Freestanding Handstand Help

Hi,

I have been trying to master the freestanding handstand hold for quite awhile with alot of frustration. The problem is I can't stay tight in the handstand itself. I can't lock myself out to hold myself up very long. I can do a solid headstand without any support and can hold a wall handstand for 60 seconds. I could really use some help with this does anyone know how I can fix this or tell some of the ways you trained for the freestanding handstand.

Thanks.

Is your wall handstand stomach to the wall, with your wrists 6 inches or closer to the wall?

If it isn't, that's the problem. Stomach to wall forces you to hold the hollow body for a straight handstand, which teaches body line and body tension. Back to the wall encourages an arched back and a loose core. A loose core is the enemy of freestanding handstand progress!

In the meantime, practice kicking up into your handstand with a perfectly straight body. Don't sweat it if you only get up for a second or two for a while, that's how I started and it took me a few months to get steady handstands for more than 2 seconds on a regular basis. Now 5-10 seconds is my regular, and I don't hardly practice at all (which is why I haven't gotten any better, but too much handstand is bad for my shoulder right now).

For body tightness, go to www.youtube.com/portaldo and look at the handstand alignment video. You don't need stall bars to do it, a wall works fine.

Thanks

I had just been doing toe touch method on the wall and, not giving much thought to handstands stomach to the wall. This will probably help alot with my handstands. Thanks again

No problem! I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress in a month or two!

Cody,

I've been working the handstand for a couple of years now total, and what got it for me was learning to control the movement in the freestanding handstand with my palms and fingers - also, what slizzardman says about the 'weak core being enemy to the HS' is exactly right. I learned to overbalance w/ my fingers by kicking up to a wall handstand (w/ my back to the wall) and moving into a freestanding HS for a few seconds at a time to "find the tight core and pressure required by the fingers and hands to maintain the free HS." After I was proficient at holding a freestanding HS close to the wall, I moved a few inches away from the wall in case I started to fall over my hands and needed a spot. I kept repeating this until I was just doing freestanding handstands more often. In my experience, the kick-up is a journey in itself and will take a while to be consistent in kicking up to a free handstand on a regular basis. Lately, I have have been working the tuck handstand - or frogstand I believe it is called - in my quest for press handstands from a tuck position. I had not worked these early on in my HS development, but I believe they could be very beneficial in learning how the fingers and hands play a big part in over- and underbalancing. You might try these out as well in your practices.

Hunter