A common “practice”, if you could call it that, in circus school was me and a couple other handbalancers would just play around with handstands, trying to make them as ugly as possible. The dreadfullest shapes you could ever imagine being held. We would fall out of them on purpose, because we would try to see how far we could go with dumb angles.
These Gollum handstands, where you make a weird shape and push it as far as you can, is an excellent training method. We have all these set shapes in handbalancing: straight, straddle, pike, etc. But if you go beyond these templates to try a new shape you’ve never done before, then push it to the limit, this playful idea becomes a great way to train your overall balance.
In order to make it beneficial, deliberately push yourself to the point you’re falling out, try to fight it, and make it slow – legs and arms, whatever you want to do – break all the rules.
For example, you can play with hip rotations in this way. First you rotate the legs, then the legs and hips, then the legs, hips and shoulders, until the shoulders are in such a dumb position that you’ve twisted your body 90º over your wrist. This should be quite achievable for an experienced handbalancer, but it does put your shoulders into unconventional, uncomfortable angles.
Regardless of what nonsense shape you’ve made, once you’ve pushed it past your limit and you begin to fall – remember to control that descent. Collapsing into a roll, tilting into a break fall, or rocking into something resembling a cartwheel are all valid bails, so long as they are soft and intentional. Such a rich variety of exit strategies come in handy, especially when playing with new shapes like the Mexican handstand, or apparatus like canes.
Another fun thing to do instead of falling out of these unconventional shapes is to return to a clean straight handstand. The bigger the contrast between the “proper” straight handstand and your “broken” creation, the more control you are able to express.
One way to do this is the drill we dubbed the Transcontinental from our American Handstand mini-program (yes it’s real). You go from a straight handstand to an arched handstand, then return back to a straight handstand!
It’s not necessary to do these things, but there’s something to be said for being able to build all these broken and messed up shapes, that aren’t even shapes. There’s a degree of resilience and kinesthetic awareness that builds from the experience of being in and bailing out of these positions. Who knows, you might someday end up in such an awkward position handstanding, and your prior experimentation might allow you to bail safely and save yourself from injury. Or you’ll be able to take these unconventional handbalancing experiences into expressive performance art and dance.
– Mikael
Even if you’re just working towards your first straight handstand, bailing is an important part of the process. That’s why our Push freestanding handstand program contains an entire bail section with 5 different bailing videos. These drills will help you build the confidence to attempt freestanding handstands and speed up your progress.
Even if you’re just working towards your first straight handstand, bailing is an important part of the process. That’s why our Push freestanding handstand program contains an entire bail section with 5 different bailing videos. These drills will help you build the confidence to attempt freestanding handstands and speed up your progress.