Chest Roll to Handstand Form check (Training for the Bower)

Edit: Hi, I am sorry. Please move this to Digital Coaching. Thank you.

 

Hi everyone,

 

I am working towards the Bower according to this guide (https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/214-bowers-an-advanced-pushup-variation/) posted by Coach Sommer and I hope to get some critique on my chest roll. 

 

A gymnastics coach told me that this move is 80% strength, so does anyone have any tips to strengthen the movement and recommendation for sets/reps/exercises?

 

 

I can do basic stuff like full rom pbar hspus and a straddle press handstand, if it helps for suggesting exercises.

Also, I am 5'10 and 86kg, and have been training handstands on and off for 3 years. 

 

Thanks so much for any feedback or advice!! 

Looks to me like you need to work on some more basic exercises before tackling chest rolls. The HSPU portion needs work. Can you post a video of yourself doing a regular HSPU? I think your horizontal pushing is a bit deficient, too. Can you do pseudo-planche pushups with good form? How about tuck planche pushups?

Thanks a lot for the feedback! I will try to upload a video in 2 days time .

Probably you need also to fix the handstand, if you want to achieve a correct full rom bower you need to stop into correct handstand position.

If you're curious, here's a video of the chest roll performed with good form (Bilozerchev, 1988 olympics):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElAKBVWHl0#t=41

Joshua, here is the video of the HSPU and the PPPU (

). There is no way I have the strength for tuck planche push ups (I have no planche strength at all as I do not train the movement), but I have tried to do a tuck planche right at the end of the video.

 

The only type of GST I do is skill practice specific to the skill I am training for (right now it is the bower). I don't do any general GST for the levers etc. as I estimate that I will not be able to recover from general GST fast enough to progress on my barbell strength.

 

If skill specific conditioning is required to brush up my basic horizontal and vertical bent arm pushing movements then I guess I will just have to fit it into my practice very slowly (to avoid overtraining as I already do relatively high volume for barbell pressing exercises).

 

alex87, I arch my back as I lack the horizontal pushing strength to push up to the 'vertical push' component of the chest roll to handstand. My regular HSPUs are not like this. However, I am unable to correct this arch effectively on the way up like in the video that pashamur has shown without first changing my body alignment whilst in the headstand position.

 

pashamur, thanks for the video link! Now I know what proper form looks like. Before watching that video, I had no idea of what a chest roll to handstand looked like. It's great to have a reference point, especially when it is performed by a pro.

 

Thanks for the replies - happy 2015 and have a great year ahead!

Yeah, it looks to me like you need to get better at horizontal and vertical pressing before trying to tackle the chest roll. Iron out your handstand pushups and tuck planche pushups.. 

Hi,

 

I have gotten a little stronger and I realised that practising the skill on parallettes is easier due to the elevated platform giving one more room for error.

 

 

Can I have some feedback on my attempts, please? 

 

Thank you!

I am just going to comment on your handstand.  Your shoulder angle isn't completely open.  Elevate your scapula as much as possible.

The handstand form doesn't look stable, too much corrections done while in handstand. Think you may need to work more on the handstand itself before going for this handstand push up variation.