Do a perfect Handstand in 30 minutes. [Calisthenics]

Handstand

Handstand is a Calisthenic body-weight exercise, Handstands are known by various other names. In yoga, the handstand is known as Downward-facing Tree Pose (Adho Mukha Vrksasana) . In capoeira it is named bananeira.

Handstand is skill of supporting the body in a stable, inverted vertical position by balancing on the hands.

How you can learn handstand step by step. Today we are going to cover some basic and fundamental key factors to master in handstand. Before starting make sure you warm up your self to prevent injury in short term or long term warm up also helps in mobility.

We gonna cover

1. Form/ Execution.

2. Preparation + Mobility work.

3. Beginner Exercises + Progression.

4. Mistakes.

5. Variations.

Form/ Execution

Let's start with the execution in the first example we see a Banana Handstand which is certainly easier to stand but has no advantages over the straight Handstand. But it will help you in further for building shoulder strength and understanding the function of handstand if you can a banana handstand this may be something plus point.

The second example, we see the Str,aight Handstand which represents our goal the straight handstand has the advantage that you spare your joint because the body stand in a straight line this means less stress on the shoulder and lumbar spine in addition by doing the straight handstand. You tense and control the muscles in the torso, the hips and leg more effectively as we let the legs hand forward and form an arch back. The positive aspect is the improved control over your body because you are only able to stand straight when the shoulders, pelvis and legs are coordinates right. When you do the handstand you balance your body mainly through the wrists, the shoulder, the pelvis and the legs often a banana handstand only occurs because the mobility and the shoulder joint is missing to do is right, you have to tilt your pelvis backward and open the torso without forming and arched back.

Point to note.

• Banana Handstand has no advantage.

• Less stress on shoulder and lumbar spine in straight handstand.

• You tense and control the muscles in the torso, hips, and legs.

• Body mainly balanced by Wrists, Shoulders, Pelvis and Legs.

Preparation + Mobility Work

You can read this Basic Flexibility and Mobility guide for beginner. article for basic mobility program.

You can do

• Arch on Exercise ball - Doing arch on exercise help in spine and lower back mobility.
• Shoulder mobility - You can mobile your shoulder with rotating your hands in clock or anti-clock direction or you can learn from above mention link.
• Superman with hollow abdominal- This exercise help you to mobile your upper and lower back and also engage your core.
• Wrists warm up - You can do warm up your wrists by rotating your fist, putting some pressure on wrists and pulling wrists aside or opposite of your body.

Beginner Exercises + Progression

Now, let get to the exercises and progression. First you can start with

• A pike stand - Again it's important to open the angle between arms and torso. You can also do pike push up which is one of the best exercise to build shoulder strength choose a higher platform for get more benefit from this exercise.

• Crow pose - This exercise increase your power of straight arms which is quite important for a balanced handstand. This is a yoga asana in which you put your all body weight on your arms and keep in mind arms should be very straight. Including this exercise in your handstand progression will help you to reach your goal soon.

• Wall handstand - First you practice the kick up there are several methods of standing on wall is standing back and belly ones because you stand slightly away from the wall the body will not become completely vertical but you have to make sure that the body is straight itself.

• Closer to wall- Now, we move closer to the wall. If you kick up too hard you simply bounce off the wall you therefore, already train the right amount of kick up for free handstand because you are closer to wall your body is now vertical. Handstand on wall with belly side closer to wall give you muscle memory how it feel while free handstand.

• One-leg assisted wall handstand - The final progression is the one leg assisted wall handstand, here now only leg is placed on the wall and the other one is stretched out straight up. Now try to lose the other leg slowly and stand up straight because you still practice on the wall you can always rotate your self before you start with the free handstand.

• Exit - You should practice the correct exit form handstand here, you can either roll or rotate lateral relief from the handstand. This will help to become more fearless and you can do handstand anywhere.

Mistakes

1. Wrists placement

Wrists are the pillar for your handstand. Mostly people mistake with wrists placement and can't balance for long.

• Try to stretch your fingers.
• Connect your palm with ground.

2. Shoulder form

Shoulder is like structure of your handstand. Make sure you do these following this with shoulder.

• Push out shoulder.
• Push floor down.
• Push the scapula down.
• Make your arms super straight.

