Just messin'...it's a post on what to practice if you are just starting in handstand and are wondering what to do.
Where You Want To Be
First up let's say where we want to be: "I want to (eventually) press into handstand, hold handstand and come down into an arm balance".
Now if your goals are different to what I just wrote, then this post, while helpful, won't be optimal for you.
Pressing, holding and lowering into a balance is ALL about core and upper body strength. Less about flexibility.
Onto the practice...
What You Want To Practice
Lolasana: Every handstand guru will have had this bad boy in their repertoire at the start of their arm balancing career. It very quickly builds the right type of strength (shoulder, chest and core) required for press handstand.
All you do is kneel down, put your chest on your thighs and try to straighten your arms, while keeping your knees glued to your chest.
As you get better at this, try taking your knees backward (while still glued to your chest).
Handstand hold. This is just holding handstand (at the wall is good) for an amount of time. Download a timer app for this and keep increasing the time.
L Kick-ups are great for eventually holding a free standing handstand, because the lower leg makes it easier to balance while inverted. Read the post on kicking up to get this right.
Now there are two end positions to practice kicking up into. One is with the lower leg straight and the other is with the lower leg pulled in to the chest. Practice both.
Stealing Stuff
Let's lastly note that the above order is important. It's a decreasing intensity practice. Body builders train this way for a reason, so we'll steal from them and practice that way too.
Guaranteed, these 3 moves will fast-track your handstand quicker than someone who is practicing handstand all over the place. Ashtangis are great examples of the benefits of purposeful practice, so we steal from them also.
Ok, get to it, J
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