Cast to handstand for giants..help!

[fliptwisttwirl]

So I did giants for the first time yesterday and they were really easy for me..like by the end of the workout I was just getting a light spot on the first one and then doing the second and third on my own. The only problem is the cast before it. I don't have a cast that's even close to a cast handstand (or a free-hip hand that I could do it out of). My cast is only to about horizontal. I'm pretty old for a gymnast that's just starting giants..I'm 15. Does anybody have any drills to get a cast to handstand solid and, if possible, quickly? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[wallinbl]

DD's coach told her to work on press to handstands - a lot of them. Go up, down, up, down, etc without touching the ground.

 

[Esoteric]

Yep. dds gym wont let the kiddos straddle to handstand so pike presses are what they are told to do along with the occasional planche to get the feeling of having your shoulders over the bar. Good luck!

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

Just a word of advice...I was also 15 when I started learning giants and I also had a small cast (above horizontal, though, but also not great form). It's taken me a year or more to do a good straddle cast to handstand ~1/2 of the time, probably less on the high bar. It's awesome that you have your giants! You're probably pretty strong if you're doing those so strength shouldn't be a problem with the cast.

If you're doing straddle casts, work on press handstands from straddle stand a lot and do cast to handstand with a spot to help you learn to lean your shoulders over while doing the straddle bit. Also, think about pressing down on the bar or pushing through your shoulders - that helps me a lot. It's going to be harder for you to learn a cast than somebody who's 4 feet tall, so just stay with it and be patient...it'll happen eventually.

 

[BlairBob]

Work on upper body strength and lower back strength, especially explosive lower back strength.

For your upper body, dips at first and maybe HSPU to HeS against a wall or off a box with hips piked. Get strong at dips first. Of course, you should already have a strong pushups with elbows in and work them with feet elevated.

3-5 sets of 3-10 repetitions. Once you can do 5-10, make the progression more difficult. If you get strong enough with dips (10 PB dips) you can added weight. Single rail dips are ok as well. From support to sternum.

Presses help but planche work is preferable, just starting out with planche leans or spotted planches (to HS) or tuck planches. One of those bungee HS trainers are ok.

For lower back strength, you can work Inverted Leg Lifts on stall bars or in a headstand or handstand which is sort of a press variation. Headstand should be fairly easy so working them in bent arm HS with your height elevated off the floor resting on a mat makes the leg lift a bit more difficult. Weight them possible.

You can also do superman leg lifts/reverse hypers on a pommel horse, block, or the table. These are super easy generally so I would weight them or work toward vertical.

I came into gymnastics with a lifting background in my early 20s and a fair amount of upper body strength so my back was more than strong enough to cast to HS early on with enough upper body strength.

A nice drill we came up with is to set two spotting P-blocks underneath a single rail by a few inches. Now lie with your hips on the bar while holding the bar in your hands and having your shoulders supported by the blocks. Heel drive (as your body is essentially in a sideways L position) so that your body ends up in a shoulderstand on the blocks.

The blocks make a channel for your body to move in between like a channel or valley.

 

[fliptwisttwirl]

Wow, thank yall for the ideas! I'll talk to my coach about trying these drills and start working up the strength

 

[BlairBob]

That block heel drive to shoulderstand drill is what I'd use as much as you could.

Besides that, just some form of dedicated upper body strength work in the 3-5rep range be it those pushups or elevated feet pushups (decline pushups), dips or handstand pushups.

I know some coaches might just prefer to use a weighted barbell, but most gyms probably don't have that as a setup. Overhead and/or bench press or push press. We used those as well with the girls but didn't bench press because of no benches or racks (though I guess we could have setup some blocks and mats and spotted- kind of a pain in the butt).

And of course straddle press HS so you can work on the straddle on press to HS on a single rail. Of course harder presses are good such as straddle-L or pike press on floor or paralettes and being spotted.

The bounce HS trainer is not extremely useful, but you can practice planching down from HS on them.

Of course, we also spent a fair amount of time having the girls do spotted cast HS or planche press HS. I'm sure 2 girls could spot 1 girl in the planche press HS. Generally 3 sets of 3-5 attempts, sort of depends on how many girls there are in a group and how many coaches you have to spot them. With 2 bars, I could have them do a set with me then do a set of the heel drives.