Afraid of going fully erect on a Wall HS

Hello all.

I have a problem, which I presume everyone who started with wall HS had in his/her initial days.

My problem is that, I am afraid of toppling over if I push myself into a fully erect wall HS.(chest to wall)

I keep pushing up till my hands are about 8 inches from the wall. If I try to go any less than that(eg hands 4 inches from the wall), I get a sensation that I would topple over and fall.

I would be grateful to one and all for any tips and suggestions.

I am currently practising wall HS 3x/week on mon,wed and sat.

Thanks

Is fatigue involved?

Personally, I haven't trained chest to wall yet. But you're walking up backwards on your hands to get

there it could be. Another way of getting up is to cartwheel.

I guess falling is possible in any event... Do you have any mats or sofa cushions you can use to land on in case?

Do you have much enough room in front of the wall so you could roll out if you did topple?

I suppose the other question is, have you had any opportunities to practice rolling out of a handstand? It is a worthwhile thing to learn. As you start to fall, tuck your head in, chin to your chest, bend the arms slowly to try to slow your descent, and roll out, from your upper back down (you do not want to crash down onto your head. This is why you need to tuck your chin to your chest). It would be a good idea to practice on a soft surface first. If you have not ever done forward rolls, you should probably start with just learning to do those from a squat to get used to tucking your head in and rolling properly.

Not sure if that is any help to you, or not, but I figure that knowing how to handle falling properly would probably reduce a lot of the anxiety involved.

edit: Also, make sure you are maintaining proper tension through your core while trying to get into the position. If you let yourself go 'floppy' through your middle, then you will probably arch your back or let your pelvis tilt, and your feet will come off the wall, making you tip over forwards.

In addition to the good advice above, give yourself time to get used to it.

Future if you're not doing stomach to the wall at all it might be time to start.

For now, that's fine. Adults who are not used to being inverted tend to come across this once they start gymnastics.

Little beginner gymnasts generally have problems with inversion, not so much in a handstand off the wall, but generally being inverted from a bar.

8" from the wall still means your body is pretty vertical, like 15 degrees off vertical.

Give yourself time and prepare yourself on how to roll out or cartwheel out (basically stepping to the side in this sense, not a true acrobatic cartwheel). These give you options to fall out of a handstand safely. Falling on your back is not fun, unless the surface is soft. Neither is falling on your head (though this is why if you can do a headstand, you're prepared for this option).

Cole Dano said:

In addition to the good advice above, give yourself time to get used to it.

Future if you're not doing stomach to the wall at all it might be time to start.

One shortcoming of the non-gymnastic specific club I'm at is their lack of mats.

So I haven't done any handstand practice the past few months.

At home it's difficult to find empty wall space, but will experiment!

Thanks for reminding me

You don't need mats to do wall hs. Just follow Blair's advice above, you'll be fine. We do it everyday at the studio, no problems ever. It's just a matter of how close you walk it in.

WOW Guys! Thanks for the many replies

I will reply to each post personally 8)

FutureisNow said:

Is fatigue involved?

Personally, I haven't trained chest to wall yet. But you're walking up backwards on your hands to get

there it could be. Another way of getting up is to cartwheel.

I guess falling is possible in any event... Do you have any mats or sofa cushions you can use to land on in case?

Thanks for your post FutureisNow.

I am pretty sure it isn't fatigue. My arms seem to be pretty okay at dealing with the bodyweight. It must be the inverted position, something which I am not quite used to yet perhaps.

I have not yet tried the cartwheel method, for there is a chance my back would arch and crash onto the wall :roll:

No mats or sofa cushions, just me and a hard floor. :!:

thanners said:

Do you have much enough room in front of the wall so you could roll out if you did topple?

I suppose the other question is, have you had any opportunities to practice rolling out of a handstand? It is a worthwhile thing to learn. As you start to fall, tuck your head in, chin to your chest, bend the arms slowly to try to slow your descent, and roll out, from your upper back down (you do not want to crash down onto your head. This is why you need to tuck your chin to your chest). It would be a good idea to practice on a soft surface first. If you have not ever done forward rolls, you should probably start with just learning to do those from a squat to get used to tucking your head in and rolling properly.

Not sure if that is any help to you, or not, but I figure that knowing how to handle falling properly would probably reduce a lot of the anxiety involved.

edit: Also, make sure you are maintaining proper tension through your core while trying to get into the position. If you let yourself go 'floppy' through your middle, then you will probably arch your back or let your pelvis tilt, and your feet will come off the wall, making you tip over forwards.

Thanks for the excellent advice thanners If one can't stop a bullet, one might as well a bullet-proof vest to mitigate the damage

I just tried doing a front roll from both standing and squat position on my bed. I sure suck at it I end up rolling on my side! Also I am not quite able to ensure my upper back touches the bed first. Ouch.

Definitely something to develop now :wink:

It helps to have a little more room than the length of your bed at first.

Cole Dano said:

In addition to the good advice above, give yourself time to get used to it.

Future if you're not doing stomach to the wall at all it might be time to start.

Thank you Cole Dano I will keep that in mind. Indeed it has been only about 2 months since I started practising wall HS 3x/week.

I am going to go as close as possible to the wall and start aiming for 60s in that position. Once I can hold the position for 60s, I will shift towards the wall by 1 inch and start all over.

Cole Dano said:

It helps to have a little more room than the length of your bed at first.

Ahan? I see. Perhaps I might be able to find some old mattresses lying in the loft. Work for the weekend 8)

Blairbob said:

For now, that's fine. Adults who are not used to being inverted tend to come across this once they start gymnastics.

Little beginner gymnasts generally have problems with inversion, not so much in a handstand off the wall, but generally being inverted from a bar.

8" from the wall still means your body is pretty vertical, like 15 degrees off vertical.

Give yourself time and prepare yourself on how to roll out or cartwheel out (basically stepping to the side in this sense, not a true acrobatic cartwheel). These give you options to fall out of a handstand safely. Falling on your back is not fun, unless the surface is soft. Neither is falling on your head (though this is why if you can do a headstand, you're prepared for this option).

Blairbob! As always, a real pleasure to be helped by you! 8)

Thank you for the great advice! So I will start timing myself to 60s at the 8 inch mark, once done I will shift to 7 inch and time again. In the meantime, I will look for a few old mattresses in the loft over the weekend and try practicing front roll

Could you perhaps give a little more insight into "cartwheeling out"? I tried to look for such a move in youtube, but couldn't find any...

Thanks again for the prompt responses and help everyone!

What I refer to as "cartwheeling" out of a Wall HS, whether stomach or back to wall, is simply placing one leg down to the ground and standing up. So it's sort of like a side cartwheel.

From someone who's been there, the problem is probably two fold:

• 
  [*:cy9fyizd]You're not "tight" enough - abs, butt, shoulders, etc should all be tensed and tight. This will change your body line so the balance is different. Make sure you're "reaching" with your toes too.
  [*:cy9fyizd]You're not using your fingertips enough. If your body is tight and not floppy, your fingers are easily strong enough to push you back towards the wall if you start to fall. This requires you to not be afraid and lose tension if you start to drift though

Advice: fall a few times. It sucks, but it's not that bad and will remove a lot of the fear. Just make sure to look at your belly button as you topple. This should help you roll out of it.

I actually do my work in my bedroom now so that if I fall, I land in a high bridge with my lower body on my bed and can kick back up in a matter of seconds.

Did find a place to resume practice, though it's a bit tight on the sides.

Didn't want to bang the door hard rolling into the HS. Eventually

won't need it but for now ...