Handstand Challenge

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  • ContraryMaryMary
    ContraryMaryMary Posts: 1,649 Member
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    My big problem with handstands is, and always has been, fear of falling over. I'm plenty strong enough but totally chicken. This month I aim to beat that!

    June 1: Read the blogs about handstands... paid particular attention to the fear bit. Must practise my cartwheel by the look of things!
    June 2: Spent a few minutes upside down against the wall but was wearing jeans (not advisable as it makes kicking up a bit tricky) and my hands started slipping on the wooden floor - need to use a mat.
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,070 Member
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    Orphia wrote: »
    @mom23mangos I love Crow/Crane, and can hold it for a minute or as long as I like. Handstands seem so much harder on the wrists/hands.

    What do you mean by "if my shoulders were more open"? Do you mean you need your core to work in sync with your shoulders and arms?

    I used to do a lot of gymnastics and had a great arch, but that weakened my back and led to back problems (which running and walking has fixed), and I don't like to arch it anymore. It's been a long process getting straighter, so I sympathise.

    I mean that I can't get my arms above my head without flaring my ribs and arching my back. I just don't have the shoulder and thoracic mobility. Ideally everything would be in a straight line stacked over your hands.

    I'm surprised crane doesn't hurt your wrists! It kills mine. I've been trying to work up to a 60sec hold, but my wrists are dying afterward. At least with a handstand your wrists are at 90 deg.
  • tropicalchicy
    tropicalchicy Posts: 27 Member
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    Day 2 done and dusted :)

    I'm have a hard time with the L shaped wall handstand drill. For whatever reason I can't get my feet to stay on the wall ??? I have no issues with the regular wall handstand, I'm not sure what I'm missing.

    My headstands are already improving too :p I know I should be focusing on handstands but its nice to practice something I can already kinda do. I still have a long way to go with handstands.
  • TiisTitanium
    TiisTitanium Posts: 235 Member
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    @Orphia - Thanks. She only gets tonsilitis as a side effect of glandular fever rather than something that is always happening. Steriods at the hospital worked wonders.

    I like running through the different types of handstands as you need to find a different centre of gravity so you can't get complacent - and it is fun to make different shaps

    If you are finding it tough on your wrists, we usually do warm up drills when I attend handstand classes which really helps. I have linked some examples of the type of stuff I do. Plus always do a quick stretch after

    https://movementco.com.au/the-journey-to-a-handstand/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSZWSQSSEjE

    Day 2 done. Usually I do a handstand/acro class on Saturdays but there is a dispute happening in my house about who takes my youngest daughter to her circus class and I lost out today as my husband was being ridiculous about his special gym time. Nevertheless I did an hour of yoga at home and half an hour of handstand drills including working on tuck handstands. I even tried the facing the other direction wall handstand drills but I didn't love it even though I could hold the position longer but it just felt wrong. I think it was because I couldn't run through my mental checklist of body alignment and cues (look at your hands, push away from the ground, suck in your stomach, flat back, squeeze your glutes, ankles together , point your toes).

  • TiisTitanium
    TiisTitanium Posts: 235 Member
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    Oh this was a good article as well. All my favourite things in one place :wink:

    http://www.sonima.com/yoga/yoga-for-wrists-and-shoulders/
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    Day 3. Thought I'd done 5 minutes but the video was less than 4.

    Would appreciate constructive criticism.

    https://youtu.be/Sil8ZvwzKU0
  • TiisTitanium
    TiisTitanium Posts: 235 Member
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    Looking good @Orphia. I think that your arms are a little too wide as they need to be closer to your ears. Try starting with your hands on the floor so they are in the right position and then kick up as it is easier to find the right arm position here rather than when you come down and use momentum to get up. It is fun to experiment kicking up with both legs as one will be easy and then the other will feel weird and impossible.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    TiisTitanium wrote: »
    Looking good @Orphia. I think that your arms are a little too wide as they need to be closer to your ears. Try starting with your hands on the floor so they are in the right position and then kick up as it is easier to find the right arm position here rather than when you come down and use momentum to get up. It is fun to experiment kicking up with both legs as one will be easy and then the other will feel weird and impossible.

    Thank you! Will try again tomorrow.

    I did one more minute of practice to make it up to 5 by doing some crow poses. My left palm got sore because I was on wood floor. Need to get my yoga mat out next time.
  • Elfinnyx
    Elfinnyx Posts: 55 Member
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    I will try to video myself tomorrow. I meant to today, but forgot. I managed five minutes of wall drills, slowly getting used to being upside-down.

    @TiisTitanium thank you for the wrist warm ups! For some reason I'm finding handstands harder on my wrists than crow/crane pose. I'm definitely going to try kicking up tomorrow, because I'm pretty sure my hands are too wide apart as well.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    This is great, we're all learning from each other!

    Today I added a daily recurring practice reminder for my phone/smartwatch.

