Handstands! page

[The Big L]

It was a really nice day out today. For the first time since last fall, I was able to just go out and play in the yard for a while, and it was awesome.

One of my goals is to be able to hold handstands indefinitely, and eventually do handstand pushups. I've been slacking off on practicing this, mostly because it's hard to find a place inside my house where an awkward fall wouldn't break something or result in an injury. I didn't have this problem out in the grass.

I'll admit that most of my handstand attempts resulted in not enough or too much kick-up. But maybe 1 out of 10 times or so I'd hit it just right, and end up holding the handstand for several seconds of upside-down bliss. My back yard looks really cool upside-down. And I was pleased that all my upper-body work seems to have paid off; I didn't get fatigued at all, and only seemed limited by my lack of practice at balancing.

It was a lot of fun, and a decent workout to boot. My heart was pumping pretty fast after a while (though partially from sheer exhilaration -- hey, I'm easily entertained!), and my shoulders are feeling just slightly sore later in the day.

I just wanted to share my fun experience, and encourage anyone else who has been thinking about doing handstands to get out there and give it a try. Enjoy!

[JillianMarie77]

Find yourself a yoga teacher! Handstand is my pose of the year this year. My goal is to be able to float up to it in the middle of a room and float back down. Keep me posted!

[AndreaReina]

Check this link out, it's about training to press into a handstand. I can't vouch for how complete it is as I'm still working on it myself, but the progression seems pretty solid. You could probably do it without parallettes too, it would just be more challenging.

[Dragonfly]

I'm on handstands, as well! Lots of fun and reminds me of gymnastics when I was 9...

[Al_Kavadlo]

Congrats, Big L - keep practicing and enjoy the ride!

For anyone who may have missed it, I posted a tutorial on freestanding handstands a while back.

[Littlesigh]

My back yard looks really cool upside-down.

Try it on acid... DOH!

Hey I take enjoyment from your joy. I am also loving to be back into hand stands. I did them alot in my MA days..25 years ago. The big thing then was to stay up more than the Master...which was almost impossible. Anyway... try this little addition when you get to stay up.

Once you are firm, left each hand one at a time into a fist, then once on fists return back to palms. A bout a 3-5 second deal. My MA instructor would do this 10-20 times just to piss us off... until one day I did it with him!
I will get back there.. but need to firm up the basics first.

Have fun!

[Bissen]

Best advice to handstands - do it. 10 minutes of practice a day can do a lot!

I'm somewhat capable of a press to handstand, but it's rare that I stay in the handstand... Also, it's with bent arms - not straight as they should technically be in gymnastics. But then again, I'm not a gymnast :P

[zoebird]

i like to press into it from the straddle. i have head stands down no problem, but hand stands have been illusive due to fear. so, yeah.

[Funkadelic Flash]

Try it on acid... DOH!

This is going on my list of things to do before I die.

ETA: I'll have to write myself reminders all around the house. Psychedelics are...distracting to say the least.

[heatseeker]

My goal this year is to get a handstand down pat. Right now I can't even hold one against the wall for very long--the strength just isn't there. Like Bissen said, practice!