WAG Handstand help!

[LJL07]

I've posted about this before and gotten some great advice, but my daughter is still struggling with her handstand. It looks extremely banana back-like. Was going to try to post a pic but have no clue how to embed. IWC suggested taking a picture and having her draw a pic of what she thinks she looks like. She was very surprised at how arched she is. Her coach gave her exercises to try at home: walk up wall and do nose to wall handstand hold, handstand shrugs nose facing wall, and hollow body hold. She is really trying, but these exercises are hard for her. I'm not even sure she's doing the exercises correctly. For the hollow body, she's trying to work up to 60 sec, but the middle of her back starts arching up about halfway through, so she may not be doing it correctly. What I see happening with the handstand against the wall is that she is struggling to push through her shoulders and appears to maybe be compensating somehow to hold herself up by arching through her lower back. Is there anything even more basic than those three exercises that could help her understand hollow body and good handstand form? I'll ask her coach again, but those are the exercises she gave us to do at home to help with the banana back.

 

[BlairBob]

Stop at 30s, do multiple repetitions.



I especially like the one where he lays down on his stomach. This another that I would train for time. Point toes, arms reach, squeeze cheeks, tuck in ribs and hold. There should be space from the belly button to the floor.

When they stop squeezing their cheeks, poke'm and remind them. Not hard or anything but they need to be mindful of ALWAYS squeezing. Except when they don't have to squeeze (tucking or piking comes to mind).

 

[coach1234]

you have to do this all the the time to get it! Handstand is the most important skill in gymnastics, you do it on every piece! If you don't do it correctly then it will effect a lot of gymnastics later down the line!

 

[LJL07]

Those are great. Thanks! The lying on stomach on floor is good. I think we could help her with that at home. Would it be better to have her do more repetitions of the handstand nose facing wall/spiderman handstand instead of having her do one and hold it for a long period of time? When she tries to hold it for 60 seconds, she gets tired, stops squeezing her cheeks, and then really sticks her ribs out even with reminders.

 

[htimcj]

I would have her work up to the 60 seconds. Perhaps try 6 sets of 10 secs with good form and then slowly increase the time she holds it. Doesn't really do much good to hold the handstand with poor form.

 

[Tumbellina82]

Sometimes kids crane their neck to look at their hands and then that causes their back to arch. This might sound a bit dumb but I have had some success countering this by getting kids to stand with their arms up by their ears like in handstand and then look at their hands while maintaining a more neutral head position. I have found they are sometimes too disorientated by being upside down to make the correction in handstand position without having figured out the head position previously while the other way up.

 

[LJL07]

Sometimes kids crane their neck to look at their hands and then that causes their back to arch. This might sound a bit dumb but I have had some success countering this by getting kids to stand with their arms up by their ears like in handstand and then look at their hands while maintaining a more neutral head position. I have found they are sometimes too disorientated by being upside down to make the correction in handstand position without having figured out the head position previously while the other way up.

She does crane her neck to look at her hands when she does the
spiderman wall handstand, and you are so right that it makes her back arch. I have also noticed that she is kicking up into her freestanding handstand with so much force that she falls over into a front limber pretty quickly. I don't think the above sounds dumb. We will try whatever at this point. She is super frustrated bc so much of the tumbling comes relatively easy to her and this is hard for her. Also, even when her back is straight and she is squeezing her cheeks in handstand, her rib cage sticks out. I think that is just her body build. Not much she can do about that.

 

[gymdog]

If she is arching with stomach against wall it would be best to do it with her hands a little bit away until she can get good body tension.

For the hollow hold, she can try tucking her legs when she arches. 60 is probably too long if she can't do a straight handstand. 3 sets of 20. Then turn over and do it like a push up position but arms farther in front.

 

[gymdog]

This video is best for your purposes I think, assumes more basic strength to start:

 

[BlairBob]

More frequency of shorter holds with better form is better than just one hold at 60s with form breaks.

 

[LJL07]

Great videos and good suggestions. Yes, the shorter holds are working much better for her. It seems obvious now, but I think we were focused on getting her to hold the handstand for a long period of time.

 

[gymdog]

Also if you can use some kind of incline on the wall it will help her get straighter

 

[BlairBob]

Accumulated volume bumps 1rm. It's what a lot of the Soviet Science programming is based. Most of the workload is done prescribed at 85%. 75% of the volume is between 70-90%. Bare in mind this is for a weightlifter who is only in the ATP range of activity compared to a gymnast who is 80% anaerobic. This works well for strength programming though.

Cue Prilepsin's chart/table.

From Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low.

 

[meganliz77]

This may be a little off from the original posters topic, but I'm finding my daughter could probably hold her handstand longer if only she breathed!!! She seems to hold her breath during her handstand, she gets red in the face and flips back up after about 7 - 8 seconds... Any tips with regard to that?!? Unless she is supposed to be holding her breath, I guess I'm not sure. I think part of the reason she is not breathing is because she is VERY focused on being tight....

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Aside: She can hold her HS longer even if she holds her breath. The world record, according to Guinness Book of World Records, for a woman holding their breath is 18 min 32.59 sec. (underwater).

Tips: Holding her breath is one way she getting neural feedback while holding body tension and elevating the shoulder girdle during the held skill. Holding your breath can be one way to attempt to "freeze the shape." How about doing the HS hold belly-button against a wall (cartwheel into and out). Hold the HS for 15 sec. and she can not count the time spent against the wall. Ask her to count the 15 sec. out loud.

Best, SBG -

 

[heatherncastro]

Still learning handstands


Sent from my iPhone using ChalkBucket

 

[Clover]

This may be a little off from the original posters topic, but I'm finding my daughter could probably hold her handstand longer if only she breathed!!! She seems to hold her breath during her handstand, she gets red in the face and flips back up after about 7 - 8 seconds... Any tips with regard to that?!? Unless she is supposed to be holding her breath, I guess I'm not sure. I think part of the reason she is not breathing is because she is VERY focused on being tight....

My DD used to do this. She would fall every time she had to breathe because she didn't stay tight. Eventually, she figured out how to stay tight and still breathe.

 

[BlairBob]

I was gonna say, for any kind of hold, they eventually learn how to breathe and stay tight. Especially as holds become easier.

 

[GymMom4]

For my dd it has just taken lots of practice. She didn't used to be able to hold very long but now it seems she walks on her hands more than her feet

 

[LJL07]

Interesting about holding her breath. I can see where that could help my dd since she really has to think about getting tight and "squeezing." The short handstand holds/repetitions and hollow body tips are already helping in a short time. She actually held her handstand for a few seconds and was able to halfway pirouette on her hands. And she was actually pretty straight! I think she was just doing the exercises incorrectly before. Still needs lots of work, but yea for improving!