Handstand / Press handstand form check

First time posting a form check (perhaps overdue...).

Looking for cues to make it better. My own personal critique is that I lose tension in the legs / sickle my feet instead of point when pressing up. Perhaps some shoulder opening to do also. 

Any pointers appreciated!

https://youtu.be/5AH5SkCJtVA

Handstand needs some refinement, from shoulders to ribs in.

I prefer the alignment where feet, hips, shoulders, elbows and wrists are in the same vertical line.

Thanks Alessandro!

You mean that the shoulders should be more open, and that ribs are flared? Or am I misunderstanding?

exactly.

Hi there,

Do you consider the handstand in this picture to be an improvement with regards to shoulder/ribs positioning and general alignment

thanks!

Shoulders angle is better them before, ribs in is your refinement.

And yet another one! I know hips a little too piked - they were in the middle of being extended. 

I'm interested on comments about rib flaring / shoulder opening compared to the previous two examples. Just so I can correct to whichever is better.

Hi Marc, about the ribs there are non differences compared to the previous photo.

In order to evaluate the degree of ribs in/out you need to write 2 lines, one on the outer part and another to the inner part. when this distance is close to zero then your ribs will be in.

It requires a lot of shoulder flexion (probably you do not have already reached the necessary flexion) and core adjustment. Personally it took to me years to develop the necessary flexibility to hold the ribs in.

Thanks! Actually that's a good tip with the lines. I'll use that going forward but you can expect more pictures eventually! 

Alessandro,

Great post. The simplicity of those yellow lines says it all! Closing that gap could take years for some of us indeed. Very challenging and worth the journey.

Marc,

I would follow Alessandro's excellent advice and focus on increasing your shoulder flexibility. Now your shoulders cannot access a ROM that they don't have, so it makes sense to work on developing that capability in order to first get your shoulders in the right place and building your HS from the ground up, before you can worry about the gap. 

I think some of us started HS by building the house from the rooftop, for the lack of a better process... This is why I find the HS1 course invaluable in that it focuses on first developing the mobility and strengths attributes that are non-negotiable for a good handstand. 

Keep the good work coming and post about your shoulder flexibility. I'd love to follow you progress. Cheers. 

Nice tip, Alex. That's slick. 

wow Alex, this is awesome

Eva - thanks for the support.

I actually do the HS courses. I had no handstand before. It seems I developped a lot of strength from it fairly fast - going to straddle/pike presses (and a stalder thrown in for good measure once in a while) in a short amount of time. I new the alignment wasn't good enough - hence all the posts.

I find the hardest part is finding a harsh enough critique - non gymnastic oriented folk would call it fairly straight.

More soon with (hopefully) less rip flare.

Great Alex

Great to hear, Marc. It sounds like you've been able to build strength rather quickly and that in itself is admirable. I hope I can follow your strength footsteps! Did you do it with F1+HS? or HS alone? What HSPE/iM are you working on now?

I know what you mean about finding a good critique. I think it's even harder to really understand it and know what to do with it, meaning, where to start. That's the key right there! One thing I've learned in HS is to fix your shoulder position first, which can take some time, I'm finding out. It's one thing to balance with close shoulders and a totally different feeling to balance with open shoulders – even when one has the mobility, you still need to develop strength in that 'new' shoulder position. Once you have a good base, you can then refine your alignment, worry about the rib flare, etc. Otherwise, you enter whac-a-mole HS territory. 

In my experience, it takes a lot of discipline and time to fix our mobility deficits and our own structural alignment for handstands or otherwise. I see it as "work in progress" and don't stress about it. Otherwise, I would go crazy. Cheers.