Two Handstand Questions

I have two general questions about handstands.

 

1.  It is possible that I have completely missed this information in the course.  If I have, I am sorry.  While in a handstand, my understanding of the lower body state is the following.  If someone could verify this I appreciate it.  

• Toes pointed.
• Legs tight and extended while squeezed together.
• Glutes squeezed tight.

2.  In PE12 of H1, we start to balance off the wall for the first time.  I've been working on this for several weeks and while I am getting better I know my HS form is not perfect.  While I can balance for 60 seconds I have movement.  My question has to do with the concept of walking before you can run.  When learning something new, getting the basics - simply balancing on your hands in this case - down first, can lead you to the ability to focus on a more ideal technique.  When leaving PE12, should the body be perfectly aligned for 60 seconds without any movement or is the point of this exercise to gain the ability to balance the hands so you can focus on improving form in the later exercises?

Take care,

 

Jon

https://www.facebook.com/falsegrip/photos/a.704509442994931.1073741829.695264553919420/752664104846131/?type=3&permPage=1

 

Found this on Falsegrip's fb page. Think it kinda answers your first question :-)

Answering your second question, you must make sure that you complete every each and single exercise with the best quality you can. If you're in doubt, post a form check. You don't advance unless your PE + iM form is acceptable for mastery requirements.

No compromising, quality always comes first.  Master each step along the way before preceeding on to the next step.

 

If you want to 'play' for a few minutes after your scheduled workout is completed, fine.  But no merrily bumping along thru the progressions before mastery has been achieved.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

My approach is a bit different. I train HS PEs 3-5 together and the iMs 1-5 and wall extensions at a different time. My shoulder extension with a stick is about 10 degrees from parallel and when I reach 90 deg I'll introduce a weighted bar. Same thing with dislocates, stick while improving rom then weight. Flexion is ok. All exercises are coming along nicely. Should I not train like this if it's working? I will make sure of mastering them all.

I think someone from GB team mentioned that for proper shoulder girdle development you must use weight.

Absolutely. But is rom-before-weight betterthan using weight from the beginning?

Did not understand your question, sorry

If you're asking wether it is better to start off with a weight-free stick than with the weighted one, I would say no because I think you would save a lot of time and develop necessary shoulder strength at the same time.

It doesn't have to be a lot of weight, but some is necessary from the beginning.

OK. The lightest metal bar available to me is 1.7 kg. Will that work for my ROM-development work (shoulder extension and dislocates)?

Of course