Kicking-up: set your priorities straight
Let’s start with the following punchline:
Kicking up is one of the most misunderstood parts of handstands
When we can’t kick-up and reach the wall, we feel that handstands are too hard and we get discouraged.
But the moment we manage to find that wall behind us with our feet, we think that our job is done and that priority should be given to our balancing skills.
#Wrong.
There are 50 shades of kick-ups, and your kick-up will change along the months and years of practice to become more and more efficient.
A common problem I see in improvers for instance, who kick-up freestanding and are working on holding a more consistent handstand for longer, is that they usually cary with them an obsolete kick-up.
That kick-up used to be great when they were beginners, but is inadequate now because it involves too much momentum, movements which are too big, parasites movements, too much leg swings and not enough shoulder control.
The result: a kick-up which is twice as powerful as it should be for their current goal - entering the balancing zone as gently as possible to maximise their chances to stay in it for long.
In this article, we will talk about the progression in your kick-up practice that you should keep in mind if you want to progress.
The Wall isn’t a problem
Kicking-up properly starts with understanding that being on the wall is not a bad thing.
Too often do I see people too eager to lift their feet off the wall the second they reached it, because they believe that a good position MUST be off the wall.
Let me prove you otherwise.
In this shape, my legs are way into the overshot zone, and yet I am balancing.
This is therefore what we call in the Handstand Academy’s courses a viable shape, however if I was to practice it against the wall my calves and feet would probably be through the wall.
Just because you touch the wall doesn’t make a shape right or wrong.
It is how you get there, how you rest there and how leave that space that will make this conducive to progress, or not.
And that’s not all.
Being against the wall is the proof that you are within the overshot zone, where balance is to be found.
Handstands, for the first few years of practice for most of us, will NOT exist anywhere else expect in that zone which is after the vertical axis.
Trying to avoid the wall like the plague to float for a few seconds before coming back down on the floor is shooting yourself in the foot: you are deluding yourself with the impression that you are floating, when in fact you are already on your way down to the floor.
I call this: the Timber moment.
Just like a big tree being chopped off at its base very slowly falls into the floor and accelerates as it gets closer to the floor, the first signals of your falling out of balance will be subtle, and slow.
But you ARE in essence falling, and you need to be practicing your awareness to be able to decode when this is happening, prevent it from happening as much as possible, and recover it when it starts to happen before it’s too late.
#You should be able, first and foremost, to reach the wall.
#
That’s the obvious priority, but for 30 % of beginners or so, it will feel impossible at first. Don’t fret, it will come, and we will see how in future videos, or you can head here to know everything there is to know about handstands.
And no, it’s not your core 😮💨
Then you should be able to land consistently, on demand
Like 10 times out of 10.
If you surprise yourself undershooting, floating for a few seconds but unable to land on the wall, you are not ready to work on your balance within your kick-up.
Finally, you should be able to land softly, every.single.time
This requires a lot of practice, in order to fine tune your body awareness, the alignment that suits you, the power that you need to muster through your legs to get into the desired zone with just enough momentum.
Once you can land 10 times out of 10 softly against that wall… then you’re ready to start minding other aspects of your handstands which involve more advanced concepts of balance.