Do you think mastering handstand is an unreachable goal in your vaulting life?
We asked Luca Short to develop a specific program for Vaulting World to help you improving and controlling your handstand, step by step.

> Who is Luca Short?

Photo: Lyda Bravo

Luca is a vaulter from Colombia, he’s also currently a Vaulting Coach, a Crossfit Gymnastics Coach, a Personal Trainer and a Handstand Balancer.

As a vaulter we had the pleasure to meet him during a stay in Madrid some years ago and we are still friends today!

So with all his experience, who could design better this program, right? If you follow him on Instagram you’ll probably get jealous of his balance and strength!

Photo: Lyda Bravo

But everyone started from scratch, didn’t they? We were curious to know Luca’s tips to improve your handstand, from any level. The only thing you need is a bit of motivation!

> Luca’s Handstand Program

  • The program is divided into 2 parts, one to master the basics, the second one is to master handstanding.
  • We will publish a video every 2 weeks, which you can repeat as much as needed and improve until taking the challenge of the next video!
  • Share you training sessions and improvements with us using the hashtag #VWHandstand on Instagram!

> PART I – BACK TO BASICS

The first part includes exercises to improve your body alignment, which is basic for a good and balanced handstand.

Video 1: Body Alignment & Conditioning

Make sure to activate the subtitles of the video for the descriptions of each exercise!

0:16 Handplank

This is a basic exercise for handstand, where your shoulders should try to touch the ears and hips pushing to the inside.

0:28 Hollow Hold

Here you have to hold your scapulas up and both feet up in a hollow position pushing with the shoulders to the ears. Luca is also showing a typical error you should avoid: Be careful with your lower back, which should not be arched. This would mean that there is a lack of strength!

You can also try the variations, with the arms down, and one or both knees tucked.

1:04 Hollow Pull

The shoulders push down, the hips also push down and bring the abs up, creating a space between the floor and stomach.

1:26 Hollow Pull over supports

Here the mechanics are the same as the Hollow Pull on the floor, you just increase the difficulty.

1:44 Hollow Pull over supports changing position

You can also change the position of your arms to increase or decrease the intensity and difficulty of the exercise.

2:11 Kick to Handstand & L-Shape

One leg forward to kick to handstand: You should have a lunge position with the forward knee bent, the backward leg is straight in a stable position. Both arms are up and should be pushing with the shoulders up.

From lunge position you must drive the whole upper body forward meanwhile rising the backward leg up, going into a one leg horizontal position (semi-split). The backward leg kicks, and the forward leg jumps into an L-shape handstand.

At the beginning, you can try to do this without holding the position: Just kick into the L-shape handstand and go back into the lunge position. If this is too easy, try to hold by opening your legs in a semi-split position.

2:27 Kick to Handstand Diagonal

Then try the same exercise on a diagonal handstand position being as tight as possible.

2:54 Kick to Handstand & Hold

When you can manage the diagonal, you can try with the vertical position, using the same mechanics and getting back into the lunge position every time. You can try to hold 1 second at first, and then 2 seconds, 3 seconds and so on!

> What’s next?

This is only the first video of many more coming! Here you can see the whole program and organise your trainings:

PART I – BACK TO BASICS

Video 1: Body Alignment & Conditioning

Video 2: Technics on the ground

Video 3: Using a wall and other helps

PART II – MASTERING HANDSTAND

Video 4: Introducing movements

Video 5: Starting from the ground

Don’t forget to mention our hashtag #VWHandstand and
follow our YouTube Channel to stay tuned!