HANDSTAND PREPARATION 1 & 2

Here are the steps for Handstand Preparation 1: 

1. Place your hands on the ground
2. Set up your blocks behind your forearms
3. Straighten your elbows 
4. Elevate the scapulae (push the floor away and bring your shoulders up to your ears)
5. Lift your heels as high as you can

Handstand Preparation 2 is a continuation of the process and includes lifting one leg up.

Here are the steps:

1. Inner leg lifts up to the sky as high as you can
2. Look up to the lifted leg; when you do this, it’s common for your weight to shift back. Your weight needs to go forward
3. Lean forward into your fingers (or more specifically, into the metacarpals)
4. Lift the bottom heel as high as you can 
5. Push through the arms (lifting the shoulders up)

What muscle engagements are happening? The gripping of the ground leads to activations in the muscles in the forearms. The elevation of the scapulae leads not only to the activation of the muscles of the shoulders (deltoids) but also to the contraction and use of the trapezius muscles. 

This action of elevating the scapulae also helps you avoid shoulder impingement.

As you lift the shoulders up, you are getting longer through the sides of your body, which creates length and stretch through the latissimus dorsi; however, it’s the upper fibers of the trapezius that you want to strengthen in order for you to rely on the strength there rather than on the stretch in the latissimus dorsi. Additionally, contracting the abdominals will assist in bringing the ribcage back and into better alignment, reducing excessive spinal extension. The action here is to contract the abdominals while expanding. You can do this by pulling your front ribs down as you continue to push strongly through your hands.