Training guide – A different take
Caveat: My personal goals for anything I write or do is to convince as many people as possible that the best movement is the one you actually look forward to doing. With Netflix, and Postmates handcuffing a generation to the couch, the primary battle can no longer be with “finding motivation,” it needs to be with “being passionate” or “a deep sense of purpose.” So the following are the building blocks to any movement practice.
- You look forward to your practice
- You progress in skill
- You can build your own workout
Also, keep in mind I started this process at age 43, at a height of 6’4″ and at my most 270lbs. Now around 192lbs. Many of the the movements I can do now, not only could I never dream of them before, I was told by many that they’d be impossible for me, or someone my size or age. My shift came mostly from establishing the mindset that my obstacles were more of a reason to try, rather than more of a reason to quit.
First and most importantly – Why the handstand? Simply, I’ve found diminishing returns in fitness and movement when I can perform around 5 of anything. And by diminishing returns, I mean in progress, but also in happiness. When I go from being able to do 0 of something to 1 of that thing, I have found utter joy, and fulfillment. If finishing a 5k or a “Murph” (for Crossfitters) is like eating your favorite flavor of ice cream, then holding a 30 second handstand is like hiking the grand canyon. In other words, finishing a workout tastes good, and is readily available (you could do murph every day because they’re not high skill movements) and you’re happy in that moment. But doing something for the first time is memorable, life altering, and amazing. It’s an essential to experience in my humble opinion. It’s what separates gym goers from athletes – in a word SKILL!
Furthermore, I get endless social media advertisements about calisthenics, learn to handstand in 30 days, zoom workouts, personal training, yoga at home, lose x amount of pounds in x amount of days. The ads seem endless. I tried one course and although I saw the value, I didn’t like it because it was too difficult to follow, needed to watch endless long videos, it didn”t start at my level, and I couldn’t see tangible progress. Higher repetitions are so arbitrary, and difficult to know where you made gains. After all, we’re not trying to handstand for 30 minutes straight, so why practice workouts that take 30 minutes? Feel free to love burpees, pushups and squats in multiples as conditioning, but they don’t transfer at all to doing one of something else more challenging. And when you can do something tomorrow that you couldn’t do today, that sense of pride also leads to stickiness – and that’s really powerful So I set out to create something that was:
- Free
- Fun
- Progressive
- Measurable
- Bodyweight only
- Different
- For any level
- Not scary
- Leads to increased capabilities rather than increased repetitions or time
- Intuitive-short idea based videos intended for you to watch once then practice Here’s one
Especially since quarantine is keeping us inside quite a bit, there are few things you can do to get a good home workout that are better than handstands.
First, my definition of handstand might differ from many. I’m not worrying about shapes, perfectly aligned, stacked or whatever. Those things are nice and efficient. I personally like fun, and progressive over efficient and virtuous. I’d say if you don’t like my definition, then I’ll save you some time – stop right here and don’t go any further and search out a professional balancer or circus performer. My definition is any time your hands are the only thing in contact with the ground and your knees and feet are unsupported for 10 seconds. That’s it.
I contend that you actually don’t need millions of hours of practice upsidedown to learn a handstand, tht you can learn it from the ground up, and for me, doing the chest to wall version and long handstand holds against a wall were just brutally boring. I actually resisted learning because they were so boring, it didn’t seem like they progressed. They may have been, but it’s difficult to actually see the difference between holding against a wall for 1 minute vs 2 minutes even though you may have more capabilities at the 2 minute mark, all you actually see is an increase in time rather than capability.
A few things to keep in mind with my method especially if you’ve tried other methods. I try to eliminate the “kick up” all together. The negative, and holds are so valuable that kicking into the handstand aka using momentum rather than strength doesn’t seem like the best approach. To this end, I approach the handstand through plank, and what’s described as “crow pose’ in yoga. At least that’s what I think I’m doing. It’s really just stacking your support closer to your body. Balancing becomes more possible the more you stack. Plus mostly what I practice was from seeing guys in the gym do these incredible looking things (the L-sit to shoulder stand and the knees on elbows press up). I could balance long before I could do them, so I figured why not go straight to those things, and the balance will be a secondary benefit.
To this end, you have to be able to assess yourself a little bit. I think the candlestick roll for general strength was a good indicator for me. Holding a minute handstand against a wall for support. Holding a 20 second crow pose, a 2 minute plank and touching toes to the floor behind head with straight legs are all valuable things to work on. If they are things that come easy to you, then time to move forward.
Watch this for a good laugh. Video of my beginning fitness standards: That’s ok – I’m super goofy. Nevertheless, this is how I started progressing. If you can’t laugh at yourself…
When I couldn’t balance even a little, I often wondered if it was a matter of general fitness or practice. Truth be told it was probably a little of both. When my fitness was increasing, so was my potential to handstand. I used these movements to determine my “fitness”
Burpees: No equipment, uses whole body, need flexibility, hips, and is the only real metabolic movement in standards
Roll up to squat: Being active in squat has given me gains in squat mobility=better prepared for all leg movements. Helps achieve a better tuck. Rolling is good for you.
Pull up: Relative bodyweight strength
Bridge: Shoulder mobility, hip flexibility shoulder and wrist strength, being almost upside down but not scary. Also if you fell over from hs and landed would you land here? It seems like you should be training opposites.
