Getting the HS progressions question

Hi Guys,

Quick question,

Is there a progression 'plan' that you guys know of to get from standing on the floor to being in a handstand in the rings?

Let me explain:

I have set the rings low to the floor

and a mattress close by for falling..

Then I watch youtube videos and stuff and I see that when people jump up into a handstand in the rings, they lean forward

a little bit with their shoulders (when I payed real close attention), and then explode up with their feet, and then put their

legs upside down in the straps, while pushing themselves completely out into the handstand.

I've been trying to do this for the past couple of weeks, but failed

I am unable to get upside down in the rings in a handstand, while if someone takes my feet/legs and puts them in the

straps I'm fine and able to hold for a little bit.

From filming myself and thinking about it, the biggest issue I have is getting my legs in the straps to begin with,

because I either don't get high enough or fall right back or forward through the rings.

Here is a video, look at 48 seconds, the kid jumps into the handstand in the straps, making it look so simple

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Probably because the coach is holding the rings the rings themselves don't move forward (which is what happens with me too)

but still, the kid jumps into it without much hassle.

So now I am wondering, what are all the possible steps in between standing on the floor and

doing a handstand in the rings? so I can practice them

Just a sidenote: I am able not able to do a freestanding handstand on the floor or p-barz, but since all the other posts

say how handstand on the floor is nothing compared to handstand on the rings, and i'm training rings exclusively now

I have set a goal to get into a handstand in the straps in the rings before the end of this year and hold it for 30seconds.

Thanks!

Have you tried climbing the straps of the rings with your legs? This is the method used at my gym.

Thanks burnhamd,

correct me if I'm wrong, but for that wouldn't I have to be almost strong enough to do this:

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or do you have a video or pictures of how this is done at your gym?

Thanks!

My ring HS is terrible. Easiest way I've found is to have a friend/family/stranger hold your legs and slowly you up.

My 2c. Good luck!

No you don't have to be strong. There is a 50yr old guy at my gym who can't do a dip that climbed them with his feet. That's actually who I learned it from.

Get into shoulder stand.

Wrap legs around straps.

Climb straps by pushing legs further up then wrapping up tighter.

Press a little with arms to help you move up.

Eventually you should find yourself with enough elevation to do a shallow hollow back press into the handstand.

So... you can't do something easy, yet you are going to train a much harder version? Can you explain why this plan makes any sense to you?

Do you just want to be upside down in the rings for 30s or do you want to develop a good handstand? Because i can tell you right now from experience that you are not going to have a decent 30s strap XR handstand by christmas if you can't even hold a handstand on the floor. You can probably do some sort of ugly upside down thing, but you won't be using the right muscles and you won't be moving towards any kind of more advanced work. You'll be moving in the other direction.

Yes, handstand in rings is different than HS on floor or PB. Running is also different from walking. Do you learn to run before learning to walk?

Or imagine barely being able to stand on floor and getting up trying to do it on a swiss ball. This is a quick road to injury. The rings are a great tool, but need to be respected. Take your time with the ring progressions.

Really simple, if you cannot do a handstand on pbars you have no business trying it on rings.

I personally dislike the idea of setting time standards to achieve goals. A goal should be neverending, however long it takes you to achieve something is how long it takes, then when you get it you can work on improving on what you learned or learning something new.

But to give yourself a deadline is not a good way to go if you want to learn anything properly. Think of it as a fine wine, the longer it takes you to learn a skill the better it will be. Of course, keep making progress and don't stagnate, but if you are truly serious about Gymnastic Strength Training™ it is worth taking the time to learn the elements.

The reason I cannot do a handstand on the floor is wrist flexibility,

because of much ring work in the last 6months I lost quite some flexibility in them.

I even feel this problem when doing pushups on the floor.

And the reason I wanted to 'skip' PB is because if I fail on PB I will fall down pretty bad

where as rings I have mats in place, which I cannot do with PB because I have these:

Next to that I have been practicing the hollow body position on the floor for a couple of months and felt

that because of the straps where I have support up top, I could jump right onto the rings..

And also because the program I just started teaches handstands in the rings among other things

in weekly routines.

So if I understand you guys correctly, I should get back to handstands on PB and master those until I can

do them freestanding?

And Joshua, I'd rather have a solid HSPU + HS.. because ultimately I do it to get the HSPU.

Thanks

You really need to put some time into getting your wrist flexibility back if that's why you don't want to do HS on the floor. If you had it and the ring work made you loose, there are some programming issues, that didn't need to happen.

With your parallettes, why can you set them up in front of a crash pad so you can roll out onto it if needed? Or just set them up in front of a wall to start?

Yeah, I often set the parallettes with a mat behind them so the boys can have something to fall on in case they lose it. Especially for beginners. Less of an issue with those with a decent PB HS.

This is an old video of how to get into a HS on low rings. It's pretty darn easy honestly. Or just press to shoulderstand and climb with your legs while pushing out your arms.

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I've waited a bit of answering to this thread but basically the HS progression goes:

Stomach to wall HS. Day 1 is upside down dog for the little kids. Then one leg up in the air. Then hopping on both feet "donkey kicks", then hopping from leg to the other towards or near HS. I used to try to teach a lot of these on a trampoline or tumble track. Donkey kick 3x to HS and roll out.

Then i teach the kick to the HS from a lunge on their knee not standing. It tends to be easier. Then from a standing lunge.

Down the road we do jump presses from a seated tuck position. Think seiza in martial arts on your knees.

Parallette HS against a wall, back and forwards sometimes with a mat as I talked about earlier. Learn how to step down to the side from a HS. This is why a cartwheel is critical. It gives an easier bail out other than a HS pirouette (turn).

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your help!

Tomorrow I'm gonna put it into action and see what happens

Went practicing today on the P-barz, and it actually went great!

A friend and I were practicing together so we could watch each others form,

and here is what we noticed that was trouble for the both of us:

Shoulder position not in a straight line, but a bit towards the wall.

And when I noticed it, I pushed his shoulder in (towards the straight line) and he had a great handstand..

He said: when I was in correct position, the handstand was easy!

He did the same for me, but I had some more trouble with that.

When he pushed my shoulders in, I had balance problems on top, I would fall back from the wall pretty fast.

Could this be a flexibility issue, a 'newbie' issue or is there some technique I'm not yet getting in order to get the

straight line myself without problems?