After 3 years of being asked for a Handstand Course, I am so excited to announce that it is here!
Through a series of 5 videos, I will teach you the exact steps you need to take to not only get up into a wall-assisted handstand position but how to continue to build your strength to progress all the way to doing handstand walks!
Each video focuses on one building block as you master each step towards your handstand walk!
~Kari
Click above to watch our welcome video!
Wall walks are a great way to introduce yourself to a handstand. They will also help you build up the upper body and core strength needed for the advanced versions of handstands.
My goal for Wall Walks is to get you to feel comfortable walking up as well as down the wall and getting familiar with being inverted. Overcoming the fear of being upside down is another key thing I want you to take away from learning how to do a wall walk.
Steps for the movement:
1. Start lying on the ground, perpendicular to a wall on your stomach with your feet at the wall.
2. Your arms bent and hands placed on the ground right next to your chest while your legs are straight and together.
3. Press yourself up so that you are in the top of a push-up position with your arms and legs straight and core tight. As you do this, lift one leg up to the wall.
4. Then lift your other foot so it is up on the wall. Once your second foot is on the wall, slightly walk your hands into the wall as you lift.
5. While doing this, make sure you keep your core tight.
6. Continue to walk your hands, by taking small steps, into the wall and your feet up the wall until you are in a handstand and your hands are 6 inches away from the wall at a minimum.
The ultimate goal is to touch your nose to the wall. When in the handstand, make sure you are pressing up nice and tall through your shoulders.
7. Come down the opposite of the way you went up, finishing lying on your stomach on the floor just as you started. As you come down, make sure you keep your core engaged so you don’t flop on the ground. Also note, coming down will be difficult the first time you do it, so be aware of that when going into your first wall walk all the way up!
8. Also before you start, if you are scared, start with a planche press on the ground.
9. Progress this so walking your feet up and down the wall.
10. Once you are comfortable with that, it is time to start moving your hands. You can move them little bits at a time until you can go all of the way up.
Make sure to push up nice and tall through your shoulders when in the handstand position and keep your core tight throughout. I often see people get loose in their core, and while the movement is still possible this way, it is not the most efficient and will make it harder to hold a freestanding handstand.
Accessory Movements And How To Practice:
Plank Shoulder Taps are a great accessory movement for wall walks because they will help you build up your upper body and core strength for wall walks. You can do 3 sets of 20 of these with :45 seconds rest
Practice Frog Stands to get comfortable balancing on your arms and build strength in your core, shoulders and triceps.
Hollow Holds to strengthen the core between wall walk attempts while letting your shoulders and arms rest. Do 3 sets of 10-30 seconds of a perfect hollow hold depending on your core strength.
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Handstand holds against the wall will help you get extra practice being upside down without worrying about falling because you have the wall to support you. These will get you ready for all of the future handstand variations!
My goal for the handstand hold against the wall is for you to get comfortable kicking up into a handstand and gaining even more confidence being upside down.
Why it is important:
Practice this so that you can get the proper body position and get comfortable being upside down with support before doing it away from the wall. This step will also teach you how to properly kick up into a handstand which becomes especially important when doing freestanding handstand holds and handstand walks.
Steps for the movement:
1. Start in front of a wall with your favorite leg in front.
2. While keeping your arms nice and straight, kick up into a handstand with both feet touching the wall. Make sure your fingers are spread apart to help you balance. Hands should be slightly turned out with index fingers facing forwards.
3. Keep your head neutral, though slightly looking down to the ground between your hands.
4. The core is engaged throughout. No banana backs.
5. While in the handstand position, try to push up nice and tall through your arms and shoulders. Make yourself as tall as possible. Also, make sure your arms are locked out. This will make you not fatigue as quickly.
6. Breathe when you are upside down. There are so many other things to think about that many hold their breath. Don’t do this!
7. When you are ready to come down, bring one leg off the wall followed by the other. It should be done in the exact opposite way of how you kicked up.
8. Now that you have seen the movement, let's talk about the kick up portion. If you don’t feel comfortable starting from a stand, you can start with your hands on the ground with one foot in front of the other.
9. Another thing to note, while you kick up, make sure you push nice and tall through your shoulders. This is a common fault that I see people make. They get soft in their shoulders and fall towards the wall.
10. You will use both legs to kick up. I see people forget to follow through with their first leg but you want to make sure you are using both of them.
Accessory Movements And How To Practice:
Start with Headstand Hold Against Wall - Hands in a triangle, not a straight line. This will allow you to get used to being in the inverted position and help you learn to kick up.
Practice Handstand Holds Against The Wall by doing them. You can practice them for a little bit every day which will be more beneficial than doing them for a long period of time 1 or two days a week.
Set aside 5-10 minutes to practice your handstand holds up to 5 days a week.
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This is the most common movement I get asked how to do! Not only does it require a lot of upper body and core strength, but you also have to learn how to control your body in space.
This makes it so rewarding once you learn how to do it. Plus you can get that handstand picture by the beach that you have always wanted!
My goal for the Freestanding Handstand Hold is to teach you how to properly hold a handstand. I also want you to feel confident in kicking up and coming down from it.
Why it is important:
This is the most common movement I get asked how to do! Not only does it require a lot of upper body and core strength, but you also have to learn how to control your body in space. This makes it so rewarding once you learn how to do it. Plus you can get that handstand picture by the beach that you have always wanted!
My goal for the Freestanding Handstand Hold is to teach you how to properly hold a handstand. I also want you to feel confident in kicking up and coming down from it.
