Handstand 1 (Daily?) is rest needed?

I'm doing handstand 1. 

Can we do this stuff daily or do we need rest days?  Question applies to both handstands in general and wrist exercises.  I guess it's all part of the same program.

Also, how much rest is needed between the sets?   For instance if you make 5 attempts to hold for 60 seconds how much rest time should you have between attempt?

for the early, non-balance exercises (all the PE's and the beginning SE's), you will probably need to insert rest days. The schedule outlined in the course is perfect, just follow it. My opinion is firmly to start off with one H1 day, and at the end of each 12 week cycle you can decide if you want to add or subtract one H1 day into the schedule.

For the balance exercises, you can get away with six or seven work days, but again, you REALLY need to build up to it over many iterations of 12 week cycles (I am talking in terms of year not month basis). Otherwise you are practically asking for an injury.

Rest as much as you want. 5 second or 5 minutes, doesn't matter. It's skill training not conditioning, and it's better to be fresh for each set so you don't sacrifice the technique.

What I would reccomend is to do Handstand 4 days a week. This can be done after each foundation workout if you do a 4 day split or on 2 additional days if you are doing F7. After each Handstand workout I wouldis reccomend to some Rice Bucket Trainjng to help prevent forearm/wrist imbalances/injuries. https://youtu.be/dhNDPD4gxpc

So a sample schedule might look like

M- F4/Handstand+Rice Bucket/Stretch

T-F3/Handstand+Rice Bucket

W- Stretch

Th- F4/Handstand+Rice Bucket

F-F3/Handstand+Rice Bucket/Stretch

S- Movement

Obviously this might be too much for you. Find what your body responds best to, and have fun training.

Dylan,

Handstand training after foundation is not the best choice. Again, handstand is skill training. It isn't something you want to do right after you have demolished the prime muscles used in handstand (upper back from planche, glutes from GHR, midsection from FL, etc etc) or after you have done exercises like rope climbs that do a fantastic job at tightening the muscles that need to be completely loose for handstand.

Even handstand before foundation can get very troublesome. As I'm sure anyone who has done a full round of handstand followed by stalders and 20 kg dislocates can attest to

I´ve seen many senior members recommending the schedule proposed by Dylan. If you are doing F3/F4 split the load is not that much. Specially with F3, it´s just 3 exercises so you can round it up with the HS training, that is really short and not intensive (I don´t think the OP is at the mentioned level of doing Stalders and 20 kg dislocates, so that should be OK)

Thank you for the response.  What is F4, F3, F7?  What is meant by movement?  Are your stretches different than the wrist stretches?

This is what I see on the course and what I'm doing.

• Wrist Stretches #1-4
• Wrist Pushups
• First Knuckle Pushups
• Wrist Rocks
• Fingertip Pushups
• Freestanding Handstand (Handstand One)  -- whatever level I'm at.

Dylan Robertson said:

What I would reccomend is to do Handstand 4 days a week. This can be done after each foundation workout if you do a 4 day split or on 2 additional days if you are doing F7. After each Handstand workout I wouldis reccomend to some Rice Bucket Trainjng to help prevent forearm/wrist imbalances/injuries. https://youtu.be/dhNDPD4gxpc

So a sample schedule might look like

M- F4/Handstand+Rice Bucket/Stretch
T-F3/Handstand+Rice Bucket
W- Stretch
Th- F4/Handstand+Rice Bucket
F-F3/Handstand+Rice Bucket/Stretch
S- Movement

Obviously this might be too much for you. Find what your body responds best to, and have fun training.

Where do you see a 12 week cycle?  I don't see any schedule outlined in the course.  Only progressions.

Micawberian said:

for the early, non-balance exercises (all the PE's and the beginning SE's), you will probably need to insert rest days. The schedule outlined in the course is perfect, just follow it. My opinion is firmly to start off with one H1 day, and at the end of each 12 week cycle you can decide if you want to add or subtract one H1 day into the schedule.
 

Ah, haha, yea I never know where people are at in which course since sometimes people can be really far in foundation compared to handstand. I think though, my advice is something to keep in mind definitely for when people progress into later course material. i.e., doing 5x10s planche variation followed by 5x5 handstand pushups is likely not going to end well for a 5x60s HS. And even then its kind of ass backwards to do handstand pushups before static HS, because you'd have to warm up for the handstand pushup and then warm up again for the handstand. And then you also have the HS SEim's, which some are the very definition of brutal.

Still, even in foundation one, the triceps, lats, hip flexors can tighten up a lot. Its just more time spent afterwards trying to open the shoulder back up to full flexion, which can actually be pretty long process if you tried to do that after a 5x10r HBP PE3 for example.

