Handstand Level 1 w/ Brad Strickert - Saturday Sep 9 2017
Today I had an amazing handstand workshop w/ Brad Strickert. He carefully and meticulously instructed how to create powerful handstand with great balance. I was impressed with his experience and demonstrations as it can really show and explain the techniques to perform correct handstands. Furthermore, he stressed his own pitfalls when he was learning handstands. So, he gave us tips on how to learn handstands by focusing on getting your alignment true in order to be able to hold handstands gracefully and to expand and develop your handstands into future poses.
I wrote out his exercises for my own use. This is in my own words from my memory after class. It may not make sense because I do not have great technique for writing down exercise movements. So I apologize if you do not understand. If you need help you can ask me for clarification.
Warm up / Everyday practice
In table top. Ground down with your hands to the mat. Elbows eyes pointed forward.
Move forwards and backwards move your knees forward or back depending on the intensity and range of motion / mobility in your arms.
Then move in circles with your hands will planted / grounded.
Flip your hands over so palms are up; i.e your back of your hands are on the floor, and try to move your knees further back to put more weight to the back of your hands.
Standing shoulder back and forth exercise. Stand tall, and reach up and stretch out your arms as far as possible. Then with Scapula integration, move your shoulders back and forth by squeezing the back of your upper back muscles together.
Scapula integration, move your chest forward and backward while in plank. Squeeze the back of your back muscles toward the middle of the spine (pretending to squeeze a pencil)
Grip the floor with your palms facing down, and press down with your fingers to create small arches in your hand. So, the fingers, knuckles, and bottom portion of the wrists are in contact with the floor
Wall Handstands
Tail bone hovers against the wall. (tap the tailbone gently against the wall)
Stand against the wall, legs touching, and nose against the wall.
Additional movements for the above exercise: Press up and down with your upper back (not pressing with shoulders) When coming down make sure you come out of it slowly and in control in order to build up muscles in the arm. When coming down an option is to go to high plank with feet against the wall in order to build up muscles in the arm.
Place hands half metre away from the wall and go into handstand, but keep one leg against the wall and try to remove the leg against the wall by pulling with your fingers rather than pushing off the wall.
Wall Exercises
- Chair against the wall. Move your pelvis forward and roll each vertebra off the wall at a time. Then reverse back down.
Core Exercises
Lie on your back, bring your chest forward with hands pointed forward next to the hips palms facing down. Bring your knees up and have them directly under your hips. Then push your lower legs and toes down towards the floor.
Then rock back and forth without being choppy.
In the same position as before, straighten your legs out in front of you and rock back and forth without being chopping.
In the same position as before, spread your legs and rock back and forth.