STILL STRENGTH

22/10/2022

Hold your handstands for longer and more easily by strengthening them with this drop set 💪🏼⁣
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19/03/2022

You will need this drill if you want to learn how to do the freestanding handstand or correct your alignment 💪🏼⁣⁣⁣
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The Slight Pike has a lot of similarities to that of a freestanding handstand. One of the reasons why this drill is so useful is because it allows you to better understand how to engage a posterior pelvic tilt whilst upside down - which is something that most beginners struggle with. Because it’s a closed chain exercise, you can manipulate the position of the shoulders and mid-section more easily because your feet are on the wall. This makes the drill especially useful for beginners. As you get accustomed to this drill you will want to reduce how much you rely on the wall.⁣⁣⁣
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But this drill is not only for beginners… If you are at an advanced level and you are trying to improve your alignment this drill can be used as a corrective exercise to help you regain control over the posterior pelvic tilt or your shoulder positioning. If this is the case then I would pair it with another corrective exercise on the floor to help improve the effectiveness of this drill ✅

07/12/2021

When it comes to floor exercises that mimic the Freestanding Handstand, this is one of the best… but don’t be fooled by its simplicity…⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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This drill lets you rehearse many of the important cues needed for a Freestanding Handstand - notably the Posterior Pelvic Tilt (PPT). The PPT is something that many people struggle with, especially if you’ve just started handstands, and even more so if you’ve spent some time in the gym lifting weights as you’re probably used to having an Anterior Pelvic Tilt for most exercises 😯⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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A Posterior Pelvic Tilt alone does not guarantee that you will be able to hold a Freestanding Handstand, nor is it absolutely necessary for everyone - unless you're still learning how to hold a Freestanding Handstand - in which case it is. You see, implementing a PPT and squeezing your glutes will stabilise your legs, hips, and core, which in turn will help you understand the positioning of your body and force you to use your fingers, hands, elbows and shoulders to make any corrections to your balance, rather than using your legs and back to control your balance - this is going to benefit you in the long run, especially if you want to learn more complicated handstands 🤸🏼‍♂️.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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This drill also allows you to familiarise yourself with having a more ‘rounded’ position, which can help those with a ‘banana handstand’ understand the correct posture for a handstand 🍌⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Use this as a corrective exercise for your handstands or as an activation exercise to prime yourself before you train handstands and feel the benefits for yourself - let me know what you think in the comments below! ⬇️

05/12/2021

The Tuck Slides are one of the best drills to help you learn the Tuck Handstand - but getting them right can be difficult.⁣
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This drill lets you closely mimic the movement pattern of the Handstand to Tuck Handstand transition, whilst using the wall to help you balance and support some of your bodyweight. Although we do not hold the Tuck Handstand during this specific exercise, this drill will still help you understand the forces that are at play when holding the Tuck Handstand - pulling down the knees using your hip flexors, implementing an anterior pelvic tilt as you do so, and to open the shoulders even more than a normal handstand to counteract the downward force of the knees.⁣
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Like most wall drills, the key to this drill is to use your shoulders as much as possible and the wall as little as possible. Heavily relying on the wall will not help you get off the wall in the long run. Yes, use the wall to your advantage, but don’t take advantage of it - use those shoulders!⁣
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If you’ve never done this drill you’re looking to complete just a couple of reps to ensure you’re hitting the right angle with the legs whilst maintaining a good foundation to your handstand. Once you’re more experienced you can increase the number of repetitions to alter the purpose of this exercise, making it a more of a strength and conditioning based exercise.⁣
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For the record:⁣
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▫️ PPT = Posterior Pelvic Tilt = Tucking your hips under⁣
▫️ APT = Anterior Pelvic Tilt = Sticking your butt out

20/10/2021

The Handstand Push Up & Press To Handstand require a tremendous amount of strength, and without proper conditioning these two skills will take even longer to learn. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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In both skills, the shoulders move forwards over the hands causing muscles in your shoulders to work differently compared to a standard freestanding handstand. An important aspect of the HSPU & Press To Handstand is to push down hard and not let the scapula retract and depress for the initial phase of both skills.⁣
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In this exercise (Wall Openers) your body weight moves over the top of your hands similar to that of the Press To Handstand and Handstand Push Up, giving you the opportunity to overload and strengthen your shoulders for those skills without having to perform the skills themselves, which makes this a great exercise for those who are learning those skills or for those who want to increase their shoulder strength 💪🏼⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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▫️ Pause briefly at the bottom of the rep to get even more strength gains from the exercise 🎯⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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▫️ Please make sure you thoroughly warm-up your wrists before doing this exercise or any similar exercise for the HSPU or Press To Handstand ❌ You may even want to use parallettes to make it easier on the wrists.