Well, I guess in the end, different strokes for different folks. But I stand by my opinion.

Not certainly an advice for beginners, but later on everybody could and should be doing handstand training often and basically everyday when one has enough wrist prep.

That obviously would be added to the Foundation training.

Weighted dislocations maybe are better once or twice a week. The balance part as Micawberian said can be done more often when you are accostumed to the load.

Moderator Zach Armijo`s opinion on this

And this:

Zach Armijo said:

The benefits of the higher frequency come with correct execution, also given you are proper prepared to take on the daily practice. It has always been recommended to work 10 min block of HS (whatever your current capability is) a day. I explicitly pushed this on my students every class and say massive results from it where people previously stalled.

 

Frequency depends on the element you are training for. beginner should focus on mobility, weighted mobility of H1 puts stress on connective tissue and you need recovery.

For technical elements more you practice them, more confidence you will obtain. perfect practice makes perfect result.

You will reach the point where handstand is involved in every training day.

Advanced F4 element needs to rest in handstand position. Tumbling one needs handstand. etc.

Where is the 12 week course?  I have handstand 1 and foundation 1 but can't find the 12 week program....

I'm a beginner for handstand that does partner acrobatics.  I'm trying go from low hand to hand to extended hand to hands which is basically a handstand on top of a handstand.  I'm going to Partner Acrobatics school for 5 weeks and need to train my butt off.

Alessandro Mainente said:

Frequency depends on the element you are training for. beginner should focus on mobility, weighted mobility of H1 puts stress on connective tissue and you need recovery.

 

 

Jon17 said:

Thank you for the response.  What is F4, F3, F7?  What is meant by movement?  Are your stretches different than the wrist stretches?

 

This is what I see on the course and what I'm doing.

 

• Wrist Stretches #1-4
• Wrist Pushups
• First Knuckle Pushups
• Wrist Rocks
• Fingertip Pushups
• Freestanding Handstand (Handstand One)  -- whatever level I'm at.

 

 

 

Jon17 said:

 

Where is the 12 week course?  I have handstand 1 and foundation 1 but can't find the 12 week program....

 

• . The schedule outlined in the course is perfect, just follow it. 

 

For example, suppose after you finish the wrist stretches and other wrist prep, you start with the first element at Freestanding HS, when you click at strength, you see the video, the pics and the instructions, right?

Then below the focus points it is written "60s Mastery Template" , after that at the right there is a minus symbol , click on it! You are going to see the 12 weeks cycle divided in 3 blocks. You start in the corresponding block to your level. Read the intro articles, it's everything explained there.

Romulo said:

 

 

Your confusion is probably because you just own the Handstand course. Sorry we were not clear but everybody assumed you knew everything else. The other abbreviations refer to Foundation course splits, the stretching courses (no, not the wrist stretches) and the Movement course (so far only tumbling 1 was released).

 

 

Should I buy the splits and movement course?  All I need is handstand.  I'm not a gymnast but only partner acrobat.   (Standing partner Circus Acrobatics)

The splits people were commenting before refer to the schedule of the Foundation course.

If you mean the Stretching series (which include front, middle splits and bridge), well, that is up to you, but everybody can get an enormous advantage from those series, whatever be your activity.

Foundation will give you a lot of strength/mobility for your work as well. 

Romulo said:

Then below the focus points it is written "60s Mastery Template" , after that at the right there is a minus symbol , click on it!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

So I see the text below.  But it doesn't say how many days a week we can do this.  Is it every day?

Week 1 = 3x12s

Week 2 = 5x12s

Week 3 = 3x24s

Week 4 = 3x12s (deload)

Week 5 = 4x24s

Week 6 = 4x36s

Week 7 = 5x36s

Week 8 = 5x18s (deload)

Week 9 = 4x48s

Week 10 = 4x60s

Week 11 = 5x60s

Week 12 = 5x30s (deload)

Now we come back to your initial question that was already answered

That is relative to your level, as everybody already answered. If you have been working with partner acrobatics for a while then you certainly have some strength and wrist prep but the fact of not even knowing what frequency you should train might be a good indicator that you should start with care and increase the frequency as your recovery gets better. I don´t know how much strength work you are already doing, so your work frequency will also depend on your recovery from that work, like others were trying to say (we thought you were also doing Foundation, what could give you already enough burden - but you are training 5 times a week, which is a lot already).

Like it´s written in the course, "When in doubt; do less, rather than more. Your wrist work should take place at a relatively light, comfortable intensity. If you are struggling you are working too hard and should either reduce your training volume or continue dropping back to an easier variation until you find a more appropriate level of intensity".

You seem to be in a hurry with your school but if you are a beginner you can´t rush with this. Why don´t you experiment with frequency and listen to what your body can handle?