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Hello! I'm currently working through the Foundation and Handstand series and have reached a point where I'm stalling on a lot of progressions. I just wanted to check that my understanding of mastery is correct -- I've been sticking with each level of an exercise until each rep (or the total duration of a static hold) of each set feels easy. Is it okay if a rep is done effortfully, but with good from? Is full mastery necessary at each level of each exercise or is it only necessary on the last level? Thank you!

I've been trying for months to push out from a frog-stand to a straight-arm handstand but something (probably a lack of strength in a particular area) is preventing from doing so: Video 1 - I can just about get into a frog-stand and get into a bent-arm stand, but observe my shoulders sink a little but, and I'm literally using all the strength that I have possible to hold my arms at a 90 degree angle. I find this extremly tough to hold. Video 2 - In this one when I try to bring my hips more over my shoulders, I try to push up but fail and crash down. This is on-going and I don't know how to get out of it. I've purchased the foundation course and thinking about starting from Level 2 - I've seen Level 3 has the HeSPU but I'm afraid I'll be stuck on that even after the progressions as something is not clicking about this transition. In terms of general pushing strength here is a dips video. I'm also doing pike push-ups and HSPU (chest-to-wall). I can press a 32kg kettlebell 1-2 reps on each arm. Thanks for reading. Awais

Hello! I just started gymnastic bodies, I am currently in foundation 2 doing what looks like an upper/ lower split with Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays left for stretching work. I want to work on handstand series too, when should I do them? How many times a week? Also, would you recommend elbow and wrist sequences as an additional ? or the handstand program already covers that area? Thank you!

Hi everyone, How do I incorporate handstand and planche on my push workout.My goal is to get one arm HS and full planche pushup .I like to train both elements .I can hold HS for 3-4 seconds and tuck planche hold for 10-15 seconds and bent arm planche for more than 15 secs. For refrence:(I have been doing weighted calisthencis for many years.I can FL,MU,Human Flag.Dips 50kg*5 ,Pushup 45*5, current bodyweight 70kg, heigth 5'7) SO if anyone had been in this situation before and now can do these elements ,your suggestions will be greatful and other peoples and coaches in this foroum?

Hello everyone! Not too long ago I had some downtime at the woodshop I work at, and I was able to build my own handstand blocks after eyeballing a design online and reverse engineering them with a bit of guesswork for some things like the downward angle of the blocks (10 degrees is what I settled on that felt best). They came out great and they're very sturdy and comfortable... except when I try to use them on my hardwood floor they slide! haha I'm asking you all what the best solution to that would be. I was thinking some kind of non-slip rubber flooring material since it would be low-profile (1/16") and I could get it cut to the exact size of the base (10" square). This would be better than typical furniture sliders since they're higher profile thickness (lowest one I saw was 1/4") and don't cover the entire base surface area. Thing is I don't know what rubber would work best for the underside, although I know I want a firm rubber with no give and potentially a bit coarse to prevent movement. For example I see on Home Depot there's 60A Textured Recycled Rubber at $1.88/ft2 which is amazing for the price... but would that work for what I want? Idk much in the realm of rubber materials. :/ Any help y'all could give here would be greatly appreciated. These blocks came out great for a first-time build and I want to get busy with using them without putting down a towel or something all the time as a quick fix. Cheers!

I would like to read Coach Sommer posts on specific topics, for example, I found utterly useful his post on the wall facing handstand - it just changed the way I practiced the handstand. How can one search fro his posts? Or may be you could create a separate section on the Forum for that? Thanks a lot!

Hi guys, I've builded a solid handstand and i would like to know if it is necessary to apply the posterior pelvic tilt in the straddled one arm handstand. Thanks in advance! Yours in Fitness, (blink blink) hehe Oscar

Hi All! I wanted to share a clip because to me it represents a taste of the future. I've been with GB programming now for close to 6 months, had a 60 sec hs prior to beginning but since beginning have made leaps and bounds in terms of feeling. The combo of training is efficient and I've never felt more solid at hs in my life. Without training even H2 for press, I've been able to play with negatives and see what is to come. Comment freely!

