Introduction

Welcome onboard, dear handbalancer 🚀

In this first page, a bit of reading to patiently wait for the official kickstart of our course!

Menu

A Paradigm shift Forenote: defining your goals Helping each other Our priorities this course How to use your course

A Paradigm shift

Your vs Their Handstands

Over the next few weeks, we will probably contradict a few of the beliefs you may have, or advice you may received, about handstand.

The gist of our method at the Handstand Academy relies on the following tenet:

Your handstand is unique

This course is about teaching your the mechanics of handbalancing, away from the Dogmas and the “shoulds”.

Ie: you should brace your core and squeeze your toes.

At the end of the day:

If a cue or drill helps you hold a handstand better → it is for you

If it doesn’t → it isn’t, or not yet.

Forenote: defining your goals

Consistency is king, alignment is Queen

Confused as per where to start? I get it.

☑ Holding a handstand

☑ getting straighter upside down

☑ improving flexibility

☑ tucking the head in

☑ tucking up

☑ cartwheeling,

☑ pressing up

☑ floating longer

☑ piking

☑ improving strength …

There are so many items on that handstand bucket list that it can feel overwhelming and confusing. The following guide has been designed for you to gain clarity over how to prioritise your goals to get there faster.

Your puppy’s brain

The number one thing that prevents you from progressing is your very natural tendency to jump from one item to the other.

You are trying to learn all the words in the dictionary without spending nearly enough time on each to remember them. You are learning a new dance and compiling all the moves without mastering one.

This puppy attention span may work for kids, but is hardly the most efficient route to progress for time-constrained adults.

Let’s be blunt for a second.

Achieving “a handstand” (more on this below) is going to take months if you do things right, years if you don’t.

My job as your coach is to convert years into months.

But if you don’t practice every single week, several times a week, no matter how clear the map, you won’t travel far enough.

The more you scatter your attention, the slower your progress will be.

Everything is tempting, everything is appealing (cf. shinny object syndrome), and of course there are some crossovers in-between the different areas of the handbalancing practice.

It would be foolish to claim that working on your straddle teaches you nothing about your straight handstand.

But this approach simply isn’t time and energy-efficient.

And I am assuming you want that handstand ASAP, not in a decade, right?

What is a Handstand?

When I meet new students in person, I always go for a circle of presentation where everyone shares their name, their experience in handstand and their inversion goals.

Invariably, I get:”I want to be able to hold a handstand”.

Oh yes?

But WHICH handstand?

What they are basically saying is akin to going to a restaurant, and when prompted by the waiter to order, say : “I want food”.

Wanting to be able to hold a handstand is like signing up to a running club and say “I just want to run”.

Running for a marathon, an Iron-man, or a sprint are very different things. You need to specify your goals. You need to be realistic with the timeframes involved And you will re-adjust them once you achieve them.

📝 Take a few minutes now.

Yes, do it.

And write in your journal a more precise goal for your journey. I can promise you that this will accelerate your learning curve and make your practice much, much more rewarding.

what shape do you want to hold

what time frame

how long would be your average hold

how consistent do you need your handstand to be

what long terms goals come after that?

Post your results here

Real-life examples

Here are a few smart goals we start defining in that first session:

I want to be able to hold a 10-second handstand for the fun of it, this year, with a 70% + consistency rate

I want to be able to press-up into a straddle handstand within 6 months

I want to get a straighter handstand freestanding in 3 months

I want to be able to kick-up against the wall within the next 8 weeks

I want to be able to float 1-2 seconds in my yoga transitions

I want to be able to hold a handstand while looking at my capoeira partner and moving my legs for 10 seconds

4 elements to define your current goal(s)

If you’re like most people, you probably want a handstand.

Take your notebook and start brainstorming on your goal for the next 3 months.

Yes, you didn’t do it the first time I asked.

Do it now.

Unless you want to achieve that handstand in years, not months.

Context

The context in which you want your handstand You can want a handstand for the sake of being able to hold a handstand, but you can also want to integrate a handstand within an existing movement practice.

A yoga handstand isn’t the same as a calisthenics handstand, isn’t the same as a capoeira - locomotion - dance handstand, isn’t the same as a crossfit handstand. They obey the same biomechanical rules.

But they will branch out into different training components. One doesn’t train efficiently the same whether they are handbalancing for crossfit or for fun.

Duration

he seconds on the timer The number one, obvious metric to measure your handstand against. How long do you want to hold it.

Consistency

The frequency of success If it’s ok for you to try 10 times until you stick your 20 second handstands, then consistency doesn’t matter to you. Otherwise, it does, and you need to be clear about the goalposts on your way to a 100% success rate. No, you don’t just go from 10 to 100 overnight.

Alignment

The shape of your handstand Instagramely straight, or head-in, crooked legs and moving through it? Depressed or elevated scapula? Piked or straight shape? I know, I know you want them all. But which one do you want first? Or should we say: Which one should you prioritise first because it will accelerate your learning of all others? Stop scrolling. Do it.

My recommendation

Most people don’t have a clear idea of what exactly they want to achieve.

Here a template I use with them.

Of course, we model and precise it along the way, as things start decanting.

This template has to be adapted. Good programming is highly personal: it takes into account your schedule, your experience, your fear of falling, your 3-month goal, your strength, stamina and flexibility levels.

You can start here:

Handstand trimestrial template for a beginner 3-month goals ☑ Straight, V shape:

Kick-up softly against the wall in a V shape. 70% success rate.

Hold 20 seconds chest to the wall in V shape with light feet and correct exit.

Take-off and bail C2W in V shape.

Catch 3+ seconds freestanding, 3 times out of 4

Helping each other

In my years coaching online, I can assure you of one, strange thing: the more your participate in the group dynamics, watching some of the other students’ homework, reading the comments I leave to them, peeking on their reviews, and supporting them, the more you progress.

The people who have progressed the most have always engaged with the group. It holds you accountable. Others may give you precious tips I would never have articulated as well, simply because they are in the same boat. And the group lifts you.

Don’t be a lone wolf, your handstands will progress out of it!

Our priorities this course

There are three main things we want to master when it comes to handbalancing:

→ consistency: being able to kick-up into a desired line and hold it

→ straightness: how straight you are once you are balancing

→ duration: how long you can hold the line for

Those are true for any kind of shapes you want to master (straight, V shape, piked, etc.) as well as any form of kick-up you want to use (normal kick-ups, tuck up, straddle up, pike up, cartwheel into handstands, etc.). If this sounds French to you, don’t worry: we’ll see it together in the next few weeks!

The thing most students ignore is that there is an essential order of priorities that structures their learning:

consistency → duration → straightness

Indeed,

It doesn’t matter if you can hold the straightest handstand for 2 seconds, once a blue moon.

And it doesn’t matter either if you can hold a 60-second handstand only when the stars are aligned and you had a 10 hour night sleep.

You want first and foremost to have a consistent, 10-15 second handstand.

Then you will start adding duration, as well as progressively tweaking your line to make it straighter.

All the drills you do in the next few months should obey that very simple logic.

And it’s hard, because most of our favorite drills (like balancing off the wall) end up only working on duration, at the expense of consistency.

How to use your course

Every week, a new module will be unlocked. Go through the lectures and drills in your own time. Ask all the questions you want in the Facebook Group.

At the end of the week, send your “homework” - a recap of your handstand effort that week. Simplify follow the drills I suggest your record 📹 in your weekly program.

Digest the feedback I send you - take notes, apply them and improve faster than ever.

Rinse and repeat 👌

Back to menu