Refining the handstand

25 min

A balance you never stop correcting

Watch an expert hold a handstand and it looks completely still. It is not. The body sways by tiny amounts all the time, and the gymnast corrects every sway through the fingers and wrists, as a person standing on one foot corrects through the toes. Research on hand-balancers quoted on Wikipedia found that most of them balance mainly with wrist movements, and that experts make smaller, finer corrections than intermediate gymnasts. In Senior 1 you learned to kick up to a handstand. Now you refine it into a straight, controlled hold with a safe exit, and use the physics of balance to understand every fault.

Definition

Handstand: a balance on the hands with the body inverted and straight, arms and legs fully extended, hands about shoulder-width apart and legs together.

Base of support: the area of contact with the floor and the space between the contacts; in a handstand, from the heels of the hands to the fingertips, and between the two hands.

Centre of mass (CoM): the point where the body's weight can be taken to act.

Torque (moment of a force) $(\tau)$ : the turning effect of a force, $\tau = F d$ , where $d$ is the perpendicular distance from the pivot to the line of the force.

Hollow body: a tight body shape with the lower back flattened, ribs drawn in and seat squeezed, which keeps the body straight instead of arched.

The physics of balance

A handstand is balanced only while the vertical line through the centre of mass falls inside the base of support. If the CoM is a distance $d$ in front of the middle of the hands, the weight has a turning effect

\tau = m g d

that tips the body over. The gymnast cancels it by pressing with the fingertips, which moves the floor's upward push forward towards the fingertips. But the push can never move beyond the fingertips: once the CoM is past them, no amount of pressing can save the balance, and the gymnast must step down or roll out. That is why a straight, hollow body, with the CoM directly over the hands, is so much easier to hold than an arched one.

Worked example

Worked example 1: how much correction? Mutesi has a mass of 50 kg. Her fingertips are 0.09 m in front of the middle of her hands $(g = 9.81\,\mathrm{m\,s^{-2}})$ .

Her CoM drifts 0.03 m in front of the middle of her hands. Turning effect of her weight: $\tau = mgd = 50 \times 9.81 \times 0.03 = 14.7\,\mathrm{N\,m}$ To cancel it, her finger pressure must move the floor's push 0.03 m forward of mid-hand: well within the 0.09 m to her fingertips, so she can recover.
In an arched shape her CoM is 0.14 m in front of mid-hand: $\tau = 50 \times 9.81 \times 0.14 = 68.7\,\mathrm{N\,m}$ The push would have to act 0.14 m forward, but her fingertips reach only 0.09 m. She cannot recover and must step down or roll out.

Conclusion. Keeping the body straight keeps $d$ small, and small errors can be corrected with the fingers before they grow.

Building the handstand step by step

Stage	Practice	Success when…
1. Wrists and shoulders	Wrist circles, rocking forward over the hands on all fours, shoulder shrugs in a push-up position	No wrist pain; shoulders can be pushed up towards the ears
2. Hollow shape	Hollow hold lying on the back: lower back pressed into the mat, arms by the ears, legs off the floor	Holds 20 s without the lower back lifting
3. Wall walk	Walk the feet up a wall, chest facing the wall, hands walking in close	Holds 20 s with the body straight, stomach close to the wall
4. Kick-up with a spotter	Lunge, reach long, place the hands, kick the back leg up, push with the front leg, join the legs at the top; the spotter catches the thighs	Reaches the vertical without overbalancing
5. Free hold and exit	Hold, correcting with the fingers; exit by stepping one leg down, or by tucking the chin and bending the arms slowly into a forward roll	Holds 5 s, then exits under control

Spotting. The spotter stands to the side of the hands, not in front, and catches the thighs or hips as the legs arrive, holding the gymnast straight until she is balanced. Overbalancing: if you go past vertical without a spotter, turn one hand out and step down sideways (a quarter turn), or tuck the chin and roll out forwards: never arch and fall flat.

Video: "Skill Progressions #15: Beginner Handstands", GymTactics. Watch the progression from shapes on the floor to the wall and to the free handstand, and notice where the coach stands to spot.

Tip

"Stack the blocks." Picture wrists, shoulders, hips and ankles as blocks stacked straight on top of each other. Push tall through the shoulders and press the fingers to stay on the stack.

Warning

Safety and common mistakes. Bent arms collapse: lock the elbows. A banana back puts the CoM outside the base and strains the lower back. Kicking too hard throws the legs past vertical. Warm up the wrists every time: wrist pain is the most common handstand complaint, so stop and rest if it hurts. Practise on mats with space all round, away from walls except during wall drills.

✦

Practice

List four features of a good handstand.
State the condition for balance in a handstand.
A 60 kg gymnast's centre of mass drifts 0.02 m in front of mid-hand. Calculate the turning effect of his weight (g = 9.81 m s⁻²).
His fingertips are 0.10 m in front of mid-hand. What is the largest drift he can correct? Explain.
Describe two safe exits from a handstand.
Explain why a hollow body shape helps balance.
Put the five building stages in order and say what success looks like at stage 3.
A pupil arches her back and keeps falling over the top. Analyse the fault and plan two practices to correct it.

Show answersHide answers

Any four: arms straight and shoulder-width apart; shoulders open (arms by the ears); body straight and hollow; legs together; toes pointed; head neutral; CoM over the hands.
The vertical through the centre of mass must fall inside the base of support (between the heels of the hands and the fingertips).
τ = 60 × 9.81 × 0.02 = 11.8 N m.
0.10 m: the floor's push can be moved by finger pressure only as far as the fingertips, so a drift beyond 0.10 m cannot be balanced.
Step one leg down under control; tuck the chin and bend the arms slowly into a forward roll; or turn a hand out and step down sideways (quarter turn).
It keeps the body straight and rigid, so the CoM stays over the hands, the drift d stays small, and corrections through the fingers move the whole body as one unit.
Wrists and shoulders → hollow shape → wall walk → kick-up with a spotter → free hold and exit. Stage 3 success: 20 s chest-to-wall with the body straight.
The arch pushes the hips forward so the CoM moves past the fingertips (large d), and the closed shoulders add to it. Practices: hollow holds on the floor to learn a flat lower back; chest-to-wall handstands with shoulders pushed open; then kick-ups with a spotter who holds the hips in line.

Quick check

A handstand stays balanced only while the vertical line through the centre of mass falls inside the base of support.

Remember

Balance while the CoM is over the base; the weight's turning effect is $\tau = mgd$ .
Correct small drifts with finger pressure; beyond the fingertips, step down or roll out.
Straight arms, open shoulders, hollow body, legs together, toes pointed.
Build up: wrists → hollow → wall → spotted kick-up → free hold with a safe exit.

Sources and credits

Handstand and Torque, Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0: the definition of the handstand and the research on wrist corrections. Adapted by Ganzaa.
Photo: Handstand (119653409), Earl Mcgehee, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Video: "Skill Progressions #15: Beginner Handstands", GymTactics, embedded from YouTube.
Balance diagram, progression table, worked example, practice and quick check: written by Ganzaa.

This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1A balance you never stop correcting

2The physics of balance

3Building the handstand step by step

A balance you never stop correcting

The physics of balance

Building the handstand step by step