Japanese Handstand Questions

[Brian Li]

Is it possible to achieve a Japanese handstand without having a regular handstand or is that a prerequisite? I asked that because the two are quite different in both body line and balance. My other question is that should you train Japanese handstands with stomach on the wall or back on the wall? Thanks!

[Mikael Kristiansen]

Handstand is definitely a prerequisite. In japanese handstand it is hard to correct overbalancing because your arms are far apart and because it is uncomfortable to turn the hands forwards. Usually you would have the palms turned to around 45 degrees or so, which gives you less power from your fingers. Balance-wise it is supposed to work like a normal handstand by balancing from the wrists, it just requires more presicion.

From my understanding of japanese handstand, the bodyline should be more or less like a normal handstand. I do not see why one should change the alignment. I suppose it could be easier for some to arch a bit and stick the head out, but that is more bad habit than anything else.

If you should train it on a wall you can easily use both stomack and back to wall for it. Do a normal handstand and walk the arms out to the side. I would suppose stomack to wall would be the best for it since you want to keep your alignment. If you train it, pay attention to how you need to be precise with your wrists and fingers to balance it. I would suggest to get a 30 seconds rock solid handstand before starting to work much on this variation.

[Brian Li]

Thanks for the reply Handbalancer! I will get a handstand first before I train this seriously. I thought the Japanese HS was supposed to be done with fingers to the side and uses the shoulders to balance.

For the body line I thought it was a slight arch because all the Japanese HS I've seen are always arched, same with the inverted cross too. Is there a video of a Japanese HS with a straight and hollow body?

[Blairbob]

Japanese or Wide Arm HS sometimes called Inverted Cross HS on floor tend to be archy but this is more a technical failure. Ideally, straight.

Recruiting the chest by arching more makes it easier.

You can have the fingers to the side or slightly back.

You should not do these for a very long time probably. They also could be a bit hard on the elbows, I'd imagine. I never had that issue with them other than they were just hard and the balance is tricky.

They also get really hard on the wall when you use sliders on your hand. They aren't terribly difficult against the wall which can be very deceptive as they are much harder on the floor, be it jump or press.

Wide Arm press HS against the wall are also easier than you would think.