Terrified to handstand?

I would LOVE to gain strength to hold handstands and even do HSPUs eventually, but I can only get a headstand and that's with a towel under my head. I'm terrified that since I'm in such a small place in my room against the door, I'll smash something and fall. There are no suitable walls nearby, I live in a row of houses and there aren't any high enough to go stomach to wall.

Stomach to wall is also terrifying me. I'm a wuss.

In tight places, it can seem a bit dicey.

Try doing what we call Box HS. Ya don't need to do them on a set of parallettes.

Blairbob said:

In tight places, it can seem a bit dicey.

Try doing what we call Box HS. Ya don't need to do them on a set of parallettes.

It can. Seeing Slizzardman doing them on a tiny space on the wall next to a door gives me hope though!

I am confused by that picture, is it like this? - -XGsKtB5NTY

Or this?

Either is fine.

Colibri said:

I am confused by that picture, is it like this? - -XGsKtB5NTY

Hmmmm, I must have missed cdx posting his progressions to press handstand (which I find highly impressive btw). I think I see how he got there though I'd be interested in seeing other intermediate measures.

I think that if you can stand in your house you can do a handstand. In fact, you don't even need to have your legs extended and you might actually progress better doing tucked handstands as they require different back muscle integration. Don't use the perceived lack of "appropriate" training space as an excuse not to try. Slizzardman certainly shows that clutter won't get in the way :wink:

jl5555 said:

I think that if you can stand in your house you can do a handstand. In fact, you don't even need to have your legs extended and you might actually progress better doing tucked handstands as they require different back muscle integration.

How would I balance the extended leg HS with the bent leg HS? Will I do the bent leg until I can do a fully extended HS?

jl5555 said:

Don't use the perceived lack of "appropriate" training space as an excuse not to try. Slizzardman certainly shows that clutter won't get in the way :wink:

Hahaha, that's very true I will find a place!

Does the method of kicking into a handstand matter? I haven't access to the book ATM but AFAIK, does it not mention straight arms going forward and such?

STRAIGHT arms!

Mr Brady said:

STRAIGHT arms!

As in, straight arms above my head when going forward into a HS? I know the HS itself requires straight arms but going into one is a different matter

Gotta get working so scared to death

Would it be acceptable to work on stomach to wall HS and after I get the confidence, do the handstands the box to HS way until I get fully confident ?

Yes that is absolutely fine. You need to find a a place where falling isn't going to cause damage to freestand, that's just common sense.

There are two main ways to get up if you are going back to wall, with a jump and then you try to get your arms in line and keep them there, or with a press ( you can do a one leg hop press in the beginning) then the arms are more in front to start. In both cases you keep the elbows straight.

A friend of mine struggled for a while with handstand fear. He too, had no where "good" to practice at home. To help, we spent hours (over the course of several weeks) practising in various parks and places with me spotting. Started in open fields with nothing within 20m, then slowly progressing to more 'crowded' areas by working next to trees, houses, gates, walls etc etc. We included cartwheels just to add some variety - I will do a cartwheel in some space without thinking twice. Put me in a corridor with a low ceiling and some pictures hanging on the wall and it becomes a little intimidating. So we practised them all in increasingly tight areas with more things 'in the way'.

It comes down to having faith in your ability - if you practice the movement over and over you learn exactly what your limits are. You *know* you can do a handstand in a narrow corridor where your fingers just scrape the ceiling on tiptoes, because you've done so many hundreds before. You *know* you can safely roll out of a chest-to-wall handstand without breaking your feet where there's a table placed 4 foot in front of you because you've done it so many times.

A lot of spotting and a lot of practice and you get over the fear. Ultimately you have to suck it up and just go for it. Revel in the adrenaline rush as opposed to being scared of it (within reason... do what you know you can do safely, don't be stupid and handstand on a balcony wall on a skyscraper...)

If you're starting and feeling fear your best friend is rings (or just a low bar in jungle gym). Hanging inverted and putting your legs/torso in all kinds of positions/angles while inverted helps with handstand a lot... speaking of fear, I had tremendous fear of any head/hand/elbow stands cause of prior head injury... doing ring/straps work helped so much that I started to learn handstand while having hurtful objects standing around to make sure I balance better

On rings, you get used to balancing while inverted and you're familiar with fear of losing control, cause you'll fall and if your stuff is rigged high you can fall hard--harder than from a handstand, so this takes care of fear part. The fear comes from lack of body awareness in inverted position, and any kind of rings/bar/trapeze inversions help to develop this awareness.

What also really helps with fear is a drink... don't mean getting drunk but half a glass of wine. Helps to get rid of fear and loosen the brain up. I learned a lot of new thing (actually all new elements) after having some wine... cause often you're already strong/conditioned for something but just can't go for it cause of fear holding you back.

I will try to remember that should I ever get back on track to start working double backs again. I was working my 1 1/4s earlier this summer for awhile.