14/05/2021

This drill is one of my secret weapons for the Press To Handstand! 💣⁣⁣
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For the Press To Handstand you need a lot of strength. This drill is particularly good at overloading the shoulders whilst the point of elevation takes some of your bodyweight, which makes it suitable for beginners. If you have limited hamstring flexibility you can even bend the legs and still feel the great benefits of this drill 📈⁣⁣
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During this drill the shoulders take the same pathway that they would for a Press To Handstand which is why it’s such a good drill for developing the necessary strength for the Press To Handstand. Another reason why I love this drill is because you can complete multiple repetitions in a short space of time, making it easier to overload the shoulders 💪🏼⁣⁣
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Like always the technique is important, this is to ensure you are training the right muscles in the right way 🤓⁣⁣
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If you like this one, don’t forget to save it and share it with someone who might like it! ⚡️

12/05/2021

Does it take you multiple attempts to get into the handstand? Are you looking to improve the consistency of your Walk To Handstand? 😰⁣⁣
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Try these two things and see if your handstand entrances improve 👇🏼⁣⁣
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How you enter your handstand is hugely responsible for your success upside down. If you start your entrance with bad technique you’re more likely to have bad technique when you reach a vertical position or at least, you’ll find it more difficult to correct yourself into a good alignment. Entering the handstand with good technique sets yourself up for success and you’ll be more likely to hit that handstand everytime - saving you lots of time, energy and frustration! ✅⁣⁣
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The most common mistake that I see with the Walk To Handstand is starting with the chest out (or a slight arch in the back) and not properly engaging the shoulders. To correct the chest/arch you want to think about slightly rounding your upper back and make a hollow position. To properly engage the shoulders you need to push down into the floor with your shoulders and protract the shoulders slightly. This will increase the strength of your foundation and increase the stability of your entrance as you go to walk/kick up into the handstand, thus improving the predictability of your entrance.⁣⁣
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If you found this useful, don’t forget to save it and share it with those who it might help! ⚡️⁣⁣
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Have a go, make a post and tag me so I can see your results! 🔥

08/05/2021

Getting this drill right can accelerate your One Arm Handstand progress. Getting it wrong will only postpone that dream goal of yours. If you’re unable to do it freestanding, try it at the wall 🛠⁣
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When it comes to the OAHS there are a multitude of things that can go wrong and a lot of people simply try to lift their hand off the ground and hope for the best. This approach does not work. Instead, you need to rehearse the transfer of weight onto the dominant arm, apply extra downward force into the ground through the elevation of the scapula and then slowly begin to reduce the weight of your free arm before lifting it off the ground; then balancing takes place. ⁣
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When trying to transfer the weight onto the dominant arm you want to think about moving your hips on top of your dominant shoulder and nothing else. If you try to move your whole body your dominant shoulder will move which you don’t want. You can think about moving your legs to execute the transfer, but only if you can completely isolate the legs and the hips, otherwise side flexion will happen - which you also don’t want. A careful balance of initiating the movement with the legs and then isolating the hips and legs has to happen at the beginning of the transfer to the OAHS, which is something that most people find difficult and this drill can help with that 🏁⁣
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Get comfortable with 1 rep with good technique at the wall, then move away from the wall and start to build up your repetitions on and off the wall. Technique is extremely important for this drill so only start to add reps once you can do 1 with good technique each time 🔥⁣
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I’m demonstrating this drill with my legs together but it can also be completed in a straddle, tuck, diamond or another position - the principles largely remain the same. If you’re just starting out I would recommend the straddle variation at the wall. This will eliminate a lot of the balancing out of the equation so you can focus on transfer of weight 🎯

04/05/2021

Here's a Quick Tip to improve your Walk To Handstand!

If you’re looking to improve the consistency of your Walk To Handstand this Quick Tip will help!It’s easy to blame your handstand when you’re not able to hol...

13/04/2021

This is one of my go-to shoulder stretches 💥⁣
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Shoulder mobility is important for most physical activity, but it is especially important for handstands. Having more range of motion, in particular shoulder flexion, can be the difference between an average handstand and a great handstand. This stretch is a great baseline for someone who wants to improve their warm-up/cool down and shoulder mobility. ⁣
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Depending on how you use this stretch you will want to hold it for about 20-30 seconds if you’re warming up your shoulders or 60 seconds if you’re looking to increase your shoulder flexion.⁣
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Word of advice, shoulders are extremely prone to injuries - especially when you have limited mobility. Take the time to warm them up properly with activation exercises and stretches like this to help reduce the risk of injury.