Hi, new to the forum so apologies if this has been posted in the wrong place lol. I'm looking for some advice on handstands in the hope that someone may be able to help... I've been practicing freestanding handstands now for around 4 months, every week seeing improvement in both my balance and alignment. One thing I've noticed is that the more my alignment improves and the more I'm able to open my shoulders and stack my body on top of them, the less my hold time is. Blanace doesn't seem to be the culprit, as my arms will start to bend at the elbow and I don't have to strength to hold it any longer. I'm guessing this is because more weight is now on top of my shoulders instead of my back arching and taking the weight. So my question is did anyone else experience less strength the more their alignment improved? And if so, any tips on improving strength and in durance in the handstands. I rarely practice wall handstand hold which I think would benefit me...?

I'm a little unclear on how different courses integrate. After reading many forum posts, I often see advice like 'Start with Foundation and then add Stretching'. Looking at the software screen shots on product pages, I'm unsure of what each day / session looks like if I'm doing two courses - is the software aware? Does that mean two training sessions a day or would I be alternating days? What if I then end up working the same muscle group on consecutive days? And what happens if I add the handstand course? A lot of questions, I know.

Hi everyone I've been training handstand against the wall for some time now but struggle to keep my hands flat. I can keep them flat when performing a free standing handstand, just not against the wall. My wrist flexibility is pretty decent so I don't think that's the issue. (Picture of the problem attached) Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi there ! Before I know GB I started training for a solid handstand for 10 min before each of my workout (4 per week) + session on my rest day when I have some time. But after some months I can only hold a 5" HS... Against a wall I've got a solid 1 min hold, maybe ~1min30 max but I have difficulties with the balancing part. My question is : How long will it take to improve my handstand (maybe to have a solid 30" HS, so I can just improve it day after day) with the Handstand Course ? (Obviously I'm not asking for a precise answer, everybody's different) If I go with the handstand course, should I go from the beginning with some headstand practice etc... Before moving again to a handstand or should I skip these step to go with the handstand work ? I'm asking cause I read that this course is great, especially for beginners and I was wondering if going back to headstand would be a "loss of time" or not. Last question : can I do the handstand course (Question for HS1, 2 & 3) on my rest day ? Thanks for all, and sorry for my english..

Hello! I am requesting a bit of help. About a month and a half ago, I started having wrist and elbow pain after doing bar muscle ups. I believe it stemmed from using too much momentum and a lack of wrist mobility. For example, I can't even bring my wrists to a 90 degree angle (I'm almost there but not quite) without using an external object such as a wall. So far, I've rested my arms for a month while using ice and occasionally heat. For about three weeks now I've been using heat only. I've also been doing eccentric wrist curls for about two weeks with very low weight. I do not feel random pain anymore. The only time I feel pain or discomfort is occasionally when driving, lifting or carrying objects, and sometimes when drawing (I'm an artist). It occurs on the insides of my elbows. This pain, out of 10, is probably a 2 or 3. I would more so call it a brief discomfort at this point. Do you all believe that I can begin using Handstand One to rehab/strengthen my wrists and elbows? If not yet, when can I use Handstand One to start strengthening my wrists? Would it be beneficial to begin Foundations One? If you have any advice pertaining to my questions, please help me out! I also welcome any advice that you can offer that does not deal with F1 or H1. Thank you!

Hey! Planning to buy one or two courses. My main aim at the moment is to get a press to handstand going, aswell as front lever. I know i lack alot of general flexibility, especially hamstring, for the press to handstand and i think i lack alot of upperback or shoulder strength(i dont think its abdominals at least) for front lever. My question is what courses should i start with if i wanna be able to do first of all press to handstand, and second of all front lever. Trying to priotize since its a decent amount of money. My current strength level is that i can do a back lever in rings and on bars for a few seconds, not sure how proper the form is, but its not all that bad i think. No where near close being able to do front lever though(im able to do dragon flags easily and controlled and i train alot of hollow body, so i guess its my lats that are the problem or my shoulders, or i just dont keep my chest high enough in proper position. I am also able to do human flag quite easily for a few seconds on my right side, and a few seconds less on the left side, mostly because of gripping power being unbalanced. Im not quite able to press myself up into human flag though, i need to do a negative where i hold at the horisontal level. Strict muscle ups in rings for many reps isnt a problem, but on bars i tend to lose the false grip, even though i sometimes manage something almost close to proper form on bars for one rep. When it comes to balance, im able to keep a handstand quite easily if im not stressed, think my record is 30 seconds on the same spot, but i can improve it alot. But i think my flexibility is really keeping me back from being able to say do reverse leg raises in a handstand. When i do them in a headstand i tend to look like a banana when my feet touches the floor. Regards and sorry for the english from Sweden.

