way and piking up to handstand doesn't seem that far away anymore.

So those are the things I have mastered already:

Standing Straddle Press Handstand; straight arms all the way, almost no lean, wide circle with feet, I can even do them with ankle weights very easily, I could probably do a hundred of those, they are very easy for me.

Standing Pike Press; a lot harder for me, I don't get it every time, but I can do it

Sitting Straddle Press; is like the standing pike, I don't get it every time all the way to handstand, I sometimes collapse on the way up, but I always get to a narrow straddle stand.

L-Sit to Straddle Press on P-Bars; pretty easy, I get it most of the time and I need about 5-7 inches to pike through

Straddled V-Sit for about 5 secs; my shins are very close to by face

At the moment, I am working on:

getting my standing pike press and my sitting straddle press consistently, as well as working on V-Sits with legs together. Also I am working on L-Sit to pike Handstand on p-bars.

I would like to get all of that in about 3-4 months. Do you think this is possible?

And another, actually more important question. Once I mastered all of that (sitting straddle press without any problem, L-Sit pike through to Handstand ON P-BARS without any problem and a nice V-Sit without any problem)

do you think it is possible to master a V-Sit pike through to pike handstand on the Balance Beam in another 6 months or so? 

This would be my ultimate goal. Like a dream would come true. I guess it is a lot easier on beam than on floor, because you can let your feet go a little lower at first and just lift them to get over the beam.

Here is a video: 

But I would like to start in a V-Sit, hold that for 3 secs or so and then pike through.

And one more question:

Which kind of muscles are used for that???

I will appreciate every help!
 

[Bruce Dierl]

From my own experience, once you can pike press through the floor. V sit - pike press to handstand doesn't really really require much training to achieve it. 

 

The thing is when you pike press through the floor and you keep holding that position, you will be in a v-sit. The l sit variation is sort of like 'rest' by the time you pike press on the floor

 

I actually think you can just ditch the v sit (or lessen the focus on it) and just work on the presses. If you are doing foundation, I would say don't even bother with v sit (the manna work is more than enough).

 

Just press, press, press

[Katharina Huemer]

From my own experience, once you can pike press through the floor. V sit - pike press to handstand doesn't really really require much training to achieve it. 

 

The thing is when you pike press through the floor and you keep holding that position, you will be in a v-sit. The l sit variation is sort of like 'rest' by the time you pike press on the floor

 

I actually think you can just ditch the v sit (or lessen the focus on it) and just work on the presses. If you are doing foundation, I would say don't even bother with v sit (the manna work is more than enough).

 

Just press, press, press

Thanks! But I can't pike through the floor, my feet are far too long or I am far too weak...or both

I am currently working on it on the P-Bars and I will hopefully have the L-Sit to pike handstand in March or so. But transferring that to beam is another story, because you really need to compress to get your feet over the beam!

And what I wanted to know is if once I can L-Sit to Pike Handstand on P-Bars consistently, how long it would take to get it on beam and which muscles are used in that more than in the P-Bar Pike Press.

[Mikael Kristiansen]

Learnable, yes, in 6 months, no. Focus on getting to the level where you can rep pike presses from L first and do some extra compression work to get through on floor or beam. To get through you need to have a very strong press so you can lift very agressively at the bottom of the movement to get the hips up. This is what gives you the clearance, along with good compression and pike flex. Bodily proportions does of course have more to say on this press than on any other press variation and some have quite easy for it compared to others. I dont train it at all, but I can do it because I have pretty solid presses.

 

Once you have 3 or so from L on bars you can probably begin to work on it more consistently. Until then work on the regular pressing and play around occasionally with going down to L sit from handstand on the floor.

[Katharina Huemer]

Learnable, yes, in 6 months, no. Focus on getting to the level where you can rep pike presses from L first and do some extra compression work to get through on floor or beam. To get through you need to have a very strong press so you can lift very agressively at the bottom of the movement to get the hips up. This is what gives you the clearance, along with good compression and pike flex. Bodily proportions does of course have more to say on this press than on any other press variation and some have quite easy for it compared to others. I dont train it at all, but I can do it because I have pretty solid presses.

 

Once you have 3 or so from L on bars you can probably begin to work on it more consistently. Until then work on the regular pressing and play around occasionally with going down to L sit from handstand on the floor.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!

But I am not talking about doing it on floor. Of course, this is even more amazing, but on beam it is A LOT easier.

You can drop your feet in front of the beam and just need to compress the few inches of the width of the beam. On floor, you need to have a super strong compression from the beginning on to get through, which is a lot harder.

Also, if you can take a little momentum from the V-Sit, it might be even a little easier.

I can easily do box straddle press handstands. Hopefully, I will have the box pike press in 4 months! And then all I need to get is the V-Sit pike through to stand on the beam! I  guess this is the hardest part...

 

[Mikael Kristiansen]

Work on negatives on the bar then. If you can do good form presses on bars you might have a chance in 6 months, but from what i see the little girl do on the video its still quite a challenge to get through that part.

 

The Vsit isnt a problem. what you need is enough compression to be able to pass your arms. if you are close to getting through now on a negative it might be doable within a shorter timeframe, but rather than stressing it, i would work on reps on bars if i was you together with some negatives on the beam.

[Katharina Huemer]

Work on negatives on the bar then. If you can do good form presses on bars you might have a chance in 6 months, but from what i see the little girl do on the video its still quite a challenge to get through that part.

 

The Vsit isnt a problem. what you need is enough compression to be able to pass your arms. if you are close to getting through now on a negative it might be doable within a shorter timeframe, but rather than stressing it, i would work on reps on bars if i was you together with some negatives on the beam.

I am not sure if that is clear or not; with 6 months I meant 6 months from the point when I can always L-Sit to pike press on P-Bars, which will hopefully be in about March. So on beam I want to have it in August or something, which will be 9 or 10 months from now, not 6. I am not sure if that was clear.

Anyways, thanks a lot for your help. I will focus now on f Pike Press Handstands on P-Bars along with some beam stuff and V-Sits almost everyday besides improving overall strength in Leg Lifts, Dips and Rope Climbs 3-4 times a week.

And maybe I will Pike Press through to Handstand on Beam in Summer, would be an amazing new beam mount for my last meet for the season at the beginning go August!

Time will show

PS: I know the little girl in the vid is also struggling. It doesn't look smooth, her feet touch the beam and her arms are bent - but I wouldn't mind the for for that move as long as I can do it