Handstand drills

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Billy

I have a question about handstand drills. Everything I've seen about doing handstand drills against the wall suggests facing the wall. I'm wondering about doing them with your back to the wall. Does it matter? Is it just preference or is there some reason to do them belly to wall?
 
It is harder to do them with your stomach on the wall because you have to keep your shape. if you start to arch then you fall off the wall!! If you have your back to the wall it is very easy to have a bad shape and arch etc but still stay up in handstand.
 
if you're belly is against the wall it forces you to really keep your form, whereas if your back is to the wall you can arch easier and have more form breaks. i always do them with my belly facing the wall.
 
I like to do them with my belly on the wall because it really makes you focus on your form and the skill but if I am just messing around I like to do them with my back to the wall. If you are working on them for form it is best to do them with your belly on the wall.
 
Well that makes sense! Never really thought about it that way...Another question then, what's the easiest way for beginners to get up with belly-in. Our advanced girls do a handstand half-turn or cartwheel but our beginners wouldn't be able to control that. Just walk feet up wall and keep walking hands in?
 
yep.... I just walk my feet up the wall and keep going until my hands are at the wall.
You can come down two ways:
walk back down same as you got up (lol, that adds a bit of extra shoulder strength in to the handstand if you walk up and down!)
Or you can roll out (good practice for handstand forward rolls for the little ones!!)
 
My DD was doing handstand pushups (not sure if that's the right term) and was against the wall for balance. She already tends to arch her back and I was concerned if she had her back to the wall, even for push ups, it would make her form worse.
 
Yeah - having her back against the wall definitely will make it too easy to arch her back. For handstand push-ups I usually see someone holding the girls feet. I think it has really only been in the last year that my dd has finally stopped arching when holding her handstands - very common - especially when so much of what they do they are supposed to arch.
 
While we do handstand pushups occasionally, we've had more success doing "piked pushups" in a piked handstand with feet on a block hip height. They do a set, then switch to one leg, and then the other (opposite leg goes vertical).

It seems to be easier to hold a shape, especially for little ones.

I have a hard time seeing the benefit to handstand pushups with a loose body. In fact, I question the specific benefits pushups really provide for a handstand. We tend to focus much more on planche/shoulder excercises.
 
yeah handstands against the wall with your stomach facing is the good way to practice form for this skill. Also sometimes we do shoulder shrugs, to help strengthen the shoulder muscles!
 
Bent arm strength is physical preparation for straight arm strength and also provides a balance to the muscular alignment so you don't end up with hyperextension in your elbows due to the lack of bent arm strength ( especially bicep development ).

With some gymnasts having natural hyperextension in their elbows, you still need to protect those joints as much as possible. Consider it preventative maintenance. You may not cure the hyperextension but strengthening the joint is a good thing in the long run.

Piked pushups are ok, but eventually you need to take these to full ROM on parallettes. Just to a headstand really kills the ROM and actual strength and focus on triceps and lats.
 

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