Hi everyone I am working on handstand and I have a problem when kicking up to the wall. I have failed in finding this specific issue in any forum so I am asking here. What happens is that each time I kick up, my head goes forward and presses into the wall, and then my feet go all the way up. I have tried moving away from the wall a little but my head still wants to find the wall for support and its like this unsormountable fear that if I kick up, even with the wall there to catch my legs, I will collapse onto my head. I cant seem to get the hang of the motion without my head or upper shoulders pressing into the wall. I end up kicking up only a little if Im far away from the wall, it feels like I wont be able to support the weight on my arms alone. I can press to headstand, both tripod & hands behind head locked. Is this a strength issue? Shoulders/lats/scapulae? Or just arms? I cant do full pull ups yet, but working on them, almost there, can do 10 cleans with 1 band...then again I know others who can do handstand but cannot pull up. Is it a core strength problem? Shoulder flexibility problem? Or is it purely a psychological fear thing? How can I get over this barrier and stop my head from shifting forward into the wall? One person (a coach, believe it or not) said it was because I was too tall, my legs way too long so my upper body cannot handle it. Im not that tall...Im 5'9/1.76, taller than average for a female maybe but Im not abnormally tall ... Thanks in advance

Which is better the square or circular blocks

Hi, new member here. I've always wanted to learn the handstand, so I started this week. I think it would be a nice skill to have and I figure it will help in strengthening the right muscles as I am currently also learning how to breakdance. I'd like to focus a little more on strength over balance. How should I train the handstand for this purpose? What should my form look like? I've started learning by just kicking up into a wall, but I find that my lower back and legs relax backwards despite my best efforts. Posterior pelvic tilt, was it? Anyway I find it impossible to straighten my body up from here no matter how hard I try to flex my abs and glutes. I'm sure I'm doing something horribly wrong. Any ideas?

Hi all, hi tried this moove for fun, i m so close when i rise up but the strenght sensation motivated me to train this moove. How many seconde i can hold straddle planche for begin straddle planche to handstand and what kind of training for achieve this hard moove ? I tought at some straddle planche to handstand assisted with a band, handstand lower to planche maybe, i don't have a spotter and i have only paralette for training.

Hello people, the reason i signed up to GB was to improve my gymnastic skills specifically for capoeira. I purchased Foundation 1 over a year ago but just started with it this week because of an injury. I'm digging it a lot and i was thinking about purchasing another course. I'm thinking Handstand 1 would make the most sense for my specific goals, since capoeira involves many handstands, cartwheels, etc. Would Foundation 1 (already purchased) + Handstand 1 be a good starting point to complement/improve my capoeira skills? If not, what would you recommend? Bear in mind, i can only purchase 1 course at the moment (limited budget). Thanks, C.

