Straddle lever press to handstand

[Becky x]

Im having trouble with my straddle lever press to handstand. Does anyone have any excersises i could do to get this move?
Thankss
Beckyy x

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

What do you mean straddle lever? Are you talking about a planche? Or a straddle support?

 

[KAQuinlan]

If you mean starting from a straddle stand, then put your feet on an elevated mat and your hands on the floor. Stack the mats until you are successful. Every time you get three in a row, lower the mat until you are doing it on the floor.

If you are trying to do it from a sit, start with your legs resting on your elbows. This helps you to get the skill without having to hold the press and starts you up higher than a press so that you don't have as far to push. Once you are successful there, try it on an elevated surface with your legs dangling to the side -- gives you space to get the mechanics without having to hold the press to start. After you are successful there, then try it on the floor. If you get to the floor and are still having some trouble, try rolling back with your legs in a straddle, then rolling forward and pushing into it. The momentum helps you to be successful and just doing it helps to build the muscle strength that you need.

 

[Becky x]

by straddle lever i mean sitting in straddle on the floor and lifting up your body with your arms, so your legs are resting on your elbows and your bottom and legs are off the floor. you probably call it something different.
thanks KAquinlan

 

[marie83]

Here are some drills I use with my gymnasts:

Lots of Japanas (sit in straddle, stomach on the floor)
- also do this with your feet raised.

Hold Straddle lever
- Aim to get your feet higher than your bottom and just hold it as long as you can.

The actual straddle press to handstand requires you to be able to move your shoulders forwards and backwards so having your coach or a parent/sibling support the press to handstand will help you to feel the correct action.

You could also try something I call 'knees to handstand' to help with feeling the shoulders move forwards and backwards. I use this for cast to handstand also.
- Start kneeling down with your hands right next to your knees. Lean forwards and lift your legs to handstand (you are allowed to do it quickly, it isn't a 'lift' as such, but it isn't a jump either) as you reach handstand, pull your shoulders back inline with your hands.

Also think about keeping your legs as close to your body as possible throughout the move until you are completely inverted and need to join your legs together.
- practice with your back to a wall - that way your legs have to stay close to you or you'll end up kicking the wall!

I have some more, but I've run out of time, but I'll try to remember to post later!!

 

[I-Heart-Beam]

Try doing some stalder rolls on floor.
If you can get half way up, but not quite to handstand, put a mat against the wall and do a straddle lever up so you can fall against the wall but still stay in some sort of handstand.
Lots of pancakes will help too.

 

[BlairBob]

Work on just the straddle lever itself. Coach Sommer trains it like this:

test your max hold and divide it in half. do 60 total seconds of volume. if your max is 10s, you would use 12 repetitions of 5s with some rest period in between, so you are not performing them one right after another.

sit in a straddle. put your hands in between your crotch and practice holding your heels off the floor incrementally. 5-10-15-30. It'll cramp your quads and make your hip flexors scream. then do the same but lift your legs up and down. you can hold, then do leg lifts or vice versa.

straddle stand press/lower down into straddle lever and press back to straddle stand. straddle a panel mat if you have to.

handstand lower down to straddle stand or straddle lever.

 

[marie83]

Some of my other drills have been mentioned since I last posted but I just have one more:

Stand facing a floor beam in straddle. place your hands on the beam and lean forwards. Try to raise your feet off the floor and lift them up above the beam and hold them there. When you can do this, try going all the way up to handstand. Really try not to jump at all.

With this skill I think you have to be flexible and strong, (If you are VERY strong, you can sometimes get away with it) so don't forget to work box splits and the Japanas/pancakes with feet raised as I mentioned in the first post!.

 

[ebie2005]

Work on just the straddle lever itself. Coach Sommer trains it like this:

test your max hold and divide it in half. do 60 total seconds of volume. if your max is 10s, you would use 12 repetitions of 5s with some rest period in between, so you are not performing them one right after another.

sit in a straddle. put your hands in between your crotch and practice holding your heels off the floor incrementally. 5-10-15-30. It'll cramp your quads and make your hip flexors scream. then do the same but lift your legs up and down. you can hold, then do leg lifts or vice versa.

ouch i just did these and they really do make your legs scream

 

[BlairBob]

Neither am I though I did forget to do them today in my warmup. I'm pretty sure none of my gymnasts ever enjoy these exercises. Many slack-off and those are the ones who aren't gonna get it.

 

[Dord123]

I think you can help me.

HELP ME! I do a straddle lever and it feels like my legs lock out and i cant go any higher. How can i raise my legs above my hips? How could I hold my straddle lever? I hope you can help. Thanks.

 

[emma123]

Help?

Hi,

ive been having trouble with my straddle lever to handstand!
ive been practicing press handstands against a wall and have got that! But when i try press handstands on the ground i get to my tippy-toes and then fall foward! Do you know why this could be!?
also im not very good at straddle lever do you have any tips to help me improve?
I find straddle lever to handstand hard! im quite tall! could this be the reason why??

xxxx

 

[Shelovesthebars]

I saw something interesting on skillsanddrills.com. Candle to straddle rolls on a folding mat. Does this help at all?

 

[emma123]

Yes, Thanks very much!! xx

 

[Wild Ice]

...I'm having trouble with my straddle handstand press too! When I try to go to tippy-toes a fall flat on my feet. Any tips?

 

[gymnastcarolxx]

straddle lever to handstand

i cant get my straddle lever to handstand i got it once thats it can any one help me i really need this! please please help xx
tnx

 

[BlairBob]

WildIce, make sure you are pushing through your shoulders. If you already are, make your shoulders stronger.

Carol, it's hard to help if we don't know the exact problem in the first place.