Suby Handstands Blog — subyhandstands

Handstand practice mindset

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"Keep your eyes on the prize!" is something that gets touted as a way to maintain motivation.

It sounds good in theory but in practice, it can all too easily lead to disappointment, shame, and guilt.

When it comes to handstands, we can't exactly control the prize (aka outcome, or specifically how long it takes to achieve that outcome). What we can do is control the process (i.e. our behaviors that lead us towards the prize).

I say this from my own personal past experience of being too fixated on end results and the potential unnecessary suffering it can induce.


Have goals, for sure.


But mainly focus on being consistent, present, and enjoying your practice sessions.

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Zooming in and zooming out

Handstands – Zooming in and zooming out.

When reflecting on my own handstand practice I refer to the different levels of perspective below. I like to call it "zooming in and zooming out."
 

Daily

The smaller picture, How each day is approached. Some things I consider are :
 

-How am I feeling today?

-Amount of volume.

-Rest times.

-Skill and drill selection and order.

 

Weekly

When we zoom out a little we can look at the week's practice ahead. Some things I consider are :
 

-Making sure the intensity of training is sustainable throughout the week.

-What days will I have the most energy? What days will I have competing time and focus demands? I.e higher volume and lower volume sessions. Spreading the week's practice out  in a sensible, logical way.

-Checking that the frequency for different aspects of training makes sense. Such as the right amount of  strength and conditioning vs the right amount of skill work.

-Rest days. 

 

Monthly

Zooming out even further, The bigger picture. I like to define my own personal monthly training cycle as 6-8 week blocks. Some things I consider are :


-Am I progressing?

-Choosing what skills to work on for a set amount of time.

-Setting priorities and goals.

-Putting things on maintenance.

-De-load weeks (every 6-8 weeks I take 1 week off from handstand practice and take it very easy).

 

So there we go! I hope one or more of these points got you proactively thinking about your own handstand practice.
If you are in Melbourne I have some 6 week handstand short courses starting in September. I also teach one on one in person and ONLINE.

If you aren't already, follow my journey on Instagram @subyhandstands

Happy training

Sundi

Online handstand coaching - CLICK ME

Slow is fast and fast is slow

Slow is fast and fast is slow...A very wise man once told me this in direct relation to handstand practice. It was years later that I understood what he meant.

The phrase is more or less "all-encompassing", meaning it directly corresponds to most aspects of handstand training.

Such as :

1. Trying to progress too quickly onto harder skills. The result is much slower progress as you have to keep going back to basics or worse yet get injured repeatedly.

2. Rushing a movement such as kicking up too fast or lifting the arm off the ground at light speed when learning one arm handstands and falling continuously. You could be playing with transitioning through different shapes, but are getting nowhere as you are moving too hastily.

Generally speaking, if you can do it slowly you can do it Swiftly but the reverse is not always true.

3. Not obeying the laws of recovery. Being too eager, overdoing your practice and then plateauing because you don't allow enough time for recuperation. Or during a session, you aren't taking enough rest enough between sets to keep the quality of your drills high. "Perfect practice makes perfect" or I prefer "Great quality of practice equals great results"

So in summary make sure: "You are not moving too fast to get anywhere."

As always, Happy training.

=)

Sundi

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Split sessions

Spit sessions

Split sessions can be a great way for advanced athletes to get more quality work done, recover better and attain greater gains. They can also be used at different ability levels for the time-poor, or anyone who wants to give solid attention to their practice but does not have an uninterrupted 60 minutes to spare.

Benefits for Advanced practitioners :

At a higher level, handbalancing can call for serious amounts of volume.

When training for and working at a level required for one arm handstands it is not uncommon to practice 5 days a week for 2-3 hours at a time.

By breaking up the total daily work into two 60-90 mins sessions greater focus and energy can be applied to each session without experiencing as much fatigue.

I personally find this approach helps to diminish burnout and is less taxing on the mind.

For most, it is not as daunting to be faced with two shorter practices instead of one giant long stretch of training. 

Benefits for less advanced :

For many that lead busy lives, run businesses and have children finding a solid 60 mins with no interruptions can be tricky. Finding two 30 minute windows to practice might be more practical. 

It doesn't need to be handstands only either. For example, you might practice handstands in the morning and then work on your pulling strength in the later afternoon or evening. (It really depends on the individuals training level and goals/needs)

Things to remember :

-4-6 hours between split sessions (think AM and PM)

-Start with shorter rather than longer split sessions when you first start to give yourself time to adapt to the new regime.

Happy training

=)

Sundi

Online handstand coaching - CLICK ME

Handstands - "Failing correctly"

You are a failure and that's ok... or is it?

We all know we have to fail to succeed but when it comes to training methods and techniques, not all failure is created equally. Your "tolerance" level which we will discuss later is a critical element in determining your success.

Let's break it down into two camps

Un-productive failure :

Practicing something in a way that won't lead to success or is so suboptimal it will take much longer than it needs to. Though this can be related to not practicing enough or being consistent enough. More often than not it's trying to do a progression without having met the logical pre-requisites, missing key components that make up that skill or position.

