Coaches Archly cast handstand in reverse grip.

[Dahlialover]

Does anyone have tips, videos, or drills for casting to handstand with legs together in a reverse grip without arching? Not even our level 10s do this skill well and his coach just tells him to “stop arching” but he doesn’t know how to to do that. He’s been able to fix a bunch of issues based on advice from this forum, so he’d appreciate any recommendations you have! Thanks!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Sorry, I got nothing for this one. To be honest, I usually don't worry much about getting rid of the arch in this skill. Actually getting to handstand with no arch and legs together in a reverse grip cast takes an unrealistic amount of strength for a low to mid level athlete imo, and upper-level routines tend not to use the skill anyway.

Planche work might help. Handstand (with hands turned out), lower partway to planche, push it back up to handstand. This can be worked progressively lower and lower (ie closer to a full planche) as strength builds, but again this is considered a fairly advanced strength skill, and I wouldn't generally expect a low-to-mid-level athlete to be able to actually hit a full and proper planche.

 

[Dahlialover]

Sorry, I got nothing for this one. To be honest, I usually don't worry much about getting rid of the arch in this skill. Actually getting to handstand with no arch and legs together in a reverse grip cast takes an unrealistic amount of strength for a low to mid level athlete imo, and upper-level routines tend not to use the skill anyway.

Planche work might help. Handstand (with hands turned out), lower partway to planche, push it back up to handstand. This can be worked progressively lower and lower (ie closer to a full planche) as strength builds, but again this is considered a fairly advanced strength skill, and I wouldn't generally expect a low-to-mid-level athlete to be able to actually hit a full and proper planche.

Thank you! That is really helpful info. My son is a 9-year-old level 5. Just knowing that it’s legitimately difficult to do will reduce his frustration a lot. This season, front giants are a +0.3 bonus in level 5 but an arched cast costs -0.2, so his beautiful front giants are almost worthless from a scoring perspective. So it goes.

We’ve been working on pushing up from a planche to a handstand on a floor rail with me supporting his legs. It sounds like we had the right idea. We’ll just keep messing around with that but I’ll tell him not to stress if it’s not perfect: that’s what we both needed to hear.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Thank you! That is really helpful info. My son is a 9-year-old level 5. Just knowing that it’s legitimately difficult to do will reduce his frustration a lot. This season, front giants are a +0.3 bonus in level 5 but an arched cast costs -0.2, so his beautiful front giants are almost worthless from a scoring perspective. So it goes.

We’ve been working on pushing up from a planche to a handstand on a floor rail with me supporting his legs. It sounds like we had the right idea. We’ll just keep messing around with that but I’ll tell him not to stress if it’s not perfect: that’s what we both needed to hear.

IMO, the best way to build planche strength is without any spotting. Start by developing a solid static handstand (both with legs together and straddled), then lower slightly toward planche and press back up. Then just gradually work it lower and lower, first in straddle and then with legs together. (This is considerably easier on parallets, and builds just as much strength).

As I said, a full planche is neither necessary nor expected at this level; while straddle planche is feasible for a determined young mid-level athlete, I can't recall ever seeing a straight planche done well by anybody at that age or level. That said, planche development is a good idea in and of itself, because that sort of strength is enormously helpful on a lot of skills, and the planche itself is great to build for rings (though it is considerably harder on rings than elsewhere)

 

[Dahlialover]

As I said, a full planche is neither necessary nor expected at this level; while straddle planche is feasible for a determined young mid-level athlete, I can't recall ever seeing a straight planche done well by anybody at that age or level. That said, planche development is a good idea in and of itself, because that sort of strength is enormously helpful on a lot of skills, and the planche itself is great to build for rings (though it is considerably harder on rings than elsewhere)

He already does a respectable straddle planche where he brings his legs together at the end to pass through a full planche momentarily. This was a requirement for the Future Stars program. But there is always room for improvement. The part with me holding him was just so he could feel the motion of going from planched over the bar with a closed shoulder angle to straight on top of the bar with an open shoulder angle. This is a weird motion.