WAG Handstand holding

[gymgurl]

Sounds silly for me to be asking this as a level 7 but I really suck at holding handstands. I am in the process of making goals for 2013 and one of them is to be able to hold a handstand without a wall for a minute.

At the moment I can hold for 10 seconds at best but that's it. My walking is good and I can normally do 1 row without coming down and sometimes two forwards and 1 row backwards. I'm almost positive my problem is my shoulder strength as since injuring my shoulder and doing intensive physio on it and lots of shoulder strengthening exercises I have found it much easier to hold.

Also sounds ridiculous but any tips on breathing properly upside down? I tend to hold my breath and something tells me this may be a problem when learning how to hold a handstand.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

This is a (new to me) drill that has really helped the gymnasts with their hold time. It is from the new physical testing program, the handstand test for 1-3 is a handstand near the wall. Your body is vertical and parallel to the wall, but you have a bit of pit foam between your toes and the wall. It is a great way to concentrate on your shape and building your hold time while still being challenged with a semi 'free' handstand.

 

[AmandaLynn]

This is a (new to me) drill that has really helped the gymnasts with their hold time. It is from the new physical testing program, the handstand test for 1-3 is a handstand near the wall. Your body is vertical and parallel to the wall, but you have a bit of pit foam between your toes and the wall. It is a great way to concentrate on your shape and building your hold time while still being challenged with a semi 'free' handstand.

Hey, I like that! I may "borrow" it.

 

[Amusibus]

Are you still going to rehab sessions for your shoulder? The physical therapist might be able to help with this a lot. It can be shoulder, as you mentioned, but a lot of the problem could also be core spinal stability. There are so many ways to work on this I can't really go into great detail here, but the PT could go over them with you if you tell them about the handstand holding problem. Using a big physioball can really help core strength and balance, but as I said this really needs to be explained and supervised by a professional. Good luck!

 

[gymgurl]

Not going to physio for the next month as I am overseas but my shoulder is much better now (am allowed back to full training except bridges still hurt it) I am seeing her once I get back should be good as gold by then I was looking for some tips that I can apply while practicing overseas (I handstand everywhere)