Static & Handstand work questions

[Eddie Stelling]

What's up everyone!?! I am new to the site but have been visiting the site for over a year now. I have always struggled with figuring out how to program static work into my workouts because i wasn't always doing these WODs. I recently got very good information from Slizzardman on the "Quick Statics Question" and learned that static work is done as a warmup. My question is:

1. When should I do hand stand work?

2. Should I do 10-20 min of handstand work prior to these static "warm up sets"?

3. Is it ok if I do numerous random sets of handstands and HSPU's through out the day? (Basically get on my hands whenever possible)

4. Also, Coach Sommer's Dragon Door article on Planche and front lever progressions says to do 60s total work on these holds AFTER your workout. This contradicts slizzardman. Which is correct?

[Joshua Naterman]

The dragon door article isn't wrong and neither am I. When you do your statics is your business, but Coach has his athletes do them in the warm up. For one thing, they actually ARE a really good warm up, and it also helps you keep the proper intensity. When you do the statics on their own it's easier to put a bit more into them, and that is usually not the best of ideas. If you notice, the Dragon Door article Coach wrote also has very different static guidelines from those in the book. Coach wants us to master 60s single holds for EVERYTHING up to and including: Advanced tuck PL, FL, BL; regular L sit; straddle L one hand center; low MSH. The book mentions a 15 second rule, which only applies to moving ON from a straddle PL,FL,BL. 30s is the goal for advanced L sit, MSH, and straddle L. This simply slipped through the cracks during the editing process and that is what the forums are here for: to clear this kind of thing up!

As for your handstand work, it really depends on how much you plan on doing! I do one freestanding HeSPU in my warm up every day and a few times a week I do some freestanding holds. That's about it. For what I do, warm up is a great place. I do that stuff after my statics.

If you are following the WODs the long handstand days are worked in. If you AREN'T, don't do more than 1 day a week like that, and at first you're not going to be doing 10 minutes of work. You have to pick a realistic goal. At first, you should probably determine what your working sets for wall handstands are and on a handstand day you simply work those with 30-60s rests until you can't do proper working sets anymore.

Example: Bob has a 60s wall HS. His working sets are half that, so 30s. Lets say he gets 9 sets of that in with 60s rests and then he only gets like 20s, so he calls it a day. 9 sets x30=270, +20s = 290. That's 4 minutes and 50s. Not bad to start out with! You'd shoot for pretty much the same goal each week. You should be able to add 30-60s to that and complete THAT total work time the next month. Remember, you'll be taking a new max hold and adjusting your work sets, so you may end up doing just 9 sets of 40s, and if you pull that off that'll be 6 minutes. That's how you do the long HS days. You shouldn't mess with wall runs until you have a very solid 60s+ wall handstand. After a while your work sets will be like 2 minutes at a time, and it will only take you 5 sets to get a 10 minute goal.

You only want to do #3 if a) you want that handstand strength and could care less about how that impacts your other work AND b) you don't do too much. You shouldn't do anything but random handstand holds until you can do 3-4 HeSPU, which shouldn't take too long. At that point, 1-2 HeSPU per day shouldn't be too bad. I'd stick with 1 until you can do at least 6, and then do 2, and so on. Do slightly less than half of your max reps per day. You can do them together OR do a few singles throughout the day. Eventually you'll want to work on doing this freestanding, but that's later on when your handstand is a bit more solid. When you can get around 10s solid handstand without moving on a regular basis you should be ok with starting to learn freestanding HeSPU. That worked well for me.

That won't kill your other workouts, but it WILL sap your strength some if you're doing a lot. If that's ok because the HS strength is your real goal, then that's fine! If you want to have more balanced workouts you'll want to play around and find just the right amount of work to do, and increase it slowly from month to month. Either way is fine.

[Eddie Stelling]

Thanks man!! Sorry if I'm bugging you with stupid questions, I just want to get this ironed out! I work alot of handstands and I am stronger than a regular beginner. My max wall handstand is 3:15 and my max HSPUs back against the wall is 21. I have accomplished, at most 2-3 freestanding HSPUs in a row but have no consistency with it. However, I have tried a freestanding HeSPU and it is HARD! I can do one but also not with consistency. I thought the HeSPU was supposed to be easier? Having said all this I think your post still applies. Thanks! Also can you take a quick look at my last post on the "Quick Statics Question" post? I wrote out my max static hold times and my new warmup sets based on those maxes and wanted to make sure everything looked good. I really appreciate it! Thanks.

[Alexander Moreen]

While I think slizzardman is a great source of information I think he is mistaken a bit on handstands. The handstand is THE fsp. Its the most important skill in gymnastics and everything progresses from it. I don't think you could find a gymnastic class being taught that doesn't include 10 minutes of class time on handstands each class day. Now that doesn't mean your in a handstand for 10 minutes, just that you work on them for that much time.

[Tarun Suri]

I'm far weaker in my handstand ability. I'll share my training protocol with you and you can apply what you want from it for your own abilities.

My max hold is about 10-15s. I only started GB WoDs (and GB training) 3 weeks ago. At the same time, I started eating paleo (amazing results) which is surely helping my joints quite a bit which is why i started HS more quickly than probably others. After completing my second week, I started incorporating HS holds in my warmup like all other FSPs. I still want to take it easy so I'm starting with 5 second holds (surprisingly very solid!) totalling for 30s of time. After a month, I'll recheck my max time. If it's past 20s, then I'll do 6x10s holds.

Start smaller, start slower, but more frequent is my suggestion. Increase after a reasonable time based on your abilities.

[Eddie Stelling]

Thanks alot guys! I appreciate it. I think I will work the handstands into my FSP warmup or start the warmup with 10 min of handstand work. Thanks guys!

[Bob Sanders]

When you can get around 10s solid handstand without moving on a regular basis you should be ok with starting to learn freestanding HeSPU. That worked well for me.

Slizzardman, what did you mean by saying:hwne you can get 10s solid handstand without moving on a regular basis? Is this free-handstand or wall handstand?

This simply slipped through the cracks during the editing process and that is what the forums are here for: to clear this kind of thing up!.

So we do not use the 60 second rule anymore right? Its" the 15 second now is that what you're saying?

[Joshua Naterman]

When you can get around 10s solid handstand without moving on a regular basis you should be ok with starting to learn freestanding HeSPU. That worked well for me.

Slizzardman, what did you mean by saying:hwne you can get 10s solid handstand without moving on a regular basis? Is this free-handstand or wall handstand?

A consistent 10s freestanding HS should be considered something of a minimal requirement for freestanding HeSPU attempts if you are starting from a handstand or trying to do multiple reps. You can always try to just press up from a headstand but that may not go well until you get some decent freestanding HS ability.

As for the statics, no no no!

60s for all variations up to and including advanced tuck, regular L sit, and whatever the steps right before regular straddle L and horizontal MSH are. Once you get to any of those, post a video in digital coaching and ask for advisement. You won't need it for a while, but if you are consistent you WILL!

This simply slipped through the cracks during the editing process and that is what the forums are here for: to clear this kind of thing up!.

So we do not use the 60 second rule anymore right? Its" the 15 second now is that what you're saying?