This advanced posture may feel out of reach for many, but I assure you with time and practice, you too will be going upside down. Once you're warmed up, all you need is 5-minutes a day to practice, and before you know it, you'll have mastered the elusive handstand! This post is to teach you handstand progression in a way that is safe.
Progress Into A Handstand
The handstand is a body-weight exercise and an inverted posture. Mastery of this move is difficult, but not impossible!
More than anything else, it is the fear and inhibition attached to doing the exercise that keeps many people from trying it at all, let alone perfecting it.
My goal is to help you practice SAFELY, so here are some tips to keep in mind.
- Focus on trying to balance your entire body. Without balance, you will continue to struggle to do a proper handstand.
- Try and keep your feet and legs together. Keeping them apart will require your mind to focus more and will make it difficult to balance.
- Always use your core strength to maintain balance.
- Never come down suddenly; it may lead to injuries.
- Don't practice on a full stomach.
- Lie down and relax for an equal amount of time for which you held the posture.
- Don't sit or stand immediately.
- Relax, it doesn't come easy. Keep at it, you will get there.
Handstand Warm-Up Routine
To prepare for your handstand, you’ll need to enhance your wrist and shoulder mobility.
Wrist warm-ups are a critical first step before you start your handstand progression training. Here is a video to illustrate how to warm up your wrists: https://bit.ly/39eNKTS
The shoulders are another area that can be stressed while practicing a handstand. To warm up the shoulders, do 10 jumping jacks followed by 10 forward arm circles and 10 backward arm circles.
Let's Rock!
Quadruped Rocking is a great move to help you safely prepare for a handstand.
Begin on all fours, then slowly sit back on the heels with the arms outstretched. Slowly rock forward to the point where the shoulders are extending to 90 degrees. Focus on maintaining good alignment.
As you are rocking back and forth, feel where the weight rests in your hands.
- When you rock back, it sits more in the heel of your hands.
- When you rock forward, you’ll feel it in your knuckles and fingertips.
When doing a handstand, you want to feel the weight right around your knuckles.
I suggest pausing at 90 degrees for 1-2 seconds and then slowly moving back to the start position. Perform 1-2 sets of 10-15 repetitions in a deliberate and controlled fashion.
Find and feel that balance when you rock.