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Holding a handstand on the wall

Posted: 12 Jan 2021, 22:33
by Sara
Hi Natalie,

I'm almost at the end of the preparation course and most of it is fine (push ups and planks are no problem at all). But I'm really struggling with holding a handstand on the wall. 15 seconds seems doable, 20 seconds is really, really pushing it... I only got there once today. The other attempts I got about 15-18 seconds.

There are two problems that I can make out:

One is to actually balance against the wall. Every so often, I can't stay on the wall but fall out of the handstand. Do I need to "pull the stomach in towards the spine" (that's a quote... ;-) ) more to actually hold myself on the wall? Or is there something else that I should do?

The other is that I feel like my arms will bend. And like my upper arms are giving in. Maybe I'm not straightening my arms enough. Would it help with straightening arms if I places my palms with fingers facing more sideways?

Maybe I just have to push through this. Maybe it'll all become clear with the seven week course. I'll start that on Saturday and am wondering what it'll be like to increase the intensity of the training again. Looking forward to that! :-)

I'm loving your courses, btw! They are really keeping me fit during a pandemic! And it's so nice to have something to look forward to every day what with lockdown, distance learning of the kids and homeoffice plus all the usual chores, tax and whatnot.

Thanks again!

Sara

Re: Holding a handstand on the wall

Posted: 25 Jan 2021, 23:05
by Natalie Reckert
Hello Sara,

Sorry I just saw this.

Thank you for posting here and from the problems you describe in the other post, your shoulders are tight.

Because your shoulders are tight your elbows are bending in an attempt to keep the shoulders overhead. They are trying to get "around" the tight spot.

Tight shoulders mean that in the endurance holds you fatigue much faster and then your arms bend.

Do you remember how I explain to think about the base of your hand and about pushing the base of the hand up and back to open the shoulders? Try doing that.

Also try to take the chin to the chest in all endurance holds, properly fold the head to the front so that your chin touches your chest, try to look at the ceiling, that much.

Do you remeber the mobility exercises with one arm, holding the bottle or without, creating circles, thinkin up and over everytime you do the circle. Do those.

Do the shoulder opening exercise with the wall, where you stand facing the wall and then let the shoulders sink down inbetween Every! every handstand set.
When you do this think of rotating the arms out, armpits to the side, shoulderblades together. always hold 20 seconds and breathe.
This will take time to change but if you strictly do it, you will see a difference in a few weeks and it will fix all the other issues around balance and hugely improve your endurance.

So all in all my advice is: rather skip a conditioning exercise in favour of a mobility exercise and stretch stretch your shoulders!

There is a release based chest opener further along in the 7 week course which I also recommend you do every day after training.

Improving shoulder mobility takes time but it is worth it.

Best wishes,
Natalie