cast handstand

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gymfan4ever95

Coach
Gymnast
i am haveing problems with my cast handstand.
i can get to 3/4 of a hs SOMEtimes...not usuallly though
i know that i need to lean my shoulders over and cast HARD, i just can't do it!
and what reallly helps is that i am afriad to do it with a spot.
well, the coach that made me scared of them just moved and i will do them with our new coach, but i am still really scared and always dread going to bars just because of those!!
does anyone have any suggestions?
 
I don't really know your situation, but maybe it would help if you could find out what specifically you are afraid of. Then you could work on facing that fear. Good luck
 
start drilling planche progressions and work on your upper body strength as well as your lower back strength.
 
Hi,

You are right, the idea is that you need to lean your shoulders over the bar, for much longer than feels right! It can be quite scary, but here are some exercises you can try to help with the conditioning:

On a floor bar, hold press up position. Make sure your press up position is good ie, no arched back etc. Shrug your shoulders so that your ears are covered and lean forwards so that your shoulders are now in front of your hands.

Repeat the previous exercise with a partner holding your legs - At first they should perhaps even support your mid body, then just the top of your legs, then just your feet, as you get better. During this exercise, ask you partner to move you backwards and forwards so that you get used to the motion.

As above but get your partner to lift you to handstand. Ask them to 'planche' you forwards so that your shoulder and infront of your hands and when your legs reach horizontal, bring your shoulders back over the bar and continue to the handstand.
Do hundreds of these to get used to how it feels. It might be useful to place a soft mat infront of you so that if you fall you have a nice landing!

Practice what I call 'knees to handstand' - From kneeling down, put your hands flat on the floor close to your knees. Shift your shoulders forwards and 'lift' to handstand with straight legs. (I can post a video if you don't understand this one)

In all of the exercises that go to handstand, always block your shoulders at the top and tuck your head in.

Go back to the bar and first of all learn how to fall safely. I like my gymnasts to almost half pirouette before coming off the bar so that they land facing the bar they just fell off. I don't like it when they just come off and land facing away from the bar.

My gymnasts are just learning the cast to handstand and so far all I've done is made sure they can cast higher and higher over the last few months. Each month they've had a goal January was to cast towards horizontal, Feb cast to horizontal, March cast above horizontal. They've done all the exercises described above and a lot of mid body conditioning. When they are casting, I tell them to cast so that the side of their body comes away from their arms.

At the very beginning of the cast (before you cast) make sure your shoulders are shrugged and that as your legs swing forwards, look at your knees before aggressively forcing them backwards.



If you are scared of going over, you could try setting up some mats infront of the bar so that if you do go over the bar, you can land flat on your back on some mats. You need to leave a gap for your legs to swing into though! I Did this set up once and it worked but I had to use 2 coaching blocks on the bottom, with a big gap between them, then stack mats on top of them up to the height of the bar.

Hope this helps,

Good Luck and don't be afraid to take it slow - You'll have a much more consistent cast to handstand if you take your time!

Marie
 
They have gotten a little better now. I LOVE being spotted on cast HS's now! And when i do them by myself i am SOOO close to the handstand! I just can't get it the rest of the way by myself yet. My back is really arched when i do it myself though, and with a spot my form is really good :/
 

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