HANDSTAND
THE HANDSTAND IS A FOUNDATIONAL HALLMARK OF TOTAL BODY CONTROL
A tight core, combined with spatial body awareness, will test the perseverance of all who undertake the journey to learn this skill. The juice is well worth the squeeze! Once unlocked, the full-body tension learnt becomes transferable to other skills, such as the front lever, back lever, and the seemingly impossible planche.
FROG STAND
The frog stand is an exercise popular in yoga and will familiarise you with supporting your entire weight on your hands.
- Place your hands on the floor before you, fingers facing forward or slightly out to the side, shoulder width apart.
- Place your knees on the outside of your elbows as far forward as possible.
- Gradually lean forward with a slight bend in your elbows. Press down hard and lift your feet off the ground.
There will be a risk of falling onto your face as you learn how far to lean forward. If you struggle to support your weight on your hands then keep your feet on the floor at first and gradually transfer more of your weight onto your hands.
HEADSTAND
Another exercise pulled from yoga, the headstand involves balancing from three contact points with the ground.
- Starting from a crouched position, place your hands on the ground before you.
- With your fingers spread out, place your head on the ground, forming a tripod with your hands and head. As you begin to shift your weight forward, your feet will lift off the ground.
- Straighten your back as your hips come over your shoulders. Squeeze your glutes and core to maintain body tension.
- Engaging your core, start straightening your legs slowly into the air until your body forms a straight line.
Practice with a wall behind you. To exit the pose, bring your legs slowly back down with the support of your hands.
WALL ASSISTED HANDSTAND
Once you have spent some time familiarising yourself with being inverted using headstands. You will want to start learning how to progress towards a free-standing handstand. This is as much a strength exercise as it is a skill so to progress you will need to practice A LOT!
Before we can run we need to first learn how to walk – The first stage in learning a freestanding handstand is a wall-supported variation. As the name suggests this variation allows the feet to rest against a wall so that you do not have to worry about tipping over.
- Place your hands on the ground about a foot away from the wall/tree you are using. The hands should be about shoulder-width apart and the fingers spread out in a wide span.
- With a staggered stance, swing your heel off the ground hard. Make sure that you keep your arms locked out and your core as tight as you can.
- Allow your legs to keep moving until they find the wall.
- Once your feet are on the wall, hold this position for as long as possible. Push tall through the shoulders.
