wall hs flexibility

Ok, so i stopped training the HS as well as the BL some time ago, in favor of training the planche and FL. After several months of literally no improvement whatsoever, I decided to go back to the BL. Im finally making progress with that, so i decided i want to go back to training the HS too. My problem with HS work is my shoulder flexibility. i was training the HS against a wall, belly-to-wall, but whenever i walked up the wall i always had to stop in a position that just seemed way too closed (my shoulders, i mean). I tried kicking up into a HS, back-to-wall instead, but i couldn't do it. Has anyone else had this problem? And can it just be remedied by gradually taking closer steps to the wall?

Erin said:

Ok, so i stopped training the HS as well as the BL some time ago, in favor of training the planche and FL. After several months of literally no improvement whatsoever, I decided to go back to the BL. Im finally making progress with that, so i decided i want to go back to training the HS too. My problem with HS work is my shoulder flexibility. i was training the HS against a wall, belly-to-wall, but whenever i walked up the wall i always had to stop in a position that just seemed way too closed (my shoulders, i mean). I tried kicking up into a HS, back-to-wall instead, but i couldn't do it. Has anyone else had this problem? And can it just be remedied by gradually taking closer steps to the wall?

Have you tried to get a partner to push your chest to the wall, then later your chest and head/nose?

2 reasons I'm 9 months into gymnastics and still can't hold the stand for 11s:

1. weakness

2. shoulder inflexibility

because of 2. It feels like it takes a lot of muscle work for me to maintain the open shoulder - because of 1. I can't maintain the open shoulder for long, then 2 takes over and I bend at the shoulder, then 1 takes over (I don't have the strength to do even a slightly angled planche) and I roll out (I used to be so weak I would drop or collapse out, but now I have the strength to slow the descent and roll out).

but I"m keeping at it because my stretching work seems to open the shoulders half a millimeter to a millimeter a month and I'm gaining in strength, so a lean that would make me cave in 2 months ago no longer does.

After 8 months of working on it, last month I touched my nose to the wall, with belly-to-wall standing.

my point (I guess) just keep at it. If you get stuck, ask a partner to help with shoulder stretches, help getting into, or closer to the desired positions so at least you know what it feels like to be there for when you work alone.

I used to have a similar problem. Is it more a matter or tightness or does it feel like you aren't strong enough to do it?

PHILIP said:

I used to have a similar problem. Is it more a matter or tightness or does it feel like you aren't strong enough to do it?

You know, I'm not sure. It's probably both.

For strength, you can pike more at the hips and build up from there. Wall handstand might be kind of a hard starting place and that is okay. Simply reduce the pike as you get stronger. For flexibility, strengthen your shoulders in the range of motion that you want to achieve. This provides much faster gains then simply stretching.