L-sit to handstand and straddle press to handstand help ?

Hello , im trying to learn the L-sit to handstand and straddle press to handstand .

L-sit to handstand :

With my l-sit to hs i can hold my l-sit then i cross my legs and get the behind me , but then i always end up bending my right arm and using my elbows to try and lift up . What can i do to train for this also is there a tutorial anywhere for it ?

Straddle press to handstand :

At the moment i can do a straddle press to headstand , against a wall and free standing . But with my straddel press to handstand against the wall i cant do it ? But then when i try it freestading i can sometimes get my hips high and lean forward enough but i can never get right into the handstand ?

Thanks in advance

First of all, press headstand and press handstand have allmost nothing in common with eachother because the shoulders is mostly the limiting factor. You need to work on getting a very strong and properly aligned handstand. In time you should work towards "press down" to the floor by slowly bringing your legs down while keeping your torso as stacked on top of your shoulders as you can.

This is a complex movement that takes some time to build up. Both strength and shoulder flexibility play a critical role. There are several threads that cover pressing in more detail so read around here for more info. Yuri of this form made a good video which explains core concepts.

Straddle press is more or less a prerequisite for doing Lsit press to HS. The bending of the arms you are experiencing when trying to press from sitting happens because you are lacking the scapular strength and abdominal compression to push on straight arms. In fact, most people I have seen who insisted on learning by pressing from the bottom before learning a SOLID press down on straight arms, end up doing it with bent arms.

Right now, you can skip the L sit to HS. If anything work HS to L on parallettes.

Continue working the negatives presses against the wall in HS.

You can concern yourself with L press HS when you can do it out of a straddle-L. You can play with pressing from L as high as you can with your hips but no bent arms, period!

Press Headstand basically just teaches you the alignment of the torso and what to do with the legs. Work towards being able to do HeS pike leg lifts for core strength. HeSLL up in tuck, down/eccentric in pike.

Update : i have uploaded a video off me trying it on youtube , tips to get it perfect ?

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Thanks !

1. Start with your legs wider

2. Don't bend your knees.

3. Don't bend your arms.

4. Go back to doing them against a wall or doing what is called a Box Press HS.

In terms of straight arm strength, your arms are either straight or they are bent. There is no in between.

As such, performing press handstands with straight arms is essential. This is why for beginners I recommend box press handstands as frequently featured in the GB WODs.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

You still have a ways to go with this skill. The first question I would ask is what are you pressing to?

You get halfway up and then bail, so the first thing I would suggest is to work more handstands to get them solid.

A while ago I posted a video on here talking about a few methods you can use to develop the straight arm press, I suggest you search for it an watch it.

Coach Sommer said:

I recommend box press handstands as frequently featured in the GB WODs.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

These (box press handstand) are KEY! I picked these up at a GB seminar. I spent way to long doing press handstand against a wall and I could actually do a press hanstand BUT always with bent arms . So after that seminar Ifocused mainly on BPH. I wish I would have done/known it from the beginning!

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There you go. I probably should have shot it from a side angle but oh well. I guess I should have corrected the angle as well.

Ive started doing box pressup , thanks for the vid !

Thanks everyone for the tips