Shoulder angle in handstand

[momof5]

DD has never had pretty handstands but they have improved alot this last year. She recently moved up in groups and is with a new set of girls and coaches and they are really working with her on her handstands. She has been doing them a lot around the house trying to improve them. A few problem that her coaches have told her is that she sticks her rib cage out, she sticks her head out, and she has a bad shoulder angle. She was all upset the other day because the coaches were saying she had poor shoulder flexibility in her handstands and she was sure she had good felxiblity. I think she does have good flexibity but it doesn't show. What can she do to improve this problem and finally clean up her handstands.

 

[emandelsmom]

doing them against a wall has helped my girls a lot.

 

[hawaii_gymnast]

One thing to help with the flexibility issue is to ask her coaches for some shoulder stretches at home, and also handstands with someone holding her feet by a full length mirror so she can look at her self and try to correct it (or at least know what is wrong)

 

[gymdog]

Hmm. It's pretty rare for girls to not have the shoulder flexibility to open the shoulders in handstand. Most likely the rib cage sticking out is causing the shoulder angle, rather than the other way around. This would be much more common anyway. I guess I can't say without seeing it. Head out will also cause a shoulder angle.

To improve this, she should work on laying on the floor, and rounding her back so there is no space between the back and the floor. She should also squeeze her bottom and go as tall as she can.

 

[ameragym]

The drill I like for this is handstands with the stomach to the wall. The hands can be started at almost any distance from the wall and then once you are up, you then walk it in until your wrists are touching the wall. The legs can also be practiced in a straddle.

In order to develop coordination in the spine to adjust the body where it needs to be, upside down body waves can be done against the wall. Kind of like doing the snake in break dancing except you are against a wall in a handstand. You can do this facing toward or away from the wall.

Another drill I like is handstand back against the wall, look under and up at your knees and tuck them down until they touch your forehead and press them back up legs and feet together at all times. The hands will probably remain a fair distance from the wall.

I also like headstands placing the hands together behind the head with arms straight.

I also like piked handstand press downs into a piked plange. The hips are overbalanced and the shoulders are hyper extended. The head is tucked under and you look in at your knees.

I also like look in handstands where you kick up on the floor or cast up on a bar looking down at your hands. Once you are in the handstand then you suddenly look under (but not too much) and up at your feet. If you don't see your feet and see your ribcage or stomach then you can adjust your body until you see your feet. After a while then you should always know where the position is that you don't see your rib cage or stomach first when you look under.