Y Handstand

I don't remember seeing it asked on here so hopefully I'm not doubling a topic

The handstand done on many of the floor routines--that's called a Y Handstand? And how advanced of an element is it? Do you use any progressions for developing this Coach?

It's definitely beyond me at the moment but it's something I've gotten asked a lot lately by people seeing me workout if I can do it.

Y HS or Wide Arm HS or Japanese HS.

If you lower or swing to this on floor it's a B. If you press to it, it's a C. Press from swallow/maltese on floor to Y HS is a D.

My friend used to compete this and said it had a lot of carryover to/from invert cross.

Only thing I came up was wall HS, keep on scooting hands out to wide arm then scoot hands back to regular HS.

You can also while doing HS with legs on straps, lower and go out.

I am also thinking if you were really strong and careful, you could try it with abwheels. However, I think there is some danger if they slip.

Balancing it out is real tough in the HS.

So at 1:15 this is a C or D?

Since he pressed from a straddle stand it's a C.

A maltese/swallow is a horizontal cross, but not inverted horizontal cross (victorian). On floor, think of it as a planche that is barely off the ground, well sort of a planche. From there, press to invert cross is a D. Arms are pretty wide from there.

So you literally meant a maltese on the floor. Yikes.

Would it be useful to begin in a straddle with hands in a narrow stance and turned out, lean into planche, and pressing into handstand? Then slowly working on widening my hands?

You could train walking your hands out from the position.

Sounds like press to planche, planche press to HS?

Make sure you can do a strict press first just so you learn how to do one correctly. Otherwise, you'll never have a good one.

I've been working this for almost two months now and using the wall hs as a base model as you suggested, the results have been awesome. I started out by measuring the arm-span I'd need to achieve, and marked that on a particular floormat in the WR. I then did an "ab wall handstand" as I have come to call Coach's variation and walked my hands out as wide as my shoulders could support and held for time. Once I could hold it 45 seconds + I'd start doing as many pushups as I could like that and then shrug and hold for time when I could do no more. Then I'd progress and move my hands out a bit further. I've covered roughly two-thirds of the distance to my goal and the amount of strength it's brought on is amazing. I'm going to start working them freestanding now and see how that goes.

Awesome, I'm gonna start working on them also...

You are much stronger than I thought. Cool.

To get credit for it, your head has to be about one fist away from the floor. Bloody wide.

I don't have much experience with this skill. You might want to email Roger Harrell over at Drillsandskills.com since he competed one in college and still works on his. He did learn most of the prior presses before like out of straddle stand and L/V press HS.

I've been working on kicking up with a spot on it. I'll usually get just shy of 2 seconds on a freestanding hold before the spotter needs to catch me. Been a fun skill these last few months and I can't wait to get a press into it

So question on this: is maintaining balance in the Y-handstand as much about micro palm adjustments? Maybe it's me, but I feel I have a lot less control than in a normal freestanding handstand. Or perhaps I simply don't have my glutes tight and gut sucked enough. I'll post a pic in a bit.

Here's the best pic I could get with my 15yo camera boy.

Maybe splaying your fingers will help?

slizzardman said:

Maybe splaying your fingers will help?

Agreed, spread those fingers as much as you can!

In another handstand question Blairbob was saying that in the regular handstand he has his guys put the fingers pointing 45 degrees away from the body instead of straight forwards, I don't know if adding a slight angle to your hand placement will help, it may not be a good idea that wide. Mad respect on that Y handstand, btw. I tried holding that and didn't even have a chance lol!

For Y-HS I have and always seen others point them to the sides. It's called Inverted Cross on Floor for a reason so hands out to sides.

I figured there wouldn't be much, if any, turning of the hands. Thanks!

Splaying the hands and changing head position definitely helps. Still tougher on the balance than regular hs, but improving!

Yeah, I came across some difficulty last night starting my arms that wide as I have to straddle more than a press from straddle stand and of course, the balance while in it. I think while turning the hands out to the sides is necessary, turning the fingers back may help some as well.