Elbows internally rotated

Hi forum,

I found something interesting and wanted feedbacks from coaches on it.  I've always externally rotated my elbows in handstands position. 

I tried recently to turn them in and felt a lot more my back and wrists working.  Also, my wrists are more limited and have hard times straightening 100% my arms (more like 90%). 

Any ideas?

Thanks!

What I understand from experimenting, reading, and asking —not sure if this will help your issue— the shoulders should be externally rotated (elbow pit facing forward) and the forearm pronated (which will make your fingers point forward, so you can use them for  balancing). But coaches will tell you better, wait for them  :-) 

Yuri Marmerstein, a notable handbalancer, made some recommendations on this forum. I found this very helpful @Suzanna McGee and @Étienne Lajeunesse

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/10303-elbow-position-in-handstands/

@Nathaniel McAdoo thanks for posting that info…  I am glad to read it, as it is really hard for me to externally rotate my shoulders (in the handstand). It feels like when I protract then they feel like they externally rotate, but more than that is really  hard. @Étienne Lajeunesse what is your experience? 

10 hours ago, Nathaniel McAdoo said:

Yuri Marmerstein, a notable handbalancer, made some recommendations on this forum. I found this very helpful @Suzanna McGee and @Étienne Lajeunesse

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/10303-elbow-position-in-handstands/

Thanks for the thread Nathaniel

@Suzanna McGee, it makes a big difference when I tried to protract my shoulders vs retracting.  The former engage the whole back but is much more harder to hold and my wrists are more limited too since I didn't develop my ROM in this angle.  On the other hand, retracting was always the way I did it, but felt it in my traps.... 

@Alessandro Mainente, @Jeffrey Bittner, @Everett Carroll,  what do you think guys?

Apparently I'm not where you guys are in HS. I focus on neutral and elevation when it comes to shoulders in a HS. My brain doesn't have more capacity play the protract/retract game when I'm up side down XD

Coincidentally (or is it) my elbows are facing each other (!) when i checked my HS videos, as recommended by the HS master Yuri Marmerstein. This makes me happy

I'm going to continue to focus on neutral and elevation until one day I don't need my brains too much in a HS...

Does anybody else have one grumpy shoulder? My left shoulder (although more flexible) has a harder time finding neutral in shoulder flexion.

I second what @Jin Liu wrote. I actively focus on elevation when I’m upside down and let elevation do the work ... when I checked my video, I too have elbows facing each other ... 

when I’m doing any sort of bodyline work on the floor holding a dowel, I try to protract and thus feel the grip more on my pinkyfingers ... as a result my elbows are more rotated to the floor when supine (or ceiling when prone)

But anyways ... I’m just a beginner :-).

@Étienne Lajeunesse ... I’ve heard of retraction in HS in a ytb video - Emmett’s blackboars: anatomy of handstand ... it’s interesting, so maybe check this one out ;-).