HANDBALANCING

I have done virtually nothing for the past month and a half except study hand balancing. My wrists are slightly sore today as are my mucles from my gymnastics work out yesterday so i am taking a break today (and possibly tomorrow). I was reading on an equilibrist web site some things and I can't for the life of me understand what he meant. He said make sure you scapulae is secured to your back so there is a slight downward pull. He also said there is a such thing as too elevated. Does this mean that it is possible to hurt yourelf if you are pushing through your shoulders too much? I get frustrated when i read things I am interested in and the person who wrote it down seems to be talking in a different language, or maybe my brain is processing the words he is saying, differently then the way he is saying them. I have read every thread on the handstand work section, but i have never seen a thread that said it was possible to push through you shoulders too much.

Thanks in advance

-Ian

Hand balancing is different from gymnastics, as the goal is efficiency. Gymnasts are taught to hold with maximal tension. For equilibre, the you want to eventually relax what you don't need so that you can hold the handstand easier.

To push out is a good coaching cue for beginners as the natural tendency is to sink, however being pushed out means higher energy cost and higher center of gravity. The main thing is to keep the shoulders locked, trying to suppress movement from that joint.

Of course to sink in all the way is not good either, It's best to be somewhere in the middle. This way there is room for error and your shoulder has places to go if you need to use it to save the balance.

But really it's up to the individual. You have to discover it for yourself. On my right arm I don't really have to think about it, but on my left I try to push more since the arm is weaker. I tend to sink the shoulder a bit more when I do flags to lower the COG.

Okay, thank you Yuri that helped. I just need to find the happy medium between pushing into the ground like hell and sinking my shoulder completely. I think i can do that. Does anyone think it will effect my gymnastics training though? Like if i want to do ring wok (hs on rings for example)?

Efficiency is the key for balancing for a long time or learning harder skills. I dont think you can push too much. I stay very high pushed up wirth the traps on 2 arms, but i dont go out of my way to use all my extension. When i go to 1 arm i always add an even higher push to center the weight and get into a stronger position. Dont let your shoulder sink, that should be a sign that you are getting tired. The traps should pushed so you can open your shoulders completely and have a solid support. This makes your arms into pillars which your torso and then legs are stacked on top of.

It is neccesary to stay tight throughout the body, but you should not be struggling because you tense too much. Ring hs is balanced differently than floor, but keeping the traps shrugged seems important(im no expert at ring hs). Working with properly shrugged traps should not do anything but improve your handstands, and through that you general upper body strength

First off i want to thank Yuri, Hand Balancer and Coach Sommer for helping me to realize what i was doing.

Hnadbalancer: Thank you for your advice, it has helped a great deal. just to see if i was doing them like you just said i did one in my office, and i held it fro 20s! Not long for you or yuri, but still! Thank you for for also for telling me GTG works well. Because it does! I will be posting another video again soon to show ya'll how using your advice has helped! Yuri, thanks again for helping me as well becasue ti helped a great deal as well.

Handbalancer: I find your Youtube videos (as well as yours yuri) very inspirational. There are only three up there tho. Could you post another soon so I could see YOUR progression since that last one was when you first did a one armed press?

Thanks again to everyone it really means a lot to me!

-Ian

i second that request handbalancer :-)

I third that request for all three of you!

haha I hate putting up videos. By the time I've compiled and edited all the footage, I've improved and looking at it is not pleasing to me.

but seriously Handbalancer, we need an update from you

quick video that i snapped of andrey moraru yesterday

http://www.youtube.com/user/sooka?featu ... eOnYYNfHKc

Ah nice video from moraru. Stuff almost looks too easy for him, especially on canes. Effortless, rock solid and inspiring!

Yes i need to make a new video. Got some new stuff coming up. Have found some interesing variations on the floor and im getting some serious 1 cane sequences going finally. Still not consistent on 1 arm press, that thing takes ridiculously long to learn. Have done full rom without counterweight a couple of times, but i still need more training to have it esolid . With 1 kg it is consistent, and i can also press out from 1 arm pike with that sometimes.

moraru that was a great video, i enjo0yed watching it. Yuri, i can totally understand what you mean. Tghere are videos on my facebook that are horrifying to me that i did 3 months ago. Always looking forward to seeing videos from anyone really, but Handbalancer and Yuri were the two who started me getting into Equilibre.

I will be recording a video on Saturday (because it gets too dark by the time i get home form work during the week). I would liek you to keep in mind tho, don't expect anywhere close to handbalancer, yuri or moraru. The LONGEST handstand i have ever done without using a wall was 24s, and i had to relax for a while after. I do use GTG method, but I am still progressing. However! I will record a video on saturday and will post it on MOnday!

what does GTG mean?

Greasing the Groove

IJL said:

Greasing the Groove

Got it, thx. Pavel stuff.. nice.

recently noticed while taping my HS practise that my shoulder mobility still need work, a thought popped into my mind..

Wouldn´t doing mexican HS (with toes touching the wall, at least for me) be the most efficient way of active stretching and increasing your shoulder mobility? Say like 2x30sec. in WU?

Wall extensions and shoulder dislocations are the best answer. those will both increase shoulder mobility and openness. I just saw something on youtube, that has really been helping me stretchj my spine and shoulder however, see if it works of you.

well, that stuff in the video is basically same stuff i was talking about, i think? at least i think the shoulders work the same way in mexican handstand, only you can maybe more easily increase/decrease the intensity of the stretch in mexican HS with toes gently touching the wall? Anyway, thanks for the answer and the link, will definitely try that tomorrow!