What Will This Get Me?

Sometimes people ask, when they are new to gymnastics and learning how to do a simple chest to wall handstand, "What will this get me?"  Or, "What am I going to do with this?"  These are honest questions that I must admit, fluster me.  Handbalancing has done wonders for the folks at Flux when it comes to adaptation.  In order to perform a handstand correctly, the body is forced to adapt (yes, sometimes this process is slow).  Learning to do a handstand correctly  (ie the end goal being to actually handbalance) is really about the body being forced to adapt to the necessities of the movement.  If you kick up into a handstand with your arms off the floor, you throw yourself against the wall, and you have a back arch that I could drive a truck through, little adaptation will occur.  But, if we set up parameters: you must walk up the wall; place your palms no more than 3 inches from the wall; and have only your toes touching the wall, very quickly your strengths and weaknesses are exposed.  Striving to do a handstand properly, with a coach giving you the correct cues, will open up your thoracic spine like a spring flower.  Your shoulders will also open up. You will learn what it feels like to anchor your scapulae, and to stack the vertebrae on top of each other.  You will learn how to isometrically contract your entire midline.

For some folks, it really doesn't matter if he or she ever kicks up into a handstand in the middle of the floor. Of course, it is a good example of being a good mover (controlling a fall) but does it really matter if my dad ever manages to do this? Currently, he can kick up against the wall and  pull his feet off the wall and handbalance for a solid 15 seconds.  His shoulder health and strength are so much better as a result of his rigorous work. Dad started this process at 58 years old!

And with Olympic Lifting, Sherry and Nathan have done a marvelous job of tackling their hip and shoulder mobility. I believe they attacked these weaknesses with such vigour because they wanted to perform a particular movement.  The gumption was there because they had a specific goal - to perform a full snatch.  When the goal is as vague as "increase mobility," there is little incentive, but when your immobility is preventing you from performing a specific movement, the stakes are raised and your interest is stirred.  For me, that movement right now is the press to handstand. I never had ANY desire to do the splits until I made the press to handstand one of my year long goals.  Now, it is a priority.

Back to the handbalancing conversation.  It is much more interesting to chase down the goal of a 30 sec handstand than it is to simply 'increase shoulder and thoracic mobility.' I believe one of the reasons our mobility and gymnastics training program is so popular is precisely because people are making the connection between mobility and movement options with the guidance of our Flux coaching team.  If you want to perform a movement you better be able to move and move well.  And if you don't move well, and you are chasing down a goal, you better get to work.

Check out this fabulous Russian video. At 19 sec he goes into a press to handstand.