Cast to handstand exercises

[ffliwt]

I was wondering if anyone knows any good exercises for casts to handstand?

I was on bars with a younger coach and she told me to do some really high casts so i did and they were really high so she suggested that i go straight onto casting to handstand. I tried, and i can kick up really high and keep my shoulders over the bar but then i find it hard to 'pop my shoulders in' and push up into the handstand. I ended up just falling face first over the bar! xD I know it's probably that my arms aren't strong enough, so are there any good exercises or drills i can do?
The coach couldn't really help me that much as she's only the same age as me so obviously it's hard to spot me - she's fine with the younger ones.
I know i may not be able to learn it on my own but even if i do drills and work up the strength to be able to do it when my coach can help me, that'd be great


I'm determined to get this - all my gym are now doing tumbling at the moment but i HATE tumbling so i go train on beam or bars or whatever on my own, i don't think my coach or anyone else realises i'm doing any work. I wanna really improve my 4 piece to surprise everyone when we go back to 4 piece!! And obviously wanna improve cause i looove 4 piece.

 

[peace.love.gymnast]

I would practice doing handstand push ups to get your arms/shoulders stronger. You can try those against a wall. Also, a good drill for cast to handstands is to put an 8" mat under a floor bar (or other very low bar) & practice bouncing into the handstand from a mini tramp or spring board. This will give you the opportunity to practice getting in the correct handstand position once you're up in the air. Also, if you fall, it's not that far to the mat until you get better at it. Hope this helps!

 

[Linsul]

Is there a bungee station available to you? It's just a cord between two posts, at about or just below hip level. I'd suggest grabbing a floor bar, handstand, fall to the bungee, and when you pop back up to the handstand practice opening those shoulders up. Put a mat in front of you to land on should you fall forward if you bounce too hard. You can also start with your legs on the cord and bounce them up to the handstand position.

 

[BlairBob]

Planche work. I like HSPU though and at one clinic for boys preparation for giants that was one of the things Steve Butcher did.

start off with a floor bar and get into a pushup position. try to lean over the body with good form and then reset. ribs should be over the floor bar.

another is to practice the planche bouncing your thighs, knees or feet on a swiss ball. this is a bit similar to the bungee drill but you won't go to HS. you can if the ball stays still

work the planche first in tuck position with the hips as high as your shoulders by leaning forward. this is simple on low parallettes ( pushup bars ), a pommel horse or parallel bars.

kick to handstand, tuck and lower down as slowly as possible. when this can be done, do it in straddle, then straight body.

Building an Olympic Body through Bodyweight Conditioning: A Bodyweight Strength Training article from Dragon Door Publications all about the planche.

lastly, one is to get into a wall handstand, stomach to wall and lean forward, shoulders over hand then press back to the handstand stomach to wall. eventually lower more and press back to HS. you will have to adjust your hand distance from the wall.

 

[ffliwt]

Thanks guys i'll try all of those tonight

Another thing i've been doing at home is press handstands from standing. ok so i have to jump, but like in cast to handstands my shoulders are forwards then i have to push them back in to straighten out into handstand if you get what i mean. Thought that might be good to practise as that's the bit i couldn't do on the bar =]

 

[Linsul]

Thanks guys i'll try all of those tonight

Another thing i've been doing at home is press handstands from standing. ok so i have to jump, but like in cast to handstands my shoulders are forwards then i have to push them back in to straighten out into handstand if you get what i mean. Thought that might be good to practise as that's the bit i couldn't do on the bar =]

That's something you can do at the gym with a partner as well. I usually have a floorbar/bungee station for solo practice set up, and another floorbar where the girls work with a partner doing straddle press to handstand, kicking to handstands, or piking to a handstand from feet on the bar. While one girl is doing that, the other watches for shoulder/head angles, bent legs, etc. and can provide a light spot so the girl on the bar can hold the position for a little bit longer than she would solo. I would ask your coach to spot it first so they can get an idea of what to look for specifically in your case. It's tremendously helpful to have a pair of eyes with that drill since you can't see yourself, and a pair of hands so you know the feel of doing it right rather than having to guess.

 

[matthewmovement]

I too am working on my cast to handstand. My coach has me cast as high as I can and then straddle and bring my feet onto the bar on either side of my hands.(like in a girls level 5 UB routine? I think it's level 5.)

The higher you get the longer it should take to bring your feet back. This has helped me get quite a bit of height on my cast HS, almost there.

Good luck.

 

[BlairBob]

Hah, how cute. the L3 straddle on before the dismount. in L5, they squat on in a tuck or pike feet between their hands.

I learned the cast handstand by simply already being strong enough and doing cast really high to flatback on mat stack. that was it.

I teach the cast handstand with mini-tramp bounce to handstand, swing to handstand on PB ( which the girls also do ), spot a lot of them and lower down to support ( negative motion ). Seal press off panel mats, pike up to HS ( and straddle for the girls ).

I don't teach the cast press and straddle for MAG as I would the WAG. Were men and it's MAG, just get strong. Maybe later for straddle sole circles.

Lots of upper body strength besides good middle body strength is the ticket besides being brave and "taco-ing" on the bar. Taco-ing means piking the hips and leaning over the bar as much as possible. Try to make a right angle on the bar.