Women straddle press to handstand and beam cartwheel?

[#gymnast4life]

I can do a straddle lever and raise my hips slightly. The handstand bit is what I can't seem to get the hang of! whenever my hips are raised to a certain height, my arms bend and I just fall. does anyone have any exercises or tips to help me get this move in about two weeks? Also I was wondering if anyone had tips for cartwheels on the beam? I can do it every so often but I would like to be able to make that more consistent I have a chin up bar, floor beam and mats at home if that helps in anyway?))x

 

[Flossyduck]

I spent many hours helping my dd to get her straddle press to handstand. That's many hours of my life I'll never get back, but it gave me some insight!

Try learning them in two stages.

First the straddle lever to elephant stand. You will need to really push down into the floor (imagine you're pushing the floor down/away and keep your arms strong, to give you any chance of swinging your legs out.

You need to strengthen your wrists and your shoulders, as you'll go over on your wrists and your arms need to lean forward in the first 'press' bit.

Stage 2 is elephant stand to handstand. Try standing with your feet raised on something (panel mat, sofa cushions) and hands on floor to begin with and slowly work to being able to straddle up to handstand from with floor.

Try doing them against the wall, with your hands not too far away from the wall, then you know you wont go over and you can concentrate on getting a good wide straddle.

Focus on rolling your back up the wall from shoulders to hips, until your bottom is against the wall and then start to lift your legs, so they come around the side. If you life your legs too early, before your back is upright, they will pull you back down.

I'm sorry, but from my experience two weeks is hopeful. It's one of those skills that just needs working at and can take some time to get the control, but good luck.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

as she said - for cartwheel on beam make sure you do it at the same speed as you would on the floor - when Pink and Fluffy was leaning I would count it out on the floor then count out the same rhythm on the beam.

 

[#gymnast4life]

Flossy duck! Thanks for the advice! I can do both stages you have just mentioned but I can't put them together any tips for that?

 

[#gymnast4life]

Iwannabemargo! Thankyou i will give that a go

 

[Iwannabemargo]

you have to rotate your hips when you come out of the lever and then go up to hanstand - make sure you keep your centre of gravity over your hands. When I was spotting these I would stand behind the gymnasts back and just rotate the legs before the handstand.

 

[Learning Parent GB]

as she said - for cartwheel on beam make sure you do it at the same speed as you would on the floor - when Pink and Fluffy was leaning I would count it out on the floor then count out the same rhythm on the beam.

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Such a good idea. I will tell DD. You go wobbly when you go slow!

 

[Flossyduck]

If you can do both parts, you are nearly there. Go up to elephant stand, but only allow your toes to touch down quickly before carrying on. You can allow a tiny push off to start with, but try and reduce the pause until you don't need to touch down at all.

That's also the point when you should be focusing on rolling up your spine while your legs are still in straddle, don't rush. Lots of reps against the wall to get the feel for that and build up the right muscles. dd was told spend half an hour every day doing them against the wall.

Also try starting in handstand (ask someone to support you) and doing a controlled straddle down to get the feel for the balance point.

I don't have any more advice except lots of reps, reducing the pause until it works. And then you have to keep working them because you lose them quickly. dd's group do five in every warm up of every session!

 

[BlairBob]

Straddle-L press Handstand negatives from a HS. Go as slow as possible.

Incremental straddle-L presses. Straddle-L to stand. Try not to let the hips open but to lift the butt up while staying in a compressed pancake.

Spotted straddle-L press HS.

 

[CoachTodd]

The longer you can stay compressed, the easier the skill is.

 

[#gymnast4life]

Thank you so much guys!