The still that will make people turn their heads… Handstand, but how to do handstand? is the question that brought you here. Let me tell you one hard truth it isn’t as easy as it looks. Dedication and preparedness to fall are two things that are the basic requirements to learn, and able to perform a handstand.
You have seen it somewhere probably online or in public and loved it, and wanted to do it for yourself I mean I have but as a beginner, I couldn’t. I made many mistakes from following various methods on the “how to do handstand” topic but too many cooks spoil the broth that’s exactly what happened with me. Spent a lot of time improving my handstand posture problem.
Handstand is one of the easiest exercise out there…not that easy but when compared to other advance skills it’s easy.
let me be your master yoda, teach you how to do handstand, must I.
Before we start first you should know the meaning of handstand. There is no point in performing a handstand, and not knowing the proper definition of it.
The definition of handstand
A handstand is an basic act of keeping your body stable while inverted in a vertical position by balancing on your hand. Further progression will involve doing handstand on one hand, or press handstand.
In a basic handstand, the body is held straight with your arms, and legs fully extended, while your legs are held together, and hands are placed at approximately shoulder width.
Some Common questions and their answers
There are many misconceptions or false rumors about handstand so before we start let get the thick fog of misconception out of our way.
Is handstand Good for you?
Yes, it is, handstand falls in the body-weight section, and in body, weights exercise there is multiple muscle movement. One of the perks of body-weight exercise is that you can do it anywhere you don’t need equipment like gym if you have room to stretch you have room to exercise But still don’t go overboard, and practice handstand is a very closed space.
Learning a handstand is equipped with a lot of falling, and overcoming that fear that will help you mentally.
Does handstand help you build muscle?
The core plays an important role in stabilizing your body so that you won’t fall consistently doing handstands will strengthen your abs and spine. Shoulder, arm & wrist are other main muscle engaging, and doing handstand consistently will eventually help you build the muscle of that region but don’t just rely on handstand to get you that body.
Is handstand dangerous?
It is dangerous when you do perform handstand without any preparation, zero-knowledge, and experience that goes for almost everything, not just handstand if you going to do any physical task without any prior experience or knowledge you’re going to get hurt.
Now on bright side look at…
Benefits of handstand
- Super upper body strength – Obviously your shoulder, arm, and upper back muscle will be engaged as a beginner your hands will shake but as you keep on going you will definitely see your upper body strength grow exponentially.
- Core strength – As you’re in upside down position your core will act as a stabilizer, and as the core is engaged consistently no doubt it will help your core.
- Nutshell workout – to do Handstand major muscle groups are engaged simultaneously hence breaking, and building that muscle groups.
- Stress minus happiness addition – In an upside-down position your brain decreases the production of cortisol. The cortisol hormone is the cause of stress. It has been said exercise makes you happy, and the particular reason for that is the production of endorphins which makes you happier.
- Balance – I mean handstand, sometimes we do fall down while walking on our legs so staying in a handstand position will increase your ability to balance.
This was in-short benefits of doing handstand now lets get into the world of upside-down.
How to do handstand
First of all, when you will read about how to do handstand it will look easy but in reality, there is a lot of falling, wrist pain involved. Simply you need to think that can your hands hold the weight of your whole body, and on that gravity pulling you?… if not.
You have to start working on that your first handstand hurdle.
Below I’m gonna write a warm-up exercise set if you can do that you can consider yourself qualified to do handstand, this warm up exercise will consist of movement that will check your upper body strength. It’s a kind of self-assessment test.
Warm up exercises
You are excited … good and with enthusiasm, we are gonna do the basic exercises to pump that blood and get your muscles in flow.
Start your warm up
Jumping Jacks – 45 Seconds.
Parallel bar dips – 6 to 8 … 3 Sets.
Pull-Ups – 8 to 12 … 3 Sets.
Push-Ups – 10 to 15 … 3 Sets.
So done with the warm up … take a rest and clean up your sweat now we are gonna tap into the real deal.
Before that let’s take a stop and consider our wrist, while learning how to do handstand all of your body weight fall downs on your wrist…literally and figuratively.
We are going to do wrist stretching
The wrist doesn’t seem like much but it is one of the most complex joints in our body. The unique thing with wrist stretching is you can move your wrist in any direction and you will feel mild tension do it till you’re comfortable and it will work. Not just for handstand but stronger wrist are necessary for day-to-day activities doing these wrist stretches will help your wrist become flexible and strong.
Below images will give you idea of how to do a wrist stretch…
- Forward & Back wrist stretch.
- Upside-down wrist stretch.
- Downward pull wrist stretch.
- Upward pull wrist stretch.
Now the main part on how to do handstand
In beginning, while trying to learn to handstand fear of falling on your back is a very common problem, and that barrier of fear slows down your progress drastically.
The first thing you need to learn is to exit from the handstand position. This exit will also help you overcome your mental fear of falling and hurting yourself.
What is exit in handstand?
Exit is simply falling but in a controlled direction so you do not sprain or injury yourself in any way. learning how to exit and land on your feet will help you avoid any kind of injury from happening, and believe me exit is going to help you a lot more than you know.
How to exit properly from handstand?
