Tiger Bend handstand push ups...

Hi All,

Just wondered peoples thoughts on tiger bend handstand push ups... any point in adding them to training? they are fun and add a bit of variety but i want to make sure everything i do has 'reasoning' behind it.

I remember coach talking about this once on DD but cant find the thread or remember the trail of thought.

So what are peoples thought?

thanks, Ricky, London, England

Hi guys,

So far there has been 130 views on my question but no one has offered an opinion yet. Have i missed something, is it a silly question or obvious answer?

Does anyone do these in their training? I've heard that it was used in the 'old school' days for gymnastic conditioning but cant find much useful info.

If Coach or one of the more experienced guys here can offer some insight that would be great.

I am loving this site and my strength is coming on leaps and bounds since adding some of the exercises on here into my routine and also heeding the advice given,

thanks in advanced for any insight,

Ricky

Hey Ricky,

Congrats on the progress, glad it's all working out for you. Sometimes posts get overlooked because either no-one's around to answer, there's something heated going on elsewhere, or people don't have time to reply straight away ...and once the thread slips down the list!

Firstly I would say take extra care with not aggravating your elbows, as my understanding of the exercise places it more in the single-joint camp, and that kind of thing has certainly messed with my elbows in the past when I've not been careful with recovery and/or safe progression. In terms of having a reason - does the movement fit in with any of your existing goals? or even merit being added as a goal in it's own right? Often, inserting different work simply because it's fun is reason enough!

Don't know if this was actually any help, but might at least help drum up some business for you!

Cheers,

George.

Hi George,

Thanks for the reply! lol

Doing a great job by the way, especially with the 'heated' posts elsewhere

To be honest i think it looks cool and that was the main reason for my interest and thats what first lead me to training the planche and side levers etc. But right now i'm trying to get the most out of my workouts and then add 'tricks' when needed.

I may just add it every now and then as a variant to HSPU training.

I just wondered with it being an 'old school' gymnastic exercise was there a reason for it or not, Coach's opinion is always a goldmine of info but respect how busy he is and am thankful to any response.

cheers George.

Ricky

The tiger bend HSPU was popularized by the legendary strongman Sig Klein back in the 1920s. It's an awesome functional triceps exercise, and yes, it looks cool . No reason not to do them if you can, but , like George said, make sure your elbows are healthy. Back off if you start getting elbow tendinitis, a very common occurence.

Thanks for the insight JoeS, i wasn't aware of that. My knowledge of old time strongmen isn't the greatest which made me think how i cam about these and then i found this on youtube a bboy by the name of crumbs who does them in his dance.

Thought you or someone on here may find this short vid interesting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u_GZZYobrs

ricky, bboy junior does some great handstand work.

I LOVE doing tiger bends! they are my favorite(and IMO, coolest looking) press handstand. I learned them from lots of rug burn on my chin and reading the York Handbalancing course from the sandowplus website.

if nothing else, they are really very impressive looking if you show them to people who have never seen them.