One of the most important elements of learning to handstand is conquering fear.
We talk about this at length in the Float program, but in a nutshell remember that
Fear can be both conscious or subconscious
In the latter case, you’ve been upside down enough to not feel the dread to invert, yet the uncertainty around “what could happen” prevents you from:
→ going far enough, hindering both consistency and duration
→ progressing away from the wall (that’s an unhealthy form of codependency with the wall!)
→ bailing sufficiently late to give you a standing chance to fight for that handstand… (hindering how long you end up sticking it)
Sure, a lot of going at it (against the wall, against the spotter, freestanding) eventually opens the locks 🔒 that chain your self-confidence.
But is there a quicker path?
1) The case for softer surfaces
This thought process was started when I noticed how quickly students who were training in some form of padded environment (usually, a gymnastics or circus space with at least springy, softer floor, and usually mats) improve their ability to commit upside down.
This is in major part due to our knowing that if we fall, we won’t hurt ourselves. In turn, it highlights how much we rein ourselves in when the fear of hurt lingers in our head.
On the other side of the spectrum, handbalancers who practice on tiles at home between the fridge and the table have a training environment that doesn’t help them breakthrough that ceiling.
Fine, if you don’t have a warehouse with gymnastic tracks in your back garden, we will find other solutions.
One of them, weather and space-permitting, is to find a patch of grass and practice there when possible. You’d be surprise to see how much more at ease you are when you have space around you. Sure, if in a public garden, let the tourists take a picture or two, that won’t throw you off will it ;) ?
2) Movement-patterns and uneven loading
All this upside-down trust building business is really down to you knowing without the shadow of a doubt that nothing can happen to you when inverting. It is a constant dialogue within your head, where the sympathetic should be less and less loud 📣
If we can not change how soft the surface around us is (and the related perception of the injury risk), we can learn to move, bend, load our arms with safety.
The key: going beyond the linear, controlled, boxed handstand towards movement that is reactive yet safe.
2.a Beginners
Beginners are defined as people who can not yet overshoot and bail consistently without a wall. This phase usually lasts between a few months and a year.
Beginners want to work on the following priorities:
- their bailing technique (we want to make it automated)
- their comfort being more and more overshot, with a spot or at the wall
- their capacity to get closer and closer to the overshot zone (remember, it is desirable to be overshot) when freestanding.
- trusting your little arms 💪
honing the bail
The bail has to be brought to a tacit level of knowledge: where you don’t have to think about it anymore. For this you can practice it C2W, B2W, B2W with an air pocket, B2W balancing distance and FS.
C2W bailing progressions
B2W bailing progressions + B2W air pocket
B2W bailing distance
FS bailing regressions
making sure the foot lands behind the hand
Being happy being more overshot
B2W arching slides
B2W diagonal hovers
trusting your little arms
Lunging and hybrid lunge, if you’re a hand on the floor person
B2W side leans
2.b Improvers
Improvers are defined as people who can catch a few seconds freestanding, but not as consistently, straight or long as desired.
Your priorities are:
- being confident loading one arm for longer
- growing more confident, more overshot FS
- discovering how trustworthy your fingers are
- adding chaos in your bail
- improving spatial awareness
one-arm loading
The concept of paws
c2w chaotic hand placement
one hand at a time kick-ups
trustworthy fingers
gymnastic frozen kick-ups
More confident more overshot
c2w falling tower
chaotic bails
c2w head in pike bail
Loading the stepping hand bail
spatial awareness
cartwheel entries to handstand
2.c intermediates
Intermediates are able to catch 15 seconds, very consistently. They’re now working on more advanced patterns.
2024 was the year where I was forced to recognise that some intermediates didn’t feel PERFECTLY comfortable on their hands. Usually, in specific shapes - planching, hollowbacking, etc. I was blindspotted, and loved as I listened to the feedback of my students and watched them grow, questioning what I took for granted, and expanded the method and protocols accordingly.
When this situation arises in an experienced student, it calls for an examination of possible causes - and all too often do we infer protective mechanisms from the nervous system that we don’t (and probably can’t) correct and fix through the medium of handstands.
eg. I broke my right arm when I was 12, I developed compensations accordingly over the years, and I now lean mostly on my left arm when I handstand.
That being said, this is the level where stepping away from the linearity of handstands will come handy to address the issue and grow extremely peaceful on your hands.
The priorities for this group are:
- stamina uneven holds
tuck up to wall c2w
1 arm tuck up to wall c2w
c2w one arm holds
- chaos management
eyes closed handstands
disruptive spotter
musical handstands
c2w bailing the other side hand
C2w bailing the other side foot
C2
- heightened spatial awareness
B2w tethered 🪱 exploration
C2w 🪱 exploration taking off worming and coming back / into controlled bails :
c2w tucked turns
Cartheeel into wall both sides
Perpendicular cartwheel to stop
- Perpendicular hold
- Perpendicular to forward facing 90 transition
- Perpendicular to one bent leg tethered into b2w (backward facing )
- Fewer hand steps
L turns
- obstacle course and precision aiming
looped jumps
Aus to boxes
- disociating gaze from hand landing
closed eyes
random angles warm up kick-up
sternum facing away (back au)