It might help to consider each position. In the beginning of the handstand you’re actuall in a type of plank or downward dog. Then there is some activity where your feet need to leave the ground, then there is achieving balance. I really feel like breaking these down to super basic options could replace your typical hours of upside down to build foundational skill.
(Side note for beginners– if you’re thinking – I’ll get in shape first then bodyweight exercises will be easier – I’m begging you – don’t get in shape first! Aka, don’t run 5 miles a day or do boot camp class to lose 10lbs to make you lighter first. First, because it will take you that much longer to progress to an actual handstand, second the weight you have naturally is an advantage, because it can help you build strength as extra training weight. Of course you’ll need a little more patience and maybe some dietary adjustments to see optimal progress, but chances are that will benefit you anyway. I really progressed when I thought of myself as becoming more optimal, rather than just “losing weight.” If you want to lose weight, great, but if you’re not building the strength you need coincidentally then you’re not optimizing, just losing. Seems like there’s a better way. It’ll seem just as hard no matter what your weight is when you start. Lastly you might find that you will get in good cardio shape from putting in the work to handstand. Trust me, you can eventually speed up your workouts so that you have less chance to breathe and get more cardio benefit.)
I don’t believe there are” prerequisites” to the handstand, but it sure seems to me that increasing relative bodyweight strength and control over many movements only increases your chances of achieving the 10 second balance. So my “system” has some focus on general strength and mobility as well.
Pressing into a handstand vs. kicking up and using the headstand leg raise
I’m tall, and kicking up is scary. And when people first start out, the “kick up” is by far the least comfortable thing to practice, so I thought – how do we just eliminate it? – I think it boils down to these factors.
- Being generally strong enough. You could have the strength to hold a handstand against a wall. And sure the wall is helping with balance, but it is absorbing your bodyweight, making you lighter. I personally used the wall until I could hold a 2 minute handstand, but 1 minute is plenty. I did this at the beginning of each workout. It gives you some straight arm strength work, and warms up the wrists. If you are not up to kicking up to a wall, I’d regress to headstand plank, and then headstand plank facing wall and pick up one foot, then pick up both feet to wall. I can explain this more later.
- Everyone has heard of a plank right? Well a plank is just the most assisted of all handstands. Then as your torso gets more vertical and you start removing toes from the floor, you get closer to unassisted.
- Bringing your knees up to your elbows – aka mountain climbers – but aim to go slow – like a handstand isn’t for reps, it’s slow and for time – progressing this to crow pose.
- Make the “kickup” a press as possible right from the beginning. Many courses teach the handstand as a “kickup,” a “catch” and a “balance.” The reason being is that you need so much more strength to “press into a handstand.” But why not work on the strength at the same time? Most coaches probably want 1. Your money, but after that, they just want you to achieve balance so it looks like they succeeded. But I’m not sure getting the balance without the strength is all that much faster, and it’s definitely not as optimal or fun to just race to balance.
Ok what I’m going to say might seem a little counterintuitive, but I truly believe that you need to be balanced throughout your whole body ro achieve a handstand for a decent duration. So not only do your legs and “core” need to be strong, but they need to be equally strong. Or at least it will make the balance that much easier.
So with that said, the first movement I would have someone practice if they wanted to achieve the handstand, is the candlestick roll to stand, and toes to behind to pancake.
Plank with weight shift:
Using the hands into the floor:
Alt exercises to mix:
Runner’s Lunge:
Feet behind head to forward fold:
Then how do you work on all of these things everyday, or more often than not (aka designing your workout)
- Pick a time domain, for the sake of this example let’s choose 12 minutes:
- Pick 2 exercises from above and one extra- maybe in a shoulders/legs/mobility/you pick -order
- Warm up, then do 3 rounds every minute on the minute
- Then the next day, pick 4 new and so on. As you progress change the difficulty and reps
Sample workout:
So here’s the thing. You don’t need a ton of strength to hold a handstand. But the best way in my opinion to make it exponentially easier to press into a handstand is to have an abundance of shoulder strength. And for me, I prefer to do a little everyday. In group classes like yoga, or Crossfit or even a boot camp, you will probably do so many reps that handstanding might not be possible for a few days after for recovery. If hand balancing is on your radar, I highly recommend tailoring your “workouts” away from high rep volume on the shoulders. Just see if you can substitute endless burpees, kipping hspu, presses, wallballs and thrusters, to extra light, or just the squatting motion or less repetitions. From there you want to work on your handstand a little everyday. Like 10 minutes of light work everyday is way better than going all out 3x a week. Think of a baby trying to learn to walk. They try and try every moment they have. I personally like to try first thing when I get home. You’re sort of naturally warmed up from your day, and you can maybe find a spot in the garage to practice before you even walk in the house. Obviously when you practice is up to you, but I personally need a ton of warm up in the am, and conversely at night I can almost get right to them.
Finally, worry about your wrists a lot. A wrist injury is pretty much the end of your practice. I’ve hurt my back, knees, ankles, neck and still was able to handstand at least. But you hurt your wrist (and they tend to be fragile) and you are out for the count.
If you need more modifications, I’m willing to help. Everything can be scaled way way back. I just figured my scales would fit many of those who are at the level where they might be considering handbalancing as a fun activity. Of course if you’re just beginning your journey from couch to active, there are many options to simplify.