Opening up shoulders before learning handstand

[PhilDav]

Is it a good idea to open up my shoulders before even training HS or is it okay to practice HS concurrently with opening up my shoulders?

Right now I'm doing lots of shoulder stretches; my favourite are dislocates and a modified version of wall extensions on the floor with and without weights to help forearms be flat against the wall. Now I do the beginning stretch on a wall (which I couldn't do a couple of weeks a go).

Cheers for any advice, appreciate it

[yuri marmerstein]

Yes, it helps to have shoulder flexibility before learning HS, but the HS requires active flexibility in a specific position. Getting your shoulders open is one thing, but it becomes much harder when pulling your ribs in.

I've seen lots of really flexible people still do HS with closed shoulders. It's a lot more complicated than just being able to stretch your shoulders.

Short answer:

It's ok to practice HS while opening up your shoulders. Being able to balance is just as important as the position, and no amount of shoulder stretches will teach you to balance in your hands.

Think of the whole thing as a constant work in progress.

[PhilDav]

So just to make sure, would handstands against the wall, chest facing, be beneficial for strength, even if my shoulders are closed?

Also is it necessary/advised to have a straight handstand before training HSPUs? I can do about 7-10 HeSPUs against a wall, but I don't train them but would like to if it's not going be a problem with closed shoulders at the top. Similarly would HSPUs on paralletes be okay or should I master balancing free-stand HS on paralletes first (even with closed shoulders)?

My short term goal (relative to freestanding straight HS) is to hold a handstand against a wall for at-least a minute (right now my max is 30s, so I would do 4 sets of 15s?), I keep my body straight as possible and get my hands close to wall and focus on getting my armpits touching the wall.

Thanks, and sorry If I asked silly questions, I just want to make sure I'm going about things the right way

[Blairbob]

For something like HS, I would work on a time interval that is at least 65% to 85% of your max hold. Honestly, I really like the GB HS WOD. They are pretty good for rest and total time in HS.

[Indy]

Blairbob, if I'm doing the GB WODs, would the HS workout (when it pops up) be enough to become proficient at the basic HeSPU or would you suggest adding other work in to speed up the process. I generally do a lot of freestanding HS work in almost daily (sometimes every other day).