Advanced Basics
Expand your handbalancing practice with handstand walking, blocks and canes training, and head movements while inverted. This program will teach you to move in space via walking and jumping on hands, and it will begin to work with the deeper concepts of balance trained via working on heights (both blocks and canes) as well as moving the visual focus point by learning to dissociate the head and adding this as a choice of movement to your balance repertoire. This program will add variety to your practice, and challenge your balance in interesting ways.
Build Inverted Body Awareness And Control
The point of this program is twofold. First, we want to break apart the notion of the handstand as only a static discipline with one precise path to specific technical goals. In this sense the title is literal: expand your abilities on your hands beyond only standard shapes such as straight, straddle, diamond and tuck. This will add a lot of variation to your handstand vocabulary, which is good both to enjoy the training itself and to add challenge and creativity.
Second, we want to highlight how much these additional abilities on your hands contribute towards the more complex skills later on. There is a classic notion that gymnasts tend to learn handbalancing faster than others, which is largely true. This is not only because they might have good handstand basics but also because they have great proprioception and awareness of their bodies upside down in many contexts. The same often goes for break dancers and acrobats in other disciplines. In Expand we want to give you access to this piece of the puzzle. By further developing your freedom on your hands, you will no longer be confined to only staying in one place on the floor, and you can enjoy much more of the upside-down experience.
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What it’s like to use the Handstand Factory programs:
It’s like being in school and having lecture, lab and study – between the podcast, training, and text. I’m learning so much… really feels more personalized, “connected” and HUMAN.
Joyce – @cirquepath, San Fransisco, USA
Are You Ready To “Expand” Your Practice?
Expand is an intermediate program for handbalancers who are comfortable freebalancing and can consistently catch their balance. As such, in order to get the most out of this program we recommend you meet these suggested benchmarks:
Recommended Benchmarks
Not Quite Ready for Expand?
Check out our other programs, which teach the pre-requisite skills we use for the press to handstand.
Canes and Blocks with Expand
The Expand program introduces training with apparatus, specifically blocks and canes. These common handbalancing tools have a variety of benefits, ranging from improving your balance to avoiding tendonitis. They are also useful tools for learning advanced positions more quickly like the one-arm handstand. While we won’t be teaching those advanced skills in this program, Expand will introduce how to begin using blocks and canes so you will be comfortable with them later in your handstand practice.
If you’re particularly interested in apparatus handbalancing, we carry our own line of handstand blocks in our Merch Shop.
BUILDING ON YOUR BASIC HANDSTAND
The goal of this program is to flesh out your handstand practice in ways you might not have trained before. Most “standardized” progressions do not cover things such as handstand walking, jumping and specific use of equipment. Expand fills that gap. It will give intermediate-level handbalancers more freedom upside down and allow for a richer practice.
BUILDING ON YOUR BASIC HANDSTAND
The goal of this program is to flesh out your handstand practice in ways you might not have trained before. Most “standardized” progressions do not cover things such as handstand walking, jumping and specific use of equipment. Expand fills that gap. It will give intermediate-level handbalancers more freedom upside down and allow for a richer practice.
More in depth about the Expand program
By adding this type of variation to your practice, you will be developing many more options on your hands that will have extra carryover to other acrobatic disciplines. Being able to walk, jump, twist and turn ensures that your bodymap upside down is not locked only to the basic positions. At a certain point a lot of practitioners will find themselves a bit at a loss for things to work on except, for example, the press and the one-arm, and this can get plain boring. Variation, creativity and play are important for enjoyment and long-term satisfaction, so branching out your skill tree can be an excellent way to fuel this.
HOW YOUR TRAINING WILL LOOK
The Expand program contains 23 instructional videos that thoroughly explain the theory and practice of the 3 categories of our advanced basics.
- Moving in space on hands (walking, jumping, rolling out)
- Using blocks and canes (entries, exits, specific drills)
- Head movements in a handstand
Not all of these will be immediately interesting or achievable for you, but incorporating aspects of them will diversify your handbalancing practice, and over time you might notice that your focus in training changes, and you’ll have these options in your toolbox. The Expand program has an accompanying manual which you will be able to download as PDF, or view it in your browser. You will be able to use the manual to quickly read up on an exercise, or study it textbook style.
The website is designed so that you can watch and rewatch the videos on desktop, take notes, and fully immerse yourself in understanding the theory behind handbalancing training. At some point though, you're just going to have to scrap the theory and go do the thing - but don't worry, you can just take the videos and manuals with you and recheck things on the fly wherever you're training, the gym, the park, at the office... with the Handstand Factory mobile version, all you need is a floor and a wall!
USING THE EXPAND TRAINING IN YOUR REGULAR HANDSTAND PRACTICE
This program is an expansion pack for your regular handbalancing training. Below we outline ways to incorporate the Expand vocabulary into your handbalancing practice. Many of the exercises here are much more technical than conditioning based and in that sense need to be practised without a high level of fatigue.
The spatial movements are the most practise-based of the Expand categories. You need to understand how to execute the movements and then work on them enough to get the hang of it. We suggest some working methods to make progress, but in general, these movements require less structured training than, for example, shape changing on two arms.
