Finding stability while balancing a handstand is elusive, frustrating, exhilarating and difficult. There are many techniques and traditions with so many specific details to devote your energy to. Without having a master coach, it is hard to know where to begin. Your ideal starting point will vary depending on your level of strength, mobility, and coordination. It is hard to accurately identify if you are in the correct position when training alone. If you aren’t, are you too loose, too stiff, or just not coordinating the movement correctly? Are you accepting a compromised position because you have the strength to handle it? If so, what is the most efficient method to improve your alignment? In this article, I’ll give you the tools to answer these questions and offer you a foundation to orient yourself on the path to balance.

Quality over Quantity

There are many different ways to develop a handstand. The way that I will explain is the proper method for training more advanced handstand skills such as a one-arm or a hollow-back. Emphasizing proper technique over quantity of time or reps will lead to more gains and less time spent in frustrating plateaus. That being said, training optimal technique is not always easier. It is often harder to maintain the most efficient position than it is to hold the handstand. During long holds or lazy training days, the first thing to go is alignment. Then the execution of technical skills becomes laborious or unsuccessful. 

You may be able to successfully hold a handstand without proper alignment. If you cannot alter your position you are more susceptible to injury and fear. I recommend that you make it your number one priority to strive for more control over every part of your body while training your handstand. It also will look more impressive and beautiful!!

Setting reasonable goals

Handstands are a long game. There is always someone out there that will have started earlier and be more advanced. Identifying small improvements and training for success in small challenges will get you further than aiming right for the summit. Learning when to dial back your training goals and perfect the basics when you are tired or having an off day can help maintain morale. A practical example of this would look like this: You can get into a chest to wall handstand and hold for 30 seconds before you need to come down. At 15 seconds your elbows start to bend and you lose stability and struggle, but you can stay up. The more important goal is to increase the amount of time that you can keep your elbows straight to 20 seconds. Focusing on that will improve the rest of your endurance without developing a faulty pattern.

Mobility and Strength

Developing your range of motion and strength throughout the ROM is important to obtain a stable and beautiful handstand. Not all of the positions I itemize below are necessary to obtaining a stable handstand but, the more of them you have the easier it will be. Mobility training should be included in any training session to support and maintain the ideal position.

Work Ethic

Developing a handstand requires a strong work ethic. No one will progress very far by messing around once a week. The key to progress is regular hours of deliberate and focused training. Creating a list of what you are going to do before you do it is an efficient way to organize your time as well as a way to hold yourself accountable and chart your progress. Training by a list also has the perk of feeling victorious when you graduate to a more challenging list of drills.