Steps for the movement:
1. Make sure you can hold a handstand for 15 seconds each way against the wall.
2. Kick up to a handstand.
3. Make sure your fingers are spread apart to help you balance. I see a lot of people focus on using their palms to help them control the handstand but you want to focus on using your fingers. This does not mean the entire weight is in your fingers, it will spread throughout your hands, but don’t forget about your fingers is what I am saying!
4. Push up nice and tall through your shoulders. This allows everything to be stacked which will make it easier to hold. Also when things are stacked, it will be less fatiguing when you hold for an extended period of time. Learning this when you are upside down will make handstand walking easier.
5. Your head position will be in line with your arms but not sticking your head out. You will be looking between your hands to stare at a spot on the floor by looking out of the top of your eyes.
6. Another thing to note is though you are balancing in your fingers, you will also use your hips and shoulders to control the handstand.
7. It is important to know how to fall out of a handstand. Pirouette.
Accessory Movements And How To Practice:
The best way to get better at handstands is by doing them. I find that this is one movement that I lose if I don’t do it consistently. However with some practice, they come back pretty quickly. So what I am trying to say here is it is all about consistency.
Also quality beats quantity. When learning handstands, you don’t want to practice them when you are overly fatigued. It is better to practice a little bit everyday than too much at one time as well.
Make sure you are taking some rest between attempts as well.
You can practice them for a little bit everyday which will be more beneficial than doing them for a long period of time 1 or two days a week.
Set aside 5-10 minutes to practice your handstand holds up to 5 days a week.
Practice doing them against a wall and you can take a foot of the wall, one at a time and get comfortable there. This is not only to practice balancing but also practicing the kick up.
When you do a freestanding handstand, it is very important to be precise with the kick up to put yourself in the proper position to balance and hold.
Practice frog stands and freestanding headstands. This will allow you to get comfortable balancing in space.
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I think this movement speaks for itself, but how cool is it walking on your hands?
Handstand walking requires the body control and balance needed for freestanding handstands but also the coordination to learn how to walk your hands. Just like learning how to walk when you were young, except upside down!
My goal for handstand walks is to teach you how to walk on your hands with control. You will also learn accessory movements to help get you there.
Steps For The Movement:
1. Kick up into a handstand just as you would for the Freestanding Handstand. When you are upside down, keep your arms straight by your ears.
2. While in your handstand, you need to be nice and tall, pushing through your shoulders. No lazy shoulders! You want to be as tall as you can while on your hands.
3. Grip the ground with your fingers.
4. Keep your core tight throughout. This allows you to act as one unit while you are moving.
5. Keep your gaze toward your hands. You want to see where you are going.
6. Shift your weight from both hands to one hand so that you can lift one off of the ground and move it forward. You will then shift your weight to your other hand so you can move the opposite one. This is easy to relate to it as if you were walking, but using your hands as feet.
7. Use small steps with your hands when starting out. Progress to larger steps as you become more comfortable.
Accessory Movements And How To Practice:
Practice walking towards a wall so it will catch you if you are worried about falling.
Handstand head/shoulder taps against a wall which will help you to practice how to transfer your weight from side to side. Get in 3 sets of 10 reps.
Assisted Handstand walk with a partner so they can guide you as you learn to walk without having a wall to assist or catch you.
No matter which level you are at and practicing, consistency is still key.
Handstand walking is a skill so a little bit everyday will go a long way.
Similar to handstand holds, it is best to practice 5-10 minutes a day up to 5 days a week rather than for an extended period of time 1-2 days a week.
Try to practice when you are not overly fatigued to learn the skill.
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One of the best movements for strong shoulders and triceps is strict handstand push-ups. I mean how cool is it to be able to press up your own body weight while being upside down?
My goal for strict handstand push-ups is to teach you the proper way to lower yourself and then press yourself back up with confidence while against a wall. I will also show you ways to build up the upper body strength to make this possible.
Steps for the movement:
1. Start standing in front of a wall nice and tall with your head neutral. Arms are up by your ears or in front of you and put your arms up as you kick up.
2. Kick yourself up into a handstand, making sure your head is neutral and your shoulders are engaged.
3. Your core should be nice and tight.
4. From here, bend your elbows and lower yourself until your head touches the floor.
5. You should be making a triangle with your hands and head at the bottom of the movement. Don’t flare your elbows out to the sides but you also do not want them directly in front of you. They should be in between.
6. Right after your head taps the floor push yourself back up.
7. Once your arms reach full extension, begin the descent again for another repetition.
Make sure your core stays tight throughout the entire movement. Way too often I see people get lazy in their core which makes you less efficient and can wear out your back especially in higher rep workouts.
Also make sure you push up right after your head touches. It makes it much harder when you rest for a second on the ground.
Accessory Movements And How To Practice:
You can practice reduced range of motion. This could be putting a pillow, mat, text book, or whatever else you may have at home, on the floor and practice going to that. Do 3 sets of 3-6 reps depending on how difficult it is. Work on making the mat or elevated surface smaller so you can build up the needed strength.
Practice Negatives which are good for going through the full range of motion, staying controlled throughout. Do 4 sets of 3-5 reps.
Feet on couch or chair or wall. This will allow you to practice the full range of motion but have some weight on your feet or legs since they are on another surface. Do 3 sets of 5 reps.
Strict Handstand Push-Ups are a skill but they also require a lot of strength. I would suggest practicing these less frequently than the other handstand movements.
You can do these 2-3 days a week with one day off to let your muscles recover and get stronger.
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