dive to handstands

Are dive to handstands safe? I tried a few, and the stress on my shoulders was unlike anything I have ever felt, though, I was able to catch myself fairly easy. I found them to be wonderful fun, just wondering if they are safe.

Matt

Plyometric & Ballistic Shoulder Work

Dives to handstand as well as hop blocks from handstand are excellent movements and quite effective. It is however very important to build a solid foundation of basic strength first in order to train these movements safely and productively.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

What would you consider a solid foundation to be? I can drop from about two feet of elevation, and catch myself without much struggle or allowing myself to bend into the landing more than a few inches.

Thanks,

Matt

What are the Pre-Reqs for Dive Handstands?

Off of the top of my head; rope climbs, front lever pulls, muscle-ups, HSPUs and various types of dips all come to mind. Understand that this is by no means a complete or extensive list, but simply an example of the types of strength you should be proficient at prior to focusing on dive handstands safely and effectively. You must first build a facility with basic strength movements before you can maximize the benefits of engaging in training of plyometric and ballistic nature. This is why the majority of clips in the video library to date have mostly been of a basic strength nature ( http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?u ... sticBodies ) and why Building the Gymnastic Body (which focuses on basic strength development) is the first volume that I am releasing.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Are dive handstands the same as the Handstand Obstacle Course ? (the part where the boy descends from the obstacle. )

I have been preforming them mostly by diving over a sitting person as if to go into a dive roll, but instead landing on my hands and absorbing the force of the impact with my arms, stopping in a handstand, occasionally, instead of stopping in the headstand, I slowly drop down to a chest roll.

Matt

Dive Roll or Dive Handstand?

What MatthewM is referring to is a dive roll. There is only a slight degree of an upper body plyometric component in a dive roll. A dive to handstand is substantially different. It is where the athlete performs a small jump off of his feet and lands in a straight arm handstand; preferably at a 45 degree angle. The locked arms and shoulder girdle absorb the force of the impact.

A handstand hop block would begin in the same manner as the dive to handstand, however, upon contact with the floor with locked arms and extended shoulders, the athlete will explosively rebound up and off of the floor and then land once again in the handstand.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I never actually roll though, I just dive into the handstand.