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Bodyweight Handstands, Glutes, Hamstrings

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BillSteamshovel

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Am completely unaware of it when I practice handstands, but can get awfully tight hamstrings and aching glutes that afternoon/evening or even the day after.

Maybe just stretch the legs a lot more after the handstand session ? Anyone got any favorite stretches for handstand days ?

Am not alone on this, Google seems to bring up lots of hits about glutes and hamstrings being sore for novice handstanders.
 
Probably due to the tension required to hold the legs straight? Maybe give the QL straddle and 90/90 from S&S a burl? Can't say I ever really noticed it when I was doing a lot of hand stand practice, but I was also learning swings around the same time, so it might have disappeared into the mix.
 
Maybe just stretch the legs a lot more after the handstand session ? Anyone got any favorite stretches for handstand days ?

Stretch before! (and after..)
Always warm up before stretching. Couple of squats at least...
Stretch daily. Not just on handstand days. Try cartwheels and legswings (toe to opposite hand) ect.
Check out those stretches: (all you need imho and a good warm up/ conditioning for handstands, too) (start at the beginning, video has a time signature that seems to just stay.. start at 00:00)


 
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Stretch before! (and after..)
Thanks for the advice and video links. Will have a go at stretching before doing the handstands, I usually just do a warmup with some rowing and light kettlebell exercises. Am aware of some debate on the benefits of stretching before an exercise session as opposed to after. Your icon photo looks like a fancy stretch.
 
looks like a fancy stretch.
Yoga since 2001. But after a disc prolapse I lost some flexibility, for I paused Yoga for 3-4 years. So this is just basic stuff.. Before I could stick my arm through my legs and touch my other hand. But I leave that now.. ;)
 
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I used to teach handstands. If you post a video of how you practice (preferably from the side) I might be able to see what could be causing your issue.

Without seeing it, my first thought is that you might not be getting your hips enough on top of your shoulders. If your center of mass isn’t positioned well on top of your base of support you might feel the need to pull your legs over harder to compensate (if you follow) and as a consequence end up squeezing them.

Novice handstand practitioners can easily fall into the idea that the body must be tight and rigid in order to balance. It’s actually a lot like standing in your feet; the required tension should be just enough in the right places to keep you up. If you stick with it long enough you’ll likely find that the excess tension will drop off as you figure out how to coordinate your body upside down.
 
An additional thought:

Depending on how new you are to the practice, it could be as simple as the consequence of kicking up to handstand over and over again, which does involve the hamstrings/glutes. If you’re not very new to handstand practice, then I’d still go with my above thoughts.
 
Thanks for all the tips and video links. Am working my way through the videos.

I think I have the kickup under control and less pressure on glutes - I was failing most of my kickups a few days ago - and therefore doing a lot of attempts.

Today's Eureka Moment : I managed to convince myself that the wall and floor in front of me would still be there even if I couldn't see them ......... managed to keep my head between my arms and look at the wall behind me instead of the wall in front of me ................ This was probably arching my back ...... Suddenly the kickups required far less effort to get my legs up - and all kickups were now successful - quite astonishing the difference this made. Back was flat against the wall fingers quite close to wall.

Initially it was extremely difficult to get co-operation from the brain to do this, because some part of brain was insisting that it needed to see the base of the wall I was kicking onto at all times.

Lots of stretching before during and after the practice session.
 
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Thanks for all the tips and video links. Am working my way through the videos.

I think I have the kickup under control and less pressure on glutes - I was failing most of my kickups a few days ago - and therefore doing a lot of attempts.

Today's Eureka Moment : I managed to convince myself that the wall and floor in front of me would still be there even if I couldn't see them ......... managed to keep my head between my arms and look at the wall behind me instead of the wall in front of me ................ This was probably arching my back ...... Suddenly the kickups required far less effort to get my legs up - and all kickups were now successful - quite astonishing the difference this made. Back was flat against the wall fingers quite close to wall.

Initially it was extremely difficult to get co-operation from the brain to do this, because some part of brain was insisting that it needed to see the base of the wall I was kicking onto at all times.

Lots of stretching before during and after the practice session.
While I didn’t usually tell people to look at the wall behind them, what you did essentially tricks the body into stacking weight appropriately in a HS. Most people (especially those who need better shoulder flexion) will support their weight using the upper chest and delts, because it allows them to look at the floor and gives them a sense of “safety” (which is exactly what your brain was doing). Anyone around here who follows original strength knows that “the body follows the head which follows the eyes.” By craning your neck to look at the floor, the body will reflexively arch. This can make it harder to balance (though plenty of people make it work) and might fire up the posterior chain a lot more than a stacked, straight body. What I did was tell people to slightly tuck their chin and look at the floor “through their eyebrows.”

You can play with this: put your hands overhead like you are doing a handstand. Gently push upwards but don’t strain. Just let the shoulders do their thing, and then move your head by looking at the ceiling and then looking at the floor (chin up or chin down). What tends to happen is that people shrug higher and get a little more shoulder flexion when tucking the chin as opposed to looking at the ceiling. It also has the effect of drawing the front of the ribs down towards the pelvis, further aligning the body in a straighter line.
Edit: as I was reading through this to check it for errors, the image of Chinese Olympic lifters tucking their chin in the overhead lockout came to mind….

With lots of practice over time (once you can balance without the wall) you can learn to align the body in a handstand, balance fine, and move your head around without falling out of the handstand.

Lastly, one big thing (don’t know if it’s covered in any of the videos people linked) that will help kicking up tremendously is starting with you hands on the floor and having your shoulders stacked above your hands. Some people will start like a sprinter: with their weight behind their hands. Then they have to accelerate their weight forward as they kick up, which not only takes more energy but also accelerates your mass in the wrong direction. You want to go up, not forward. Think about stacking shoulders above hands, then hips above shoulders, and if your legs aren’t flying in crazy directions you should go right up.

Hope it helps! Happy training
 
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