External rotation

In handstands, one of the most important, if not the most important, motor patterns involves the action of shoulder flexion.

Remember: shoulder flexion (or opening the shoulders) predicates where your pelvis is in space to a large degree, and your leg position is, in turn, the product of where your pelvis is.

Now, as you may recall, One simply doesn't just flex the folders. A myriad of other patterns are at play, especially around the scapula, when you bring your arms overhead.

If you are at a stage where you can bring your pelvis overhead (this may not necessarily be possible from day 1, but certainly if you’re reading this you have opened your shoulders enough), there is a consideration to be had around the behavior of humerus in the shoulder girdle.

Because handstands are a closed chain movement, our hands are firmly anchored on the floor, unable to move, but that doesn't mean that the bone itself isn't moving at the glenohumeral joint. When you externally rotate while going in a handstand, your elbow pits will start turning forward.

When you internally rotate, on the other hand, your elbow pits start facing your belly.

This internal rotation may well be a way of compensating for a lack of mobility in your shoulder flexion.

Not only that, but harder progressions such as elements of the press and OAHS may well require you to pair together external rotation and shoulder flexion. Without it, your current structure may become the bottleneck that prevents you from refining further your alignment.

For context, some classical circus schools will insist on the shoulder flexion - external rotation and scap protraction combo from the get go.

And as you know, I am more of the belief that we want to work with what we have as hobbyists (This belief is becoming more and more popular these days, including in some of the more famous influencers and celebrities that were classically trained).

The question becomes more one of shoulder integrity and one of progress.

We do want to make your practice as sustainable as possible, and it's possible that allowing too much internal rotation to happen as you perform handstands may put some greater stress on the concerned joints.

So:

→ if you can already open your shoulders and pike with ease but notice some seemingly benign internal rotation, let’s add external rotation drills as a way to explore a new path and see where it leads you.

→ If you are at the blue belt level and upwards, for the sake of achieving a more resilient line, same.

→ If the press is something you want to master eventually, protraction and external rotation will be key components and the strength you have to muster up when taking off. So here too, it’d make sense to do it.