1. Strength + Flexibility + Mobility
- Wrist: Strength and Flexibility support your entire body weight
- Hamstrings: Hamstring flexibility makes press /float to handstands easier
- Hip Flexion + Core Compression: The ability to bring the legs into the body. The compression requires hamstring flexibility and core strength.
- Scapula: Scapula (shoulder blades) mobility for press to handstand
2. Alignment
Handstand is all about bone-stacking to support your muscles. Once you are completely aligned at 180 degrees, the weight on your arms will feel lighter. Find the alignment as fast as possible.
3. Breathing Technique:
This is the most underestimated factor in Handstand practice. Using breathing technique generate amazing benefits of generating strong force and engaging muscle.
4. Lean How to Exit Safely One more major requirement is overcoming fear, mainly the fear of falling. To eliminate your fear of falling over the top, you need to learn how to fail on your arms at the beginning of your handstand journey.
To do a handstand you need the strength to hold your body weight on your hands. To build-up to the required strength, I recommend a simple drill that you can practice every day. Make sure you warm up your wrists and shoulders first for your joint health to prevent any injury.
Adding regular stretching exercises for hamstrings and hip flexor flexibility is definitely helping your progress.
Recommended Drills:
Recomended Stretches:
Standing Pancake, seated pancake, and lizard lunge
Check-List for Wall Alignment:
Check-List for Wall L-Handstand:
Step 4: How to fall from a handstand - the easy way
You need to learn how to bail out of the handstand. Most of the humans will naturally fall out the correct way in a handstand without even realizing that they are doing it. The most common exit is the side exit - a similar kind of cartwheel. Start from a downward-facing dog just to kick up, choose one leg, aim your leg toward the floor, and travel step aside. Build the movement pattern in your body. This pattern works for any stage of upside-down angle. Your body will just follow. If you are confident with the cartwheel exit, you are good to go! Practice this as often as you can until it’s second nature.
Summary:
Handstands require the strength of all the major muscles of the upper body. Significantly the arms, shoulders, and pectorals are used in the pushing and steadying of your body against gravity. The latissimus and trapezius also come into play used mostly to stabilize your body in the upside-down position. Your entire back will be worked in this manner.
Learning handstand is a progressive process. You train your weakness, educate your body on what is necessary, and then the first goal for you as a beginner is standing upside-down comfortably 10 seconds, doesn’t matter straight or not. Holding 60 seconds or achieving a straight shape is not the proper goal for beginners. Most importantly your body learns the necessary movement patterns and muscle memory for constant success. Keep practicing step by step, and build up your strengths and confidence in practice. Add practice habits to your daily life. If you are interested to get started and need instruction for more progressive drills for beginners, check my beginner's handstand program on my website "How It Works" section.
“Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
– St. Francis of Assisi
Please feel free to comment with any questions or feedback on the blog. I am happy to hear from you. Enjoy your handstand journey!
For an absolute beginner to the handstand, I have an ultimate beginner’s press handstand online program. Check “Home” in Menu above or click the logo on the top.