You need to know, and should be able to perform basic cartwheel the particular reason for that is cartwheel skill will create the habit to land on your feet while your hands are still attached to the surface. Now get yourself into the handstand position (hands placed shoulder-width apart), and kick hard enough so your body would get into a handstand position with the intention of falling
In the beginning, your legs can be slightly bent or fully as you are trying to learn exit it doesn’t matter the important thing here is for you to get comfortable with this movement. As you get comfortable over a period of time you will also determine your default side of twist (I twist towards the left side for my exit). The twist occurs from the hands and shoulder.
Whenever you’re losing balance just remember your exit and quickly make the twist.
If you’re afraid of practicing this… pick a soft surface like grass, etc.
It should be easy as cake for you after some practice after that the fear of falling on your back will be gone like it didn’t even exist.
Getting familiar with handstand position
I’m going to assume that you can hold your body weight on your while being inverted. One of the hardest things in the handstand is getting familiar with the position as I didn’t know in the beginning and made mistakes making me end up with a banana handstand position. Banana handstand isn’t bad it’s just my personal opinion, and if you keep your body in proper handstand position you will be better equipped to progress to more advanced movements such as a press to handstand and a one arm handstand.
When you do will be in proper handstand position it will feel like your leg weight is gone only weight that will put pressure on your hands will be the upper & middle section of your body.
Core Strength
As a beginner, you are new to the handstand your core doesn’t have enough strength, and your shoulder doesn’t have enough mobility to keep your body aligned. So to overcome this hurdle you will be doing 2 core exercises Hollow hold, and plank to strengthen your core.
Practice these two exercises in between rest or whenever you’re free. First, try doing these exercises for 30 sec then 1 minute keep on progressing.
Now to get the proper handstand position
Wall Handstand
Practicing a wall handstand will give you the idea of how your body should be positioned when doing a handstand also it will increase your balancing ability.
To do a wall handstand simply get into a downward-facing dog yoga position close enough to the wall so when you get into a handstand position your back doesn’t arch but stays in a proper handstand position, and kick hard enough to get into a handstand position. kick too hard and you’ll bounce back.
On the bright side, a wall handstand will strengthen your upper body strength while engaging your core too. try to hold the wall handstand position for at least 10 seconds, and if it gets easy try increasing the hold duration gradually.
When a wall handstand becomes easy for you try taking support from one leg like shown in the above image, and slowly take both the legs off the wall and try balancing as long as you can without the support of the wall.
Good way to check if your posture is correct try recording yourself as you unlock your first handstand.
Wall Walk handstand
This is the advanced version. Before you practice this you should very well know how to exit from the handstand as soon as you lose your balance because your stomach will be facing the wall only exit available will beside or in the opposite direction, towards your back. So whenever you feel like you’re losing balance do the cartwheel that we practiced at the beginning on either side.
- Sit down, with your back facing the wall. keep at least 2 -3 feet distance between the wall and you.
- Lift your hips up placing your legs onto the wall.
- Walk with your hand backward, and with your legs upwards. as you’re a beginner keep your hand’s bit further from the wall.
- Walk as high as you are comfortable, and hold.
- Slowly walk back to your starting position.
Points to remember
- Do not arch your back, keep it straight.
- Do a fully extended wall walk handstand when you have practiced it for quite some time.
Wrist role in Handstand
No doubt all your body-weight fall onto your hand, and wrist.
Apart from that hand and wrist plays another important role in how to do handstand that is of balancing. Whenever you push from your fingers your body will fall towards your stomach facing side, and when you push from the palm your body will fall towards your back facing side and in between this pushing you have to learn that how much should you push when losing balance? or how to do handstand longer than usual?
These all question get’s answered when you learn to balance your body from this pushing movement.
To learn this wrist movement we will do…
Frog Stand
Besides the stepping stone towards the handstand, the frog stands also help you increase the endurance of your arm, shoulder, and lower back muscles. the primary muscle that will be engaged during learning frog stand will be the shoulder and arm. secondary muscle will be the back, chest, and core.
- To start this progression exercise get into a squat position, and place your hand on the ground in front of your feet. Shoulder width apart.
- Now Bent your elbow a little, and bring your knees closer to the bent elbows for support. your knees should be placed a bit above the bent elbow.
- Lean forward so that you fall onto the hand, leaning forward will bring your feet in the air. In beginning, you may not able to lift your feet properly but practice makes a man perfect.
- Hold this position, and when you start to lose your balance practice that finger & palm push movement to keep your body in position for as long as you can. (this progression exercise will engage and strengthen your core too.
Do keep a pillow or something soft so you won’t hit your head on the ground like I did.
Practice
Now you know how to do handstand But just knowing the progress & exercise won’t help you you need to keep on practicing it daily for at least 10 to 15 minutes doing it early in the morning will serve as a great exercise routine. You have to ask yourself how badly you want to do handstand. If it’s important do it every day but keep in mind too much of anything is bad so don’t overdo it.
As you will practice without any wall support, and if you are still scared of falling here a helpful tip. Have your friend beside you to spot you whenever you fall.
This sum ups my knowledge on how to do handstand, now what are you waiting for start practicing and within a month you will become a pro on how to do handstand. After a tiring session does after workout stretching to relax your body.
Now you do have another cool pose in your arsenal rather than just looking at the camera. Teach others how to do handstand or send them here.