The same goes for entries onto canes. These might involve getting over some fear. If that is the case, we advise a slightly higher frequency (likewise for exiting from height). The entries section has various strategies to enter the canes or any other elevated surface. Working on all of them is a good option, but finding your preferred method is a priority so you become able to use blocks/ canes/height in your other training. Some ideal prerequisites and progressions for this category are outlined in our suggested programming.
The head-in movements have progressions and target times. These are quite technical, too, but carry over more directly to other facets of handbalancing training methodology than handstand walking.
Expand not only follows up on our beginner-level program Push but also bridges the gap between our Push and Press programs, and it can be trained alongside the Keep Pushing program. It’s also a great precursor to the higher-level skills such as the one-arm handstand covered in the Push Harder program. It is suited for anyone who would like to expand their practice beyond the straight handstand and gain a new level of agility and control on two arms.
STARTING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE EXPAND PROGRAM
The Expand program is an intermediate level handbalancing course. It is suited for anyone who would like to expand their practice beyond the straight handstand and gain a new level of agility and control on two arms. The components covered in Expand vary greatly in terms of starting requirements, but to get the most out of the exercises in this program we advise to begin once you have a consistent 30 second handstand in straight and straddle shapes, and familiarity with the jumping straddle entry.
Expand can also be an interesting addition to an advanced handbalancing practice if you haven't explored handstand walking or apparatus. It can be hard to stay inspired if you are only training the same things, especially skills that take a very long time to improve. By comparison, many of the elements in Expand are easier to learn, offering a lot of lessons from a different perspective to improve control of your handstand. They will also give you more building blocks to play with when you want to create sequences or experiment.
Apart from the physical prerequisites, this program also requires you to be able to train in an autonomous, self directed manner. We have included all the explanations, step by step programming as well as in depth information about all the progressions, but it is you putting in the work and showing up for the training that will help you gain full control on two arms.
STARTING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE EXPAND PROGRAM
The Expand program is an intermediate level handbalancing course. It is suited for anyone who would like to expand their practice beyond the straight handstand and gain a new level of agility and control on two arms. The components covered in Expand vary greatly in terms of starting requirements, but to get the most out of the exercises in this program we advise to begin once you have a consistent 30 second handstand in straight and straddle shapes, and familiarity with the jumping straddle entry.
Expand can also be an interesting addition to an advanced handbalancing practice if you haven't explored handstand walking or apparatus. It can be hard to stay inspired if you are only training the same things, especially skills that take a very long time to improve. By comparison, many of the elements in Expand are easier to learn, offering a lot of lessons from a different perspective to improve control of your handstand. They will also give you more building blocks to play with when you want to create sequences or experiment.
Apart from the physical prerequisites, this program also requires you to be able to train in an autonomous, self directed manner. We have included all the explanations, step by step programming as well as in depth information about all the progressions, but it is you putting in the work and showing up for the training that will help you gain full control on two arms.
"Create variation for your practice, spark your learning process and inspire creativity."
"Create variation for your practice, spark your learning process and inspire creativity."
FROM THE EXPAND MANUAL
EXPAND
Your Handbalancing Instructors
Mikael Kristiansen and Emmet Louis are both international teachers of handbalancing and flexibility and have spent big chunks of their lives studying and understanding all aspects of these skills professionally both as performers and teachers. With Handstand Factory, they now want to demystify and simplify the process of learning handstands, and make it accessible to anyone wanting to learn to stand on their hands. To learn more about Handstand Factory, head over to our about page.
FAQ
Do I need equipment to train the Expand program?
Usually, the Handstand Factory programs are designed to be trained with little to no equipment. The most important things are a flat floor and a free wall. However, for the apparatus component of this program, you will need access to blocks and canes. In the program itself we advise on what to look out for when buying or making equipment, and the program can be started without the tools to begin with.
Can I integrate the Expand program with other Handstand Factory programs?
Yes, absolutely. The earliest stage you would begin working on the Expand program is when you have successfully graduated from the Push Program, or are on the final templates of Push working on longer holds of the freestanding handstand. You can then run it alongside Keep Pushing, Press, or even Push Harder, depending on what your handbalance interests are.
How long can I use the Expand program?
The Expand program is more like an expansion pack to your regular handstand training, which means you can cycle the exercises in and out of your training over time. Unlike our other programs, there are no set timeframes on the programming, but rather a buffet of skills to work on. As such, you can keep this program in your toolbox for a long time, and come back to it whenever you are looking for some variation in your handstand practice.
I don't want to perform handstands, is the Expand program still relevant?
Exploring your freedom of movement on hands can be both – a method of self-expression, but also self-exploration. If you feel drawn to learning to balance on canes or blocks or move through space on your hands in a controlled way, and build overall better balancing on two arms, it doesn’t matter whether you want to work towards performing handstands, or whether you want to learn this skill for yourself.
Do I need a training partner to do the Expand program?
Nope, the way that the Expand program is designed means there is no need for a partner and that everything can be done independently. However, if you struggle with apprehension when balancing at a height, it might be useful to have a spotter nearby for learning to balance on canes. Saying that, training with others is fun, so by no means do it alone if you have the option!
Are the Handstand Factory programs follow along videos?
No, all of our online programs are educational in nature, they don’t contain videos in which you follow the training in real time like a class. The video library for each program contains explanations and demos for each exercise, with valuable cues and insights. These exercises are also explained in the manual, and lastly, programmed into comprehensive training templates that you can follow in your own time.