Beginner Handstand Course

Hello and thank you for taking an interest in my course.

I am very humbled and honored that you have chosen me to be your guide with movement and will do my best to deliver the results you seek. If you don't know me already my name is Francesco and I have a rich background in movement arts such as Outdoor Training, Martial Arts, Dance, Acrobatics, Fitness, Parkour and Circus. I am both a practitioner and teacher and have dedicated a large portion of my life to guiding others down this path. As humans with a complex brain we have the ability to reflect and learn many ways of moving. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

You get 10 video submissions for critique with this course simply send me video footage either through Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or share a Dropbox file so I can see high quality footage of your attempts and give you the best feedback possible.

You can email me a drop file at FrancescoGcaban@gmail.com

Messenger me by adding me on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/francesco.caban

Whatsapp me via my phone number 623-999-4623

1. Introduction To Beginner Handstands

2. How To Warm Up?

Warm up is essential for any athletic activity and handstands are no different. There are two warm ups below the first is a general total body warm up for any athletic activity. Doing that on a daily basis alone will put you ahead of many other people who do little to no activity. The Second is hand stand specific and is for the safety of your wrists. If you have zero time to waste I highly recommend you at least do the wrist warm up, but if you have the time available to you then please go through both warm ups.

Dynamic Full Body Warm Up

Wrist Specific Warm Up

3. Are You Strong Enough To Do A Handstand?

This simple test will let you know if you have the minimum strength to do a handstand. If you have trouble with this do not worry, by simply using the strength test as a training tool you can start building your strength so you can move on to the next exercises.

If you feel like you are shaking a lot or are about to collapse in the push up, or overhead position, then do this. Do three sets of 10-30 second holds of the position you have trouble with 3 times per week until you develop the strength where you are not shaking when holding the position. This will give you the confidence and infrastructure for successful handstands.

4. Your First Balance “Crow Pose“

The Crow Pose is an excellent manageable first time balance that requires minimal strength but also teaches you about stacking. What is Stacking? Stacking is when you line up the most important structures of your body so that it takes the minimal amount of strength to hold yourself up. Imagine you are standing on your feet. If you lean too far forward from the hips our the head you will fall off balance unless you squeeze really hard with the muscles for stability. However even with squeezing and strength there is only so much the body can do to recover from being out of a stacked position. Imagine a stack of 3 toy blocks. Each one placed upon the other perfectly in line with the block beneath it so that there is no chance of it falling over. The base support stays where it is, but the other two blocks can only go so far off center before the whole stack falls over. Learning how to stack and being mindful of it will smooth out learning curve of unlocking the handstand.

5. Fastest Way To Find Balance In Full Extension

Some instructors swear by the back to wall handstand some by the stomach to wall handstand. I teach both, but I also teach the between the walls handstand to optimize the learning curve and it gives you the benefit of learning both sides of the recovery mechanisms in a handstand balance. Please work on all three of these with caution.

6. Further Information On the back To Wall Drill

The back to wall kick up is used to find the subtleties of kicking up to handstand into a balanced position. The drill should be done with softness in mind and trying to use as little speed as possible so you don't hit the wall hard. By learning how to get up on the wall into balance softly with a kick up you will be less likely to lose control falling over toward the back quickly. Now I said quickly because you will most definitely fall towards your back space A LOT when you are first learning this skill, but that's why you mastered the cartwheel bail out variation first right?...RIGHT? What am I talking about? Keep going on with the course, just remember be soft.

The key to being able to hold long handstands is both strength and form.  You will develop strength through consistent practice, but our basic form is trying to keep the hips over the shoulders over the hands, this is referred to as stacking, just like the 3 toy blocks mentioned in the Crow Pose section. If These line up you will have "Phenomenal Cosmic Powers!!!!"

7.The Cartwheel Bail Out

Ok, I know you are really excited to start jumping up into your handstand. You know you have the minimum strength, you have in the very least tried Crow Pose and you know your hand placement. But that doesn't mean you should just toss yourself into an attempted handstand with hopes of being blessed by the Gods. First learn the skill in this video. The Cartwheel Bail is absolutely crucial for your safety and longevity of handstand training. I have seen countless people attempt a handstand without ever learning the cartwheel bail out and it almost always ends in disaster. Please make sure to master this maneuver before attempting without a wall. If you master this you will be able to do more attempts at a free standing handstand without consequence of falling on your back.  Trust me, this is the gold nugget of this course.

8. Organic Strength and Endurance

There are lots of ways to get the muscles that work the shoulders, elbows and wrists stronger. However, the first approach should be organic in nature and I believe at first you should just get your strength from doing longer holds against the wall. The more endurance you have in the handstand position the more you will be able to practice free standing handstand, and attain the balance quicker.

This is the bread and butter of building strength to endure handstand practice.  There are many other ways which are explained in The Premium Course, but this is the organic approach to it. 

Your goal is to get to 1 min of work against the wall do this daily or if your too sore the next day or feel elbow, wrist and neck pain that is hindering you from practice then let that subside before doing it again.

This could mean doing

• 4 sets of 15 seconds

• 10 sets of 6 seconds

• 6 sets of 10 seconds

Do what you can handle and add a little more effort each time, this is how you set the bar higher every training session.

9. Lets Give It A Go

If you have been having a pretty easy time going through all the exercises in this course then you have the tools to start working on freestanding handstands safely.  However, many individuals will need more help and guidance with this intricate skill.  If you want to get more help wiuth yoru handstands and build this skill further than your should get access to my premium access page.

In the premium access page you will get my entire Movement Monastery library

• 1 live group video call per month to ask questions about your training as a community

• Video submission of your training that I will respond to with critiques and corrections

• Unlimited access to exercises and skillsets within Acrobatics, Dance, Parkour, Flexibility, Fitness and much more.

• Theory and mindset of training

• Constantly growing content to help you with your movement journey

• The price goes up over time so this is the cheapest the course will ever be*

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