There are a handful of challenges that comes with the pike shapes. You want to keep them in mind as you approach this module.
- Less forgiving. Because the shoulders usually have to be super open, there is little room to adjust balance and correct for suboptimal alignments and kick-ups once you kicked-up into your piked handstand.
- Less forgiving, really. All counterweights aren’t equal, remember? Your pelvis being overshot is more likely to reduce the perceived size of your playground than, say, a leg. And where you could perform tools of macro-corrections if your fingers were giving in in a split leg handstand, you won’t have as many options at your disposal there.
- Flexible people, beware. If you have the flexibility to pike your hips (APT at the pelvis, pelvis overshot, and legs undershot) without fully opening your shoulders, you are facing an extra challenge. When we bring our shoulders to the end of their ROM, with usually can lock them in place and, while adjusting the counterweights can be tricky, at least we don’t have to worry about the shoulders. But if you’re flexible, you’ll sometimes pike in a somewhat closed shoulder angle - you now have to ensure that you can differentiate an open shoulder pike from a slightly closed shoulder pike, and work on relying more (exclusively?) on your shoulders and less on your pelvis / lower back.
Now, the good news.
- A beautiful shoulder opener. Pike shapes can really teach you a lot about fully opening your shoulders, which itself transfers into your straight-ish shapes, such as the split leg V shape, the charger, the stag and the feet together I shape (cf: module about the straight handstand).
- More solid. It is a common feeling that once you find the position, balancing is much easier in a piked position. The amount of possible parasite movements is simply drastically reduced: your shoulders are locked in place (see above), your pelvis and legs have to have found their position to counterbalance each other… and both legs are now better locked, especially in the feet together pike and the straddle, less likely to move you out of balance.
- Did someone say fun? Pikes are fun to work on, offer pretty shapes and pave the way to advanced skills such as the press and the one arm. What’s not to like?
