Training Routine

Bail Training Session

Now that you’ve read the Key Concepts, let’s get on your hands!  For this bailing session, we want you to focus on feeling challenged but not terrified.  So take time between attempts to rest and downregulate, rushing will just lead to sloppy attempts and fatigue.

Cartwheels

Remember from our Key Concepts, we aren’t holding you to gymnastic standards with these cartwheels. So no need to worry about having locked knees and pointed toes.

We want you to focus on getting used to the rough shape of the movement. So pay more attention to the weight transfer in your hands and getting your feet back to the ground with control.

Watch the video below for a detailed breakdown of the various cartwheel progressions.

Wall Turns

This is a bread and butter drill of learning to fall from handstand. This series of drills require some endurance on your hands so if you struggle with 20-30 second chest-to-wall handstand, we recommend you build that up first.

The entire goal here is to learn to move your bailing hand while in a fully vertical position. The wall supports you here so you can learn this step by step. At first it might be physically tough to do this, but it will come along with time and practice.

Choose an appropriate drill for your level and practice. Make sure you rest well between sets as it can be a fatiguing exercise to repeat several times. The key to learning this is to get consistent practice done at it and to gradually challenging your fear level.

Small steps by shifting weight from hand to hand. This is the easiest version of the drill. Push extra in the arm you lean on to and try to lift the other hand off the floor. Move back and forth between the hands.

Shift your weight and then move the bailing hand forwards in front of you, then move it back. Keep both legs on the wall.

Move your first cartwheel leg off the wall first and then shift your weight and move the bailing hand in front of you. This step can be a bit scary but it will help to keep some weight on the wall. Practising this one thoroughly and getting comfortable with it is truly key to learning to bail safely.

Move the first cartwheel leg off the wall, shift your weight, move bailing hand in front, then cartwheel down from your hands. This is the step where you start to actually cartwheel out from a vertical position. Keep in mind your cartwheel might be crooked and weird here but that’s all good. The entire point is for your body to experience that its safe even if uncomfortable.

This is similar to Level 4 but initiates differently. Here we will simulate the actual handstand bail by just pulling our first cartwheel leg so far off the wall that we begin to fall over. As a response to the fall, you move your bailing hand and cartwheel down. Again, this cartwheeling down doesn’t need to be pretty, it needs to be safe only so its form is not so relevant.

This is essentially the primary skill we want you to learn. Building up to this through the easier drills will make a big difference towards this. It will also carry over very well to the freestanding version.

Back-to-Wall Handstand

Key Details:

  • Strong engaged traps and shoulders during the kick-up⁠
  • Kick-up is controlled to lightly touch the wall (this will come with practice)⁠
  • Hands, shoulders, and hips stacked in a line⁠ as best you can
  • Legs in a “Y” to balance each other out and minimize arching⁠
  • Steady press with the fingers to separate from the wall and balance⁠

Description:
This exercise tends to get a bit of a bad rep, as people can easily arch their back and fall into less efficient form.⁠
⁠
If done with the correct intent and setup though – with shoulders and hips placed properly – it is incredibly useful to teach us how to use our fingers in the handstand.⁠
⁠⁠
The end goal of this drill is to kick-up with so much control that your heel doesn’t actually touch the wall at all, but just hovers right next to it.⁠
⁠
As one gets stronger and more comfortable with that, as well as more comfortable with bailing out of a handstand, then moving on to more freestanding work becomes much easier!⁠

Half Kick-Up to Hand Step

If you are feeling confident with the Wall Turns, then you can add this drill of intentionally trying to bail out of a handstand.

Description:

This drill is for getting used to moving one of your arms when in handstand. This is a freestanding kick up which intentionally does not go all the way up. Instead of aiming for the actual handstand you want to stay diagonal for safety and then try to move your “second cartwheel hand”(the second hand you would place down in a cartwheel.

This will end you up nowhere near balance and your legs come right back to the floor which is the goal. Doing this will build some frame of reference for how the hand should respond when the weight moves over from a handstand.

As you build confidence with this, you can increase the kicking height closer and closer to a vertical position before moving the hand.

Be aware that this can potentially be a bit hard on your wrists, so pay attention when practising this.

Heel Pull Corrections

Key Details:

  • No pushing off the wall with the feet; if you feel you have to push, set up closer to the wall.
  • Push the fingers into the ground to move the body.
  • Pay attention to the three different stages and master each one in turn.

Description:
We have two main corrections for the freestanding handstand, one for over and one for underbalance. This correction applies to overbalance, (i.e. leaning backwards). It is easier than correcting underbalance.

This drill trains your finger and forearm strength for handbalancing; it is also essential for developing a strong sense of balance on your hands.

We coach this exercise in three stages. First, we teach you to apply sustained pressure with your fingers; this sustained fingertip pressure pulls your heels off the wall and down to the floor.

Second, when you feel you can balance, squeeze your fingers with just enough pressure to come off the wall, hold the balance, and then squeeze the fingers again to come back down to standing. Third, try to find your balance and then, instead of coming down to the floor, go back to the wall into your initial setup position.

In this setup, it is likely that you might start finding a good balance and alignment. When this happens, we suggest just going for it and trying to hold as long as you can. It will begin to happen as you get past the complete beginner stage, but it is important not to chase them. Sometimes it just happens, enjoy it, but then on your next set get back to what you were doing and avoid ditching the training for chasing balances that may or may not happen.

Want to stay balanced on your hands?

Did you find this bailing session useful? Challenging?

Controlling your exit is key to unlocking your handstand, but it’s just one component.

You’ll also need to build up the strength, flexibility, coordination, and confidence to kick-up to a straight, freestanding handstand.

We cover all of those components in our comprehensive Push online handstand program. With a multitude of training templates, we’ll get you balancing whether you’re strong but stiff, flexible but unstable, or an absolute beginner.

  • 43 EXPLANATION VIDEOS
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  • 116 PAGE MANUAL
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