For example:

Kicking up and falling over for 2 years and being frustrated that you still can't do a handstand BUT you have skipped over basic skill and strength components built at the wall. As a result, you haven't developed any strength in your shoulders or wrists and you have no idea of how to rebalance yourself if you kicked up into a decent position anyway... This could continue for another 2 years...OR even worse you are terrified of falling but arent addressing it, so you under-kick for 2 years in the middle of the room and never quite make it up.


Productive failure :

Practicing something in a way that builds and leads to success eventually.

For example :

Kicking up and falling over BUT you catch yourself and hold for a few seconds here and there. It's only becoming a thing BECAUSE you have been developing your chest to wall holds to condition your shoulders, are working on drills that expand your rebalancing ability and sought out a coach to break down the pieces of your handstand as well as give you technical feedback. Although you still have your funky days where things don't work as well, slowly but surely you are becoming more consistent in your freeholds. You are balancing a little bit longer each week or month that passes. Failure and botched attempts are present but your failing in a way that isn't reinforcing bad habits. You are "failing correctly."


Tolerance level :


This can be either a positive or a negative.


When I say tolerance level I mean how much time spent failing you can tolerate. So we can also think of it as patience.

If applied to the unproductive failure example above we can see that in this case, high tolerance is actually not very helpful. You are not going to seek out guidance or change your approach soon enough to avoid wasting time and potentially injuring yourself. A lower tolerance might have helped you act sooner and find another approach or teacher.

If applied to our productive failure example we can see that a low tolerance would mean that we give up before enough time or repetition is allowed for skill and strength development to occur. In this case, high tolerance is obviously a positive.

When coaching, spotting these roadblocks that lead to nowhere is important. by contrast, letting a student know when there are failing productively, and to persevere, stay the course, and have patience can make all the difference.

It's worth noting that even unproductive failure can be a learning experience but your tolerance level would determine how quickly you learned from it and moved onto more fruitful tactics.

Have a think about your practice to see if any stagnant progressional blind spots need to be addressed. Happy training.

Sundi

Handstand classes Melbourne - CLICK ME

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Why you still cant do a handstand (or do one well)

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1.You are scared

Eliminate the fear of falling over :

By learning how to fall. When you break the movement down its actually quite simple and anyone can accomplish a safe fall with no gymnastic or acrobatic background. If you dont wish to rely on the wall or a spotter for the rest of your handstanding days this must be adressed. No bridge, forward roll or perfect cartwheel is required.

2.You are weak and dont have a plan

Strengthen the wrists, shoulders and body for faster progression and less likelyhood of injury :

Creating a solid physical structure is the first priority with any beginner. Lacking one is one of the main reasons more intermediate practicioners plateau or constantly experience injuries. Even simple things like having a proper wrist warmup and strengthening opposing muscle groups must not be ingored. Furthermore having a logical structure and process for spreading out practice on a daily, weekly and monthly schedule is a must. Progression wise, knowing which drill or skill to work on before the next can save years of frustration.

3.You are relying on luck and have not developed the ability to balance or enter a handstand

Learn how to both kick up into and balance a solid handstand :

By learning the individual movements that take place in a kickup then assembling them in the correct order. To consistently nail entries without relying on "luck" absolutely requires this.

But what happens once you actually get up there with reasonable "catchable" form? You must learn to rebalance. There is no magic handstand Nirvana, you are always falling. You just getting better at constantly saving or correcting back to "centre" Their are two main drills that develop this that ANY handstand coach worth their weight in butter will teach.

4.Your trying to learn a little bit of everything

Learn simple drills to correct alignment and achieve a straight handstand shape :

Whilst there is no set program that will work for every individual out there by focusing first on the straight handstand and then tuck you are developing both fine balance and then a stronger push and actively extended position of the shoulder. Straddle, stag and most other two arm variations then become much easier to layer on top. Think of the 80/20 rule. Work fewer "things" that get you the other "things" almost for free!

5. Your ignoring the 4 points above and will struggle to :

Learn to increase the time you can hold a handstand and build the confidence and skill necessary to leave the wall behind and be able to handstand anywhere

Only by exploring and developing the previous points can this be possible, Anyone can see this. Without physical strength and structure you wont hold long, without confidence and the ability to fall you wont kickup without the wall. Without skill and an understanding of technique you wont kickup and catch your balance or be able to maintain it.

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Handstand training volume

As someone who used to suffer from burnout, under recovery, injury and overtraining. I find this to be a useful little visual that I refer back to in my mind often. So I decided to make a graphic for it.

Handstand practice.

Too little :

Not enough work is being done for the body to receive enough stimulus to warrant any adaptation. If applied to skill work there is simply not enough repetitions being done to grasp the movement or skill in any reasonable time frame.

Small break throughs and bits of fleeting understanding are forgotten between the large gaps in frequency.

An example I like to use when someone trains handstands once a week is “Day 1 Car drives out of the garage 6 days pass and car reverses back in... day 1 Car drives out of the garage... etc.”

Too much :

The body does not have enough time to recover from excessive amounts of stress and volume leading to burnout, injury and decreases in performance.

At this point some people believe that this signals the need for even harder training. They continue to push themselves breaking down the body and mind even further. Hard work needs to be balanced with hard rest.

Balanced :

Training is tempered and balanced with rest, downtime and good nutrition. Frequency is high enough to grasp and develop new skills but the body is also given the recovery time and resources to adapt to the physical demands placed upon it, and become more conditioned/stronger over time.

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