I'm new here but have been reading through threads for a few months now, mainly on forearm splints, wrist and finger pain. I started getting forearm splints years ago when I was a bro, curling 40kg in the gym like I was the man. Then I started to get pain, so bad I couldn't even open a door. Eventually I stopped doing curls altogether, switched over to DC training and then 5x5. I occasionally got some pain from bench / overhead press, but it was completely manageable through stretching. A few years later and I've quit the gym, focussing on bodyweight training. I needed some goals so began working towards the planche and handstand. For the planche I practised L-Sit, tuck planche & planche lean - doing sets so the times totalled 60 seconds per exercise, gradually increasing the time per set (15,15,15,15 - 20,20,20 - 30,30 etc). For the handstand I was really just working on my fear of being on my hands upside-down and only really got as far as a headstand against a wall (don't laugh). The planche training was going so well and I was really enjoying the progression, even if it was ever so slow. However it all came to a swift end when my forearm splints came back with a vengeance. I noticed it came on really strong if I was doing a hold then immediately came off the position, but if I came off gradually then the pain wouldn't be as bad, but would still be present. I've always stretched my wrists out before and after exercising ... as well as doing about 8x 30 second exercises with a rice bucket. The addition of the above 2 things really did feel as though it was working. However I ended up stopping training completely, and just doing the above stretches every few days but for some reason this just brought the strain back. I've also tried not doing any stretches or training at all. I've even started getting pain from playing guitar and typing now (perhaps all 3 are linked?). My main point of this thread is to ask if anyone has actually had any success with forearm/finger/wrist exercises that has enabled them to train hard again, without having to worry about any pain creeping in, and also if there are any structured programs out there I can follow which can help. I know this is probably about the 10th thread on forearm splints, but I really haven't found much hope online on the topic and am getting slightly desperate. If anyone can help please do! I just want to start training correctly again.

Hi everybody, I'm new on this forum and specialy french, so I'm sorry for my future mistakes! I need help for my handstand. I can do handstand with 2 arms during 20 secondes I think but I can't do special exercice for one handstand... For example, put my leg to the right or the left, it's so difficult... I don't know if it's a muscle problem or flexibily or anotherthing. Can i post a video of me to someone and tell me what is wrong ? Thanks you for your comment and sorry for my bad english

I realised that many people think that they're too tall for gymnastics and that they can't achieve anything great once they're past 5'7" or something. I find that to be something that can be very discouraging and I know that we all need some motivation at times (as a taller guy myself). Having said that, it's still more important to focus on the journey and doing your best. I want to make this post so that taller people can have a reference to what's achievable even when you're tall (for gymnastics) and gain some motivation. Will you end up in the Olympic team? No. Can you achieve really high levels of strength? Absolutely, especially when following the type of quality resources that GymnasticBodies offers. Alexander Shatilov - 183cm (6') - Olympic Gymnast - Inverted Cross Kristian Thomas - 180cm (5'11") - Olympic Gymnast - Maltese Lachlan Walker - 185cm (6'1") - Level 7 Gymnast - Iron Cross Roye Goldschmidt - 190cm (6'3") Ivan Kajtaz - 180cm (5'11") - Calisthenics and Street Workout Athlete - Floor Maltese and Japanese Handstand Chris Heria - 183cm (6') - Calisthenics and Street Workout Athlete - Full Planche

Hello, long time reader here with my first question. At what point does it make sense to buy or build Handstand Canes? Do you recommend a solid 30sec Handstand on the floor first? I found some beautiful one on Ebay but i don't know if that makes sense for me to buy them now. They have angled forward Blocks to minimise strain on your wrists. I never saw angled forward Blocks on Handbalancer Pictures or Videos. What do you think? Thanks !!!

Has anybody experience alignment problems in the handstand due to scoliosis? I have scoliosis (diagnostic by a doctor) that is not very bad, but I have struggle with the handstand for more than 6 months now, I have worked on all of the bodyline drills, rebalancing drills, mobility but I still cannot balance it. I went to a handbalancing class and they told me I have one arm pushing harder than the other (my stronger one) and my hips a little bit turn to one side, which trows my alignment off. Would you advise trying to solve the scoliosis, or adjusting my handstand form to work around this problem? This is my handstand form right now, without a wall and with it. I don't think my alignment is terrible, but I STILL CANNOT BALANCE IT.P.s. I work on the handstand daily, have attended gymnastics classes specifically for the handstand and now handbalancing ones, so please don't just say "practice more"

Hey, so i reached a level of about 70 push ups, 27-30 dips, and 17 pull ups. So im not a begginer anymore, and i really want to master all the advanced moves like planche, front lever and so on and my main question is should i do like 1 day of sets n reps and on the other day do static holds (tuck FL, tuck planche, handstand, L - Sit) and flow with this kind of program? or should i do the progressions at the start of the training session and than do sets n reps from the energy that i am left with? Do i need to continue doing pull ups, dips and push up exercises at all? Do they help in my advanced moves proggressions?