Is not being able to cast to handstand a fear issue?

[flips123]

My coach says i am physically strong enough to cast to handstand but I'm too dang scared!Im afraid that my arms will give out causing me to face plant and mess up my neck (silly i know lol).I can do it fine with spot but when it comes to doing it alone i only make it to a little above horizontal.Are there any exercises at home that i can do to get the feel or am i just going to have to get over my fear?Any help is GREATLY appreciated!

 

[cher062]

Well all fear your going to just have to get over. it takes time to trust your body will do what you want it to do without the crutch of a coach near by but you can do it.

I think its a common fear. For my DD when she was first learing she had a parralett (bar on the ground about 3 feet long or so) at home she would put it near a wall and go up to handstands on it without touching the wall to get the feel of the handstand holding on the bar. My DD was more afraid of going over the other side of the bar and hurting herself. so this helped her get to handstand without going over. The wall helped stop her. Don't know if that will help you or not but it can't hurt to hold handstands on a bar to get you to know you can hold it without colapsing.

 

[gymnastgets10]

If your arms bend then you will just flip over and land on your feet or maybe your back. You can get spotted on falling over in the handstand to help you get the feeling. Also, cast handstands are rather difficult and can take a while to get right (I just finally got mine after 4 years!). If you're doing a straight body cast, you need to really hold your legs up and lean over the bar at the end of your kip and then push off your hips and extend through your shoulders. A lot of times when you get spotted the spotter really helps with one or more of these parts so you don't really have to work as hard or do the right timing, so lots of repetitions by yourself really focusing on your position at the end of the kip should help. What helped me get the feeling of leaning over the bar (and to build up shoulder strength) was doing spotted planches. You kick up to handstand on a floor bar and a (strong) spotter helps you lean forward with straight arms really far and lower almost to a pushup position and then extend back to handstand like the end of a cast; I did 2 sets of 10 every practice for a while and now I still do them sometimes and I can tell they help with my casting technique and strength. HTH!

 

[2gymmies]

My dd first learned her straddle cast to hand stand and she learned it quite quickly because she said it is just like a press handstand. She started by doing cast straddle on (like a squat on, but straddle). Then she did cast straddle on, slight jump to press handstand and then just skipped the put your feet on the bar part. Maybe you can try it that way?!

 

[marie83]

Can you ask your coach to shadow you rather than spot? That way if you do go wrong they will be there to help, but you are doing all the work on your own. Also have they taught you how to fall safely? If not, ask them to.

I haven't taught many gymnasts to cast to handstand yet but for the ones I have, I try to support/shadow for as long as possible - I also add mats under the bar to make less of a drop. I always make sure the gymnasts can cast to handstand on their own over the pit first too, hundreds and hundreds! Then I have them try on the normal bars, when I am confident that they are confident!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

your fear is irrational. get past it quick.

 

[flips123]

your fear is irrational. get past it quick.

Words of wisdom!

 

[BlairBob]

single rail HS to flat back...preferably on a mattress or futon at home. Just work it at the gym.

there are a variety of other drills to get over the fear. One is using a set of parallel bars where you set one rail lower than the other. Grab the low rail with your hips lying on the taller rail. Cast your legs to HS.

Another would be on a single rail use a mini tramp to bounce to HS. You can also do this with a block on trampoline.