    I've been remembering to practice every day so far, but I've seen how so many people drop off the challenges after the first couple of days, and I don't want to be one of them.
  • TiisTitanium
    TiisTitanium Posts: 235 Member
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    Good plan re the daily reminder @Orphia. Challenges are a bit like Jan 1 on MFP - everyone is ridiculously excited for a little while and then *pfft* everyone disappears. I am less likely to disappear as I do handstands in a class environment a few times a week which is part of the reason for wanting to do daily practice as I am usually the worst in class so I want to level up so to speak.

    Day 3 is done. Hooray. It was a hectic morning with morning yoga, then ballet class and then I squeezed in my upside down time practice between sets as it was a scheduled strong lifts day. My arms were like jelly towards the end so i had to resort to elbow stands and headstands. My observation for the day is that i arch my back too much during elbow stands - must be a shoulder alignment thing.

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  • ContraryMaryMary
    ContraryMaryMary Posts: 1,649 Member
    edited June 2018
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    A couple of snaps as my ‘before’ photos...
    1. Had a six-year-old as my photographer who needs a bit more practice! I can only hold a handstand for about 3 seconds before I touch the wall or come down - and she missed all of them,
    2. I really should wear proper exercise clothing!! Will try to retake photos tomorrow after yoga,
    3. Did a few headstands today to help get the feel of being balanced upside down.
    4. Actually pretty happy with this as a starting point, but would appreciate feedback on my form from those more experienced.

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    omqivljz6k36.jpeg
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,070 Member
    edited June 2018
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    @TiisTitanium - your back is always going to arch a bit in a forearm stand, but overall yours is very straight. If you want to see a curved back in a forearm stand, you should see mine.

    @ContraryMaryMary - you look really straight too! Especially for back to wall. Great job!
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    TiisTitanium wrote: »
    Oh this was a good article as well. All my favourite things in one place :wink:

    http://www.sonima.com/yoga/yoga-for-wrists-and-shoulders/

    Thanks for that, it's just what I need!

    My hip tendons have been getting sore from kicking up.

    I did that workout for 5 minutes today instead.

    fl87yshwbttp.jpeg

    I'll probably do that workout for a few days, as I'm planning my first 50 km run on the weekend, and want to be injury-free.
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,070 Member
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    Yes! Be careful @Orphia! I've pulled my hip flexor from kicking up when not warmed up before.

    I worked on my crane today, since it's part of my planche progression anyway. I'm going to have to check out that wrist video because I realized my wrist flexibility is preventing my from fully straightening my arms.

    https://youtu.be/uLybymgASxk
  • ContraryMaryMary
    ContraryMaryMary Posts: 1,649 Member
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    Day four today and my shoulders and arms are rather tired from yesterday's efforts. Did a few warm-ups but when it came time to do a handstand my nerves deserted me - I didn't think I'd have the strength to hold myself. Instead I practised crow for about a minute and then did a couple of headstands just to be upside down!
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    Nice crow/crane, @mom23mangos !

    What warmups would you suggest to avoid hip flexor injuries prior to doing handstand practice?


    @ContraryMaryMary Good alternate workout!
  • TiisTitanium
    TiisTitanium Posts: 235 Member
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    Must have been a good day for crows as I did a 30 minute yoga flow for crow position as I was feeling inspired by all the crane and crow talk. It all counts in my book - anything hand balance related is challenging and makes you very aware of body position and alignment.

    Hmm. In a class situation for hip flexors we usually run through a number of stretches for hips and legs as tight hamstrings also impede your ability to handstand well (dunno why, just something I have read). So general stretches we do are:
    • lunges (normal then runners lunge lifting hands above the head for an extra challenge),
    • 90 degree leg were you tilt your pelvisup and stretch your quads,
    • then the hamstring stetches were you kneel on one leg put the other one in front and try and touch your chest to you leg, then into pigeon,
    • then butterfly
    • then try and do the splits.
    • I always like to chuck in a few downward dogs because they feel good.

    (haha - i am so articulate when it comes to descriptions)

    Now I'm off to my contortion/flexibility class :) Usually we spend a little bit of time on handstands but in the event we don't at least I know I have done some handbalancing practice so I can still mark off today as done
  • tropicalchicy
    tropicalchicy Posts: 27 Member
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    I'm loving these photos guys :)

    I did a challenging HITT class with a lot of ab work and pushups so my practise was short today. Only 2 mins tops!

    I'm stuggling with keeping my feet on the wall while doing the L pose/headstand on the wall. This video helped a little and I can now do it with one leg on the wall and the other straight up over my head. No idea why I can do the harder progression but not the standard pose :p Any ideas?

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EHCtVmUCZGM#

  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,070 Member
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    tropicalchicy wrote: »
    I'm loving these photos guys :)

    I did a challenging HITT class with a lot of ab work and pushups so my practise was short today. Only 2 mins tops!

    I'm stuggling with keeping my feet on the wall while doing the L pose/headstand on the wall. This video helped a little and I can now do it with one leg on the wall and the other straight up over my head. No idea why I can do the harder progression but not the standard pose :p Any ideas?

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EHCtVmUCZGM#

    It's a flexibility issue I think. I can't do L pose due to lack of both hamstring and shoulder flexibility. I have to have my legs a little bit higher.

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