How to Hold a Handstand

Out of all of the many handstand tips I could give you, the most important is… Patience. If you
want to be able to perform this skill, expect to work on it every day, or at least 4-5 times per
week. Watch YouTube videos and read many different articles about the handstand, just don’t
get caught up in theory, instead, put everything you learn to the test! Embrace the trial and
error method of learning and remember… Improving your handstand requires patience!!

The Lower Legs

Toes should always stay pointed and knees should always stay locked. During a handstand
you want everything to be tight, doing these two things helps reinforce tightness throughout the
lower body.

The Hips

To have a “hollow” handstand, your hips need to be in posterior pelvic tilt (PPT). If you are not
in PPT, your handstand will look like a banana. To do this, push your lower back into the
ground, or tuck your tail bone down as far as possible. If you are doing this right, your core and
obliques should be working pretty hard.
 Posterior pelvic tilt, lower back is being pushed into the ground

Anterior pelvic tilt. Notice how you can see through my lower back.

The Shoulders
The goal is for your torso and arms to be in a 180 degree, vertical line.

Good: Open shoulders (180 degrees) and posterior pelvic tilt

Bad: Closed shoulders (more like 150 degrees) and anterior pelvic tilt
 Good: Scapula elevated (open shoulders)

When you are reaching to be as tall as possible, your hips will be forced to enter posterior pelvic
tilt to counterbalance.

Bad: Scapula not elevated (closed shoulders)

*Something to note:​ you need to pick either hollow handstand or banana handstand. If your
shoulders are open, you must be in PPT (hollow). If your shoulders are closed, you must be in
APT (banana).

Overbalancing

If you haven't overbalanced to the point of no return (falling over the top) then you still have a
chance to save the handstand. You do this by piking your legs at the hips and slightly bending
your arms. Really you don't have to bend your arms at all, however, bending your arms
shortens your body (think of the body as a lever). A shorter body will result in less movement
from the rest of your body to correct your positioning.

The same can be said for under-balancing except instead of piking your hips you do the
opposite, arch your back. And again, the more you bend your arms, the less your body has to
arch to correct the handstand.

Note: Under-balancing usually requires bending your arms much more than
overbalancing, so unless you can do a freestanding handstand pushup, always lean
towards overbalancing than under-balancing. Correcting overbalancing is usually only a
slight bend of the arms.
 Hips piked and arms bent to correct overbalancing

Falling Out of a Handstand

When overbalancing, you have to rotate your body or else you will back flop... Try both sides. I
fall to my right side, so I take my right hand off the ground to allow myself to twist.
So now we know the theory behind the handstand, but how is it actually learned?? PRACTICE
each progression until you can do it in your sleep before moving on. Also, I will give
approximate times/reps to hit in each position. Make sure you can hit the times and reps given
as it is quite difficult to perform harder progressions when you don't have the necessary
stamina/control.

Wall Progressions

Before we start, let's go over what it actually feels like to balance a handstand. A common
mistake that people make when starting is pushing with the palms of the hands. Instead, you
should be "gripping" the ground, with the majority of the weight on your knuckles.

When you overbalance, you push harder with your fingers, or you can say grip the ground
harder.

Also, you are never completely balanced in a handstand. You are constantly "see-sawing" from
your fingers back to your palms, back to your fingers. Just stand on one foot. It's so easy you
probably have never realized how much rebalancing your foot and ankle are constantly doing
for you, and how you are never just completely "balanced."
One last thing... Push UP (elevation of scapula/arms) and be as tall as possible.

Step 1:​ Back-facing wall

Remember: point your toes, keep your legs and arms locked, weight in the knuckles/fingers
pushing UP. It's okay for your back to arch here, just get comfortable being upside down.

Goal: 30 seconds to get that base endurance going.

Keep everything off the wall except for your toes. Now, you can't arch. Being close to the wall
like this forces PPT and open shoulders. Also, don't make the common mistake of pushing your
body into the wall with your palms. If you just can't find the balance point no matter what you
are doing, that is probably the problem. Remember, weight in your knuckles and pushing UP,
not into the wall.

Goal: 45-60 seconds because to actively control the handstand during toe pulls you must be
comfortable and have stamina upside down.

Step 3: ​Toe Pulls

After you have completed your time goals, move on to toe pulls. All you do here is from starting
with toes on wall, very slowly (one foot at a time, at first) take your toes off of the wall, find your
balance point, hold for as long as you can without tipping over, and come back to the wall.

Remember, you are never just "balanced." You are always "see-sawing" back and forth.
Pushing down with your fingers then pushing down with your palms and back. Also, everything
must stay tight. If you bend your knees or lose core tension, you will go over the top.
 Starting with toes on wall

Starting with toes on wall

Goal: 10 toe pulls, each pull with a 4-5 second freestanding hold. Get comfortable doing these
stomach-facing and back-facing.
Step 4: ​Practice kicking into a freestanding handstand (​ working on this during all steps will
be helpful)

So once you are able to hold the handstand starting from the wall, you still need to be able to
kick into the handstand, freestanding. This takes lots and lots of practice. You will have to
experiment with this on your own. I will say, however, you "catch" the handstand. When you
kick up you will have to grip the ground really hard with your fingers to prevent yourself from
falling over the top. This is where wrist strength comes in.

Which will lead us into the next post....

And to conclude everything, just remember that this skill takes so much practice and patience.
Eventually, certain things will just "click" and you will be so happy that you stuck with it. If you
aren't seeing improvement, either keep doing the same thing or try a different technique, but just
make sure you keep practicing s​ omething. After a while you will find what works best for you.