3 things to help improve your Handstand!

Handstand holds are a movement that many people aspire to be able to do. But it is definitely a movement that takes a lot of practice and work to get right. With that in mind here 3 tips to help...

Tight Body

One of the most important things in gymnastics training is the ability to be able to squeeze your body nice and tight. Anything performed with a ‘soggy’ core is going to make the exercise a lot harder. From your toes to your quads to your glutes to your core to your shoulders...it all needs to be switched on. Here’s a few exercises to build/practice that core strength…

Hollow Hold - 5 X 20sec holds

Double Dumbbell Overhead Carry - 3 X 10m walk

Plank Hold - 8x 20s on /20s off

Push Tall

During a handstand you need to be able to have stability in the shoulders. So by pushing up tall and creating active shoulders is going to give you that stability.

Grab a PVC pipe and hold it over head, lock the elbows straight and perform 3 sets of 10 shrugs (push the pvc pipe as tall as you can shrugging the shoulders up towards the ears). Then when you go into your next handstand create this same shrug whilst upside down.

Weight In Your Finger Tips

A mistake that is often made is trying to balance on the palm of your hand, when we do this our body weight isn't in the right place and will mean we fall back down when we kick up. When you kick up, shift your weight forward into the shoulders and press into the ground with your finger tips. (It can help to think about "gripping" the floor with your fingers).

A simple way to practice this is in a straight arm plank position with your feet elevated onto a chair/bench/box.