Even more handstand ideas

We are now officially on school year schedule (and beginning to put routines together). So all of the girls are now back in the gym at different times, and doing different assignments and because of that I’ve been trying to mix up conditioning and shaping even more. One of the things that we can’t take our eye off of, no matter what time of year, is handstand shaping. That being said with so many kids in the gym we often have to get creative or use drills that might not be our go to. So I wanted to put together a few videos of drills that might peak your interest, or give you some ideas as to what you can do.

This first video starts out very simply with things that you can do with your rec kids and gets progressively more difficult. The extended hollow position walks that are shown in the video are something I have many of my optional gymnasts do. They go forward, backward and do both sides. If they do it correctly (and low to the floor) – it’s great for shaping and for shoulders. But you have to do steps one and two first. Make sure they are looking at their hands and pushing through their shoulders! Without that it isn’t going to do much good.

This second one is an easy one to do if you don’t have access to wall space. It’s also a great way of making sure gymnasts aren’t sagging – but also have some support. If they sag – they generally fall (if the bar is at a good height). If her hands were on the floor in this video her toes would probably just touch, and she would really have to stretch up for support.

This is a video I really like and is actually a variation of a drill a like a lot. The one thing that’s great about using a barrel with this drill is depending on where it is under the gymnasts legs it can give them more or less support. So you can modify it from gymnast to gymnast.

This tuck handstand drill is also a variation of one I use often. The one difference I would make is instead of having them slide two legs up the wall at once, slide one leg at once. By sliding one leg up – they still have the support of the wall and can focus on their shapes.

This last video is actually a video of table contact drills but there is lots of great handstand stuff in here as well. One of the great ones in here (there are several) is with the safety zone and the physio ball. Seriously great for core strength.