3. Alignment

For a perfect handstand for long period you should do handstand in straight alignment.

4. Engaging Core and hip.

Most of people don't engage core this could be biggest mistake.

• Activate Core.
• Bring your Hip back.
• Bring you feet slightly forward.

5. Pointing legs.

This help you in engaging your calves to your quads, hamstring all the way to your Core. That going to keep your body in like a straight line. Its going to be easier to control you body weight.

Cheat- Focus on one point straight of your nose.

Variation

There are tons of variation of handstand.You may also do the variation of handstand but the risks are loaded differently by the different form therefore, the body must also learn to balance with different angles. This is one of the most popular skill/exercise all over the world. Some popular handstand variations are

• One arm Handstand
• Stag split Handstand
• Hollow back Handstand
• Straddle split handstand
• Handstand on Parallet
• Handstand on Single bar
• Handstand Push Up

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3 Best Pull Ups exercises [CrossFit Workout]

Pull Up

There are many ways to do a pull up but in the end it all comes down to three fundamental movement patterns. In this article we'll take a look on these three types of pull up movements and show you progression for each one of them let's get started with the first one.

Body rows pull up movement

This exercise known as body row. It's great for people yet to build a basic strength and feeling foot pull moves the difference between a normal pull up and body row is that your feet are resting on the ground . You have to use your legs your butt and your erector spine to stabilize the movement in the bottom position.

You start by pulling your shoulder blades together to activate your back after that you start to pull your elbows backwards and bend your arms to pull yourself up. When you're in the top position your hands should be on the same height as your chest if the bar is too high it won't work because either the angle will not allow you to perform the movement correctly or the movement gets too easy. A good solution for this are Rings or a TRX band because you can adjust them on different height. You can adjust them on different height. 

You can also make the exercise harder by archer body rows or one arm body rows here you can also change the difficulty by changing the angle.

One of the hardest variation of this movement are all kinds of front lever pull ups. Here you don't support yourself with your feet on the ground any more. When you start the tuck front lever pull ups do it on the rings because when you do it on the bar you have to extend your legs a little bit more to be able to move over the complete range of motion.

Ofcourse you can also do it on the bar but even this little leg extension makes this movement a lot harder.

Classic Pull Ups

This exercise is the classic pull up there are different way to do a pull up but when you start you should focus on pulling you shoulder blades downwards to get the necessary tension in your shoulders and back after that you pull your elbows down and bend your arms to pull yourself up at  the top you can lean yourself a little bit backwards bring your chest forward and bring your shoulder blades together to activate the same muscles like in body rows with this execution you get the most out of this movement when we talk about back development always try  to avoid any form of keeping or momentum but move clean and control.

You can make this exercise easier by using a rubber band to support the movement and you can make it harder by working with typewriter archer or even one arm pull up the less you use one arm the harder of the other on has to work.

Always make sure to work both side with the same intensity, reps, speed, and time under tension.

 Straight arm pull up

The last type is straight arm pull up here you work with front lever raise when you work with front lever raise you work with straight arms. You change your body position from vertical passing horizontal to upside down vertical like in the normal pull ups your shoulder blades down. After that you pull yourself up with straight arms imagine it like reversed great art let pull down which lets your body rotate backward around your shoulder the movement is a lot harder than a normal pull up because you don't bend your arms and the lever is longer the result is that you don't use your elbow flexors to support the movement both strength is produced in the back mostly the lats and for a small part  of the range of motion in the pecs.

Ofcourse you also have to stabilize your core and your legs to let your body straight if the full lever raise is too hard for you. You can adjust the difficulty by changing the lever you do this by bringing one leg or even both legs close to the body. To master the pull movement you should include all three types into your workout.

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Basic Flexibility and Mobility guide for beginners.

Flexibility and Mobility

Flexibility and Mobility is one of the keys to longevity in training being mobile and being able to move freely will allow you to maximize your progression in anything you do whatever it's increasing the size of your muscles, building strength, developing skill or just improving your posture.

How much mobility and flexibility you actually need depends on your specific goals and preconditions a person who just wants to stay healthy and aim for good posture doesn't need to achieve a split or other advanced mobility and flexibility skill however, there are some fundamental movements every person should be able to do because everyone will benefit from them they are like basic of flexibility and mobility one of those movements are Raise your hand straight arms.

