Handstand Academy - Start Here

In the Good dog Bad dog (or Good puppy bad puppy, GDBD), we try to extend the shoulders so much our chest ends up parallel to the floor, and we flex them so much it is parallel to the wall behind us.

The name originally comes from the fact that shoulder flexion and extension mean very little to people, especially when they are upside down trying to think about so many things simultaneously.

The name Good Dog Bad Dog (GDBD), however, isn’t ideal. It makes one think that closed shoulders are bad, and open are good.

Don’t think that for one second.

Shoulder extension-flexion is a spectrum.

The Flexion Spectrum

Your shoulders are obviously not simply “open” or “closed”.

They are very open, too open, kind of open, restricted, too closed, quite closed, etc… in the context of handstands.

Open or closed shoulders are not a binary, black and white way of describing reality.

They are two extremes of one spectrum. And your spectrum isn’t the same as your friend’s or mine.

If this is not clear, set two minutes aside and conduct the following experiment.

Sit on a chair with both feet resting on the ground, and focus on your right knee.

Your right knee is currently flexed. The angle between your calf and your hamstring is approximately 90 degrees. We could call this : a “closed knee”.

Now fully extend that leg in front of you, locking the knee. The angle is now closer to 180 degrees - we could say that your knee is “open”.

Assuming that you can fully open that angle (some people can’t, and that’s all the more true with shoulders), relax slightly your leg, so that the foot starts pointing towards the floor.

That is a more closed position relative to the extended leg, but a more open position relative to the bent leg. And there is a host of those position between the first and the second position.

So your goal, for now, is to map out the limit of your spectrum.

→ How does it feel like to be super open, when you are with the wall.

→ How does it feel to open into that position (remember, holding a given position isn’t enough, it is also important to know how to get into and out of it).

GDBD

The Dog drill is designed to teach you how to circulate through this spectrum, going from one end to the other.

This will be necessary to correct your alignment tomorrow while balancing: you will have spent enough time knowing how each shoulder position feels like, and what it takes to transition into it.

Remember also that alignment in handstands is mainly about the shoulders.

Provided that you have the first axis, or first stack,

the degree of shoulder flexion will dictate the pelvis placement, which in turn will dictate where your legs have to be.

6. Trouble shooting the GDBD

The Flexion Spectrum

GDBD