Yoga experts love the handstand. Gymnastic athletes consider this a basic exercise and a warm-up routine. For beginners dealing with workouts, it can be an amazing way to train the entire body muscle.See more about the health benefits of handstand here.
Learning to handstand is not easy at all. It takes some practice until anyone manages to achieve perfection, and do it without too much trouble. However, this is a timeframe of a few days rather than a few weeks.
If you want to learn how to do it, you should take this step by step explanation. You don’t need any special equipment. You can do it at home, and the only thing it’s advised to have is a mat cushion that will absorb the eventual fall. Follow up to see the steps.
Step 1: Find a firm and nice empty wall
It’s crucial to get help in your first attempts. For this, you’re going to need someone to help you and grab your legs once you get your body in an upside-down position, or you can use the help of an ordinary wall.
The wall is being used for achieving balance in your first attempts. You’ll still need help from the muscles in your entire body, but the wall will help you achieve the balance which only comes with practice. So, find a nice clean wall. One without pictures, or special paint that will make you slip.
Step 2: Remove everything around you
The second crucial safety step is to remove everything around you. Make sure there are no coffee tables, kids’ toys, flowers, curtains, or anything else on the ground. Stand away even from the doors because your legs might hit the door handle and make unbelievable pain.
The only thing around you should be the few cushions or thick yoga mats that will absorb your eventual fall. Still, make sure there’s enough space for the hands that need to be placed on a firm surface. This is crucial for achieving balance.
Step 3: Stand on your feet and hands
You start with an exercise that is too simple. This is the foundation for a good handstand. Create the position of a bridge with your body. It doesn’t matter if you’re facing up or down with your face. The results will be the same.
You’ll notice that after some time standing in this position, it gets pretty hard to maintain it. Your muscles start to tremble under the weight of your body and the unusual position you’re in. Now imagine how it will be when you place all the weight only on your hands.
Step 4: Tighten your body
Before you reach the point of no return, you should tighten your body entirely. That means contract your muscles. All of them. Before lifting with your legs, you should be ready for it.
To become ready you need to make sure your body is ready for the challenge. Place everything together so you can achieve a better balance later. Place your arms next to your ears, and keep your legs touching each other.
Step 5: Push with your legs
To achieve liftoff, you should push with your legs off the ground and try to hold them up as higher as possible. Your hands should be placed in a position without moving. Any slightest sudden move will get you down because you’ll lose balance.
On your first attempt, you’ll probably not push yourself hard enough. You have no idea how much you need to do it. Make sure the first one is a test run. Push just enough so you can take your feet off the ground. With the second one, go higher and achieve full height.
Step 6: Lean on the wall
Once you’re up there, place your legs on the wall. Secure yourself there. Don’t move. Stand on your hands with your feet leaning on the wall. The wall will support you. If you have enough strength in your arms, you can stand like that for a long time.
See how strong you are. Keep yourself in this position for some time. This is going to give you an idea of how capable you are to maintain balance even without the support of the wall.
Step 7: Maintain balance
Even though you’re leaning on the wall, your body is not used to this. The gravity will do its job and just a small move with your legs toward one side will make you fall.
Practice a little. Make sure you learn how to achieve balance. For this, you need both legs equally apart from the gravitational line of your body. If they are stick together, you’ll have the easiest time to do it.
Step 8: Push away from the wall
When you feel ready, simply push away from the wall. Leave the support aside and get ready for the final step. You’ll probably immediately get back to the wall, and this is a good thing. The other option might be for your legs to pull on the other side, which will get you on the ground.
Step 9: Don’t be afraid to fall
Don’t be afraid to fall, this is a normal part of the learning process. When you push yourself off the wall, your mind will instantly start learning about gravitation. You’ll probably fall a couple of times before you manage to maintain balance.
This is completely normal. If you secured yourself with cushions and mats, you have nothing to worry about.
Step 10: Repeat until perfect
The learning process is all about failure. You’ll fall down and get up countless times during the process. This is the only way to learn to do a handstand properly. If you don’t fail, you won’t succeed.
Keep on repeating the procedure until you find yourself standing on your hands without anyone help you, and until you find it comfortable. When you become an expert, this will seem like the easiest job in the world.
