Critique my 1 arm handstand videos

Hello!

Great site! Great forum!

This site has helped me a lot in different ways, so wanted to say a big thank you to coach and all other members!

I started more or less frequent training for 1 arm handstand in may 2010. I feel I haven't progressed a lot, but I have gained some strength. In some ways it even feel like I am further away then when I started.

But anyways, here are my recent videos from different angles.

Front

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gx-BvbDdH0

Back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__-chhWu93c

Left

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-iZz2jGn48

Right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWmpwHnP6OI

Thank you!

Andreas

not bad. progress for one arm handstand is extremely slow and frustrating, so you just have to keep at it

I've been training seriously for over a year and a half and can balance on my right arm for 15 seconds somewhat consistently, a lot less than that on my left

first off, it seems like you are a bit too piked, and that is throwing you off. stretching more will help

second, don't be so eager to take your second hand off. this is the most common mistake. wait until you feel like you have a solid balance before you remove the hand

also, as you lean your head starts to stick out, which throws off your alignment. I was told by an old russian guy "ear to shoulder" which I have experimented on and off with. It really does help keeping your head close to your arm, but then of course you will be forced to use your hand more and hips less to balance. It really depends on whether you want to do acro or bboy style hand balancing.

another visual the russian guy gave me which really helps is to think of your body on one piece. as you lean, you lean your body as a whole. He also greatly emphasized locking out the shoulder. It took me a while to understand what he meant by all this, but once it clicked it made a huge difference in my hand balancing.

if you watch closely, as you lean your shoulder starts to sag a big.

anyway, keep working. you're doing fine. It's great to have more people dedicated to hand balancing. hopefully we can all learn from one another

that's my 2 cents. I'm sure handbalancer will chime in with some awesome advice

Hey andreas, you are doing good! Progress with 1 arm is very slow and unstable sometimes, but just stick to it every day if you are physically able to.(which I know you are) Yury has already mentioned some of the issues here. Form-wise you are currently doing more bboy style balancing, which is natural, since you do have handhops and airbabys. The main difference between a "normal" 1 arm handstand, circus style, and bboy balances, are that bboys tend to balance off to their sides, utilizing the power of the obliques to balance, more than alignment and the fingers.

Its hard for me to say whether or not you should try to change your technique at this point, especially since you are a bboy. Having the circus style balance with locked shoulder and balance from the fingers is generally better, since it allows more control, but I also think that you are closing to learning to balance with your current form. Balancing is the key, as you need to develop that special feeling for correcting imbalance on 1 arm. Try to experiment with your form. Sometimes, go far over and just try to balance on the power of your sides, and at other times keep the shoulder locked hard, an just try to only balance from the fingers. Do for example, a certain amount of tries with each form every time you train.

What you might want to focus on is to not let your balancing arm leave its place when you move your hips over. Try to keep the shoulder in the exact same place as on 2 arms. It will feel awkward at first, but it will help you lock the shoulder in place. Also, your main reason why you lose balance when you take your fingers off, is because you are letting the scapula move. DO NOT make a single movement with your free shoulder at all, try only relaxing the fingers so they lose the pressure they have on the floor.

Exercise-wise, to get to the point where you can hold it from now, I think you should do mainly 1 thing:

Every time you go for it, stay in the position when you are on the fingers for at least 5 seconds, and THEN try to let go.

This will quickly improve your progress because you will actually be getting at least 5 seconds of "quality time" every time you try, instead of just falling at once 70% of the time. If you do this every day(as long as you dont get any pain or feel too drained) you should start to feel it pretty soon!

Keep up, hope to see you sometime soon!

Handbalancer said:

Its hard for me to say whether or not you should try to change your technique at this point, especially since you are a bboy. Having the circus style balance with locked shoulder and balance from the fingers is generally better, since it allows more control, but I also think that you are closing to learning to balance with your current form. Balancing is the key, as you need to develop that special feeling for correcting imbalance on 1 arm. Try to experiment with your form. Sometimes, go far over and just try to balance on the power of your sides, and at other times keep the shoulder locked hard, an just try to only balance from the fingers. Do for example, a certain amount of tries with each form every time you train.

Hey Mikael, I just want to make a point out that this piece is advice is absolutely crucial. People I had asked for advice were very old school, so they did not have this kind of mind set. To them I could only learn one arm handstand one way, everything locked, without too much lean, etc. I practiced it this way but made very slow progress.

I started progressing really fast when I started flagging my legs more, and then after I got used to that, the finger balance without leaning the hips over became much easier. So basically I learned to balance with good form by learning to balance with bad form.

Thanks again, you've been a huge help to me. I wish I could go to your seminar.

I'm getting a new camera so I should have a new video out soon.

Hey Mikael and Yuri!

Thank you very much for great advice and help! I'm currently on a small break from training, my shoulder and neck muscles are too tight and "knotted up". But I will put your tips into practice and let you know how the progress goes

It's great with a website and forum like this! Thank you for taking time to write!

Andreas.

I know what you mean, I also recently took a break for my wrists and shoulders.

Have you ever tried rolling your traps out on a foam roller/pvc pipe or something similar? It hurts like hell but feels good later, I recommend. Especially after putting lots of time into handstands

Thats a great advice yuri! I've seen those around, but never actually tried them on shoulder region muscles.

I've been laying on tennis and bouncy balls, but it's sometimes hard to get to the muscles. It's amazing though how difference

it makes when you have had a good massage.

Thanks!

Andy.