Some of my Handstand work this month

Hey, guys..

Some of my Handstand work this month.

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Trying to work on leg awareness, and in a week or so I'll implement flags. My levator scapulaes (I think) have been burning a bit lately, so I'm laying off handstands and such for a little while. I read a post by Ido on his forum about scapular elevation not being necessary for a good Handstand line, so I'll give that a shot while I give my scapula meat some rest.

Something for the experienced ones out there: Do you allow a slight arch when in a straddle, or do you only straddle your legs as much as you can without compromising the line? My arch is rather huge when I'm straddling, and it looks a bit messy..

Here's the link to Ido's forum, which if you haven't checked out, you definitely should. It is packed full of informational gems. Just like this place

Edit: Forgot the link

http://forum.idoportal.com/viewtopic.ph ... 6843#p6843

I can give you no advice as my Handstands are very much my weak point, but just wanted to post to say, great job in your dedication to you goal, you are making superb progress and over a relatively short period of time. I'm very impressed, keep up the good work!

Having recently seen an excellent practitioner in person (Yuri) I would say that "arch" in your back during straddle is not quite correct. It seemed to me that in a straddle you roll your hips open so that your inner thighs face out and up. The effect of this is that your butt moves back and over your sacrum so it appears you have a curve in your lower back. Your back should still be generally straight as possible.

Obviously, a good straddle stretch flexibility will help, though as Yuri pointed out to me, you need to have good active straddle flexibility as well, not just passive.

@Breaks: Thanks, man. I pretty much train by myself, so words like these fuel my motivation a lot!

@JL: I've been wondering about this a lot lately actually, whether they bring their legs down in a "toes pointing forward" sort of straddle or if they posteriorly tilt their hips and end up in a "toes pionting to the floor" straddle. You're saying Yuri does the latter? Thank for the tip about flexibility. They've both been pushed under the rug lately, so I need to get serious about getting my legs apart again soon.

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Here's a clip of me from January 2010 just for laughs. Wasn't doing any handbalancing at the time, this was just filmed out of curiosity one day. Should be said, I had spent some time on my hands before this, so I had a bit of capacity and a certain sense of balance. But I was truly shocked at how crappy my line was. I thought I was dead STRAIGHT

Didn't do any handbalancing in 2010, so this is basically where I was at before christmas. I am quite pleased with the progress I've seen since then. I was lucky enough to get some hands-on coaching from Handbalancer as we come from the same place. All progress since then is much thanks to him and the tips he gave me. Filming myself for corrections and ACTUALLY logging my progress and discoveries have also been crucial.