Here is a new handstand exercise that I’ve been playing with lately – the tuck handstand.
What is this move? First you get up into a handstand then you get into a tuck position while keeping the arms straight.
This can be done from a curved handstand or a flat one. You’ll notice there’s quite a bit of arch in the lower back as I do it in the video here. An even more advanced version would be to round the back and hold the position. By keeping your body more vertical then horizontal it is quite a different position then the tuck planche.
What this move requires is the shift your weight forward, planching the shoulders slightly. I found that by bending the legs at the knees first and then bending at the hips it was easier to get into this movement.
Here is a picture of the tuck handstand. If your thighs only go to parallel with the floor as they are here its pretty easy to hold. Lowering them even more makes it tougher. And going into the round back position is the hardest.
Photo by Natalie Anfield - Kamloops Photography
My thoughts are that this move would help with straight arm pressing movements.
Have you done the tuck handstand before? Any other similar handstand exercises you like to do?
Yes, there is! Practice the same thing, but in elbow stand. It’s really hard, and you need a very very good shoulder flexibility to tuck all the way. The goal is to keep the upper arms aligned with the spine there, but like I said… it requires an excellent shoulder opening. (I don’t have that. But it’s a work in progress.)
Cool video. It looks like that move takes a lot of coordination.
I’m still working on my regular handstands, but I like this as something to work up to.
@Chris Pine: The best place to go after having some skill in the regular handstand, in my opinion, is just changing the position slightly.
@Jonathan F.V.: I’m gonna give that a try my next session. Thanks for the idea, and yeah it sounds intense just reading about it.