Shoulder flexibility and mobility

The movement we mentioned above raise your straight arms above your head while keeping your spine neutral like shoulder mobility you won't be able to build a straight and nearly vertical line with your arm and torso but compensated by extending your spine this lack in mobility is also the main issue when people aren't able to hold a straight handstand or to do an overhead press without massively arching their backs to work on your shoulder mobility. You just lay yourself on your stomach and lift your arms while you tilt your pelvis backwards and press your chest against the ground this will ensure that you only lift your arms and avoid to extend your spine this look way easier than it is so, if you aren't able to lift your arms yet your can start on an object which will increase the distance between you and the ground a little bit from there you can work your way up until you can do this exercise on the ground. Ofcourse it's also possible to do this exercise on the ground from the beginning even if you can't raise your arms yet as long as you tense your muscles and focus your mind on the tension you will improve your mobility and flexibility of your shoulder.

Spine Flexibility and Mobility

Now, we take a look at the spine a good spine is stable but also mobile no matter if you bend or extend it the goal.

• In this exercise is to build a C shaped curve in both direction. But keep in mind that it's normal that you reach a greater range of motion in the flexion then it the extension.
• The next movement is touching your toes you can do this while standing or sitting on the ground it's not necessary to hold your back straight because this movement is not only about leg and hip flexibility but also about your spine mobility.
• If you aren't able to do this you just start with your current range of motion and the position over time you try to increase the range of motion step-by-step.

Glutes and hip flexibility

The next thing you should be able to do is the active deep Squat.

The active deep squat is one of the most natural human movement pattern now a day's most people are used to sitting on a chair for many hours of the day so, it's no wonder why they lost their ability to squat deep often. They can't get deeper than 90 degree and if they try they compensate their lack of mobility and flexibility by lifting their heels and rounding their spine letting their knees collapse inward and moving their upper body forward instead of bending their hips and please.

To get better at the deep squat we suggest you to practice assistance squat with holding yourself onto an object like vertical pipe. There is also a article on boosting strength with squat by clicking here you can learn basic how to do perfect squat. In assistance squat you won't fall backward if you go deeper than you are use to . Hold this position to let your body adapt to it always remember to

• Keep your spine straight out.
• Won't rotate your hips.
• Keep your heels on the ground.

In this position tried to tense all muscles that keep you from falling backward like the tibialis anterior and the hip flexor.

Advance shoulder Flexibility

If you should be able to raise your arms above your head you should also be able to move them in the opposite direction. Grab a stick about shoulder height and extend your shoulder as much as you possible the goal is to extend your arms to about 60 degree if you can't reach that position you can hold your current position and try to increase the range of motion every time you do it.

Another way to increase you range of motion in this movement is by sitting on the ground and push yourself forward while your hands stay on the ground. Here you also try to increase motion from workout to workout step-by-step in general mobility and flexibility is something that needs time and sometimes it might feel like you wont't move forward but this is normal and necessary to improve over time.

Wrist mobility

The last recommendation is about the wrists your wrists should be mobile but also strong first. We take a look at the wrist extension if you get wrist problems from doing push-ups on ground but also harder exercise like handstand you should work on your wrist flexibility and stability by reducing the pressure at the beginning and increase it step-by-step by shifting your weight in this way you can adjust the amount of weight you apply to the wrists. With this method you let the structures of your wrist time to adapt to the pressure over time you can apply more pressure step by step when it comes to the wrist flexion you also apply pressure to it step by step the only difference is that this position is much harder than the extensions. So, only apply a little bit pressure and do it dynamically in the beginning the more you take your wrists away from your body and apart from each other and the more you lean forward the hard of this exercise gets.

Ofcourse there are many other ways and exercises to improve the movement and build a well-trained flexible and healthy body. In our new mobility and flexibility program we go more into detail and address all of those points no matter if you are beginner or already pretty mobiled and flexible.

The program is divided into three levels and come with mobility and flexibility flows as well as single and locomotion exercise. We also include advance mobility and flexibility training for exercises like Splits, V-sit and Press handstand. So no matter if you want

1. Improve your posture.
2. Work against Imbalance.
3. Work against Weak points.
4. Learn skills
5. Recover from injuries

Our mobility and flexibility programs will fit your needs.

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