Hand placement for handstands

We do know that our hands are an essential part of the handstand. That is because of the fact that our hands are the one thing we have in contact with the floor during the skill, and because of the fact that it's called a HANDstand.

One of the most common questions I get during my classes and from my online clients, relates to the position of the hands during a handstand. This is a topic that is quite simple, but can be confusing for many, because of the different techniques used.

In this blog post, i'm going to give you my view on how to most effectively use the hands in order to balance your handstand. Keep in mind that this is only through my experience, and are by no means the ultimate truth.

There are many ways to skin a cat. There are many different positions and variations you can use in your hand and finger placement. Play around with what I offer you here, take what works, remove what doesn't. Create your own.

The Purpose Of The Hands

When we stand up in a normal position, our point of contact are our feet to the floor. The feet are what keeps us to the ground, and everything that happens to the feet is going to affect everything above it.

That is why a problem with your feet, can cause issues around the knees, hips or even lower back. It's literally the ROOT cause of many of the problems in the body, potentially.

The same thing applies to your hands, in your handstand. A strong foundation of wrist strength, flexibility and control in the fingers will allow your handstand to really flourish. 

Rule 1: Shoulder width apart

As a general rule, we want to have the hands about shoulder width apart. This is not because of some aesthetic reason, but it serves a purpose...

By keeping the hands shoulder width, they will be properly stacked above the shoulders. This way you will have a strong and stable position, upon which your shoulders will get more support, and will not have to work as much. 

The exception is if you have stiff shoulders, in this case it can help to keep the hands further apart (outside of shoulder width). Since this will allow you to open up the shoulders more. 

Once you become proficient with the handstand, you can challenge your capabilities by keeping the hands more narrow (close grip handstand), or wider apart (wide arm/Japanese handstand).

Hands wider apart makes the balance easier since the base of support is larger, but it also increases the demand on the shoulders. Keeping the hands more narrow makes the balance harder, and less demanding on the shoulders (until a certain point). 

Practical Takeaway: Keep hands shoulder width apart, or slightly wider if you have stiff shoulders.

Rule 2: Spread the fingers out wide

The second rule is about creating a large base of support in your hands. We do this by spreading our fingers out wide, we don't want any fingers touching each other.

A common mistake we do as beginners, is keeping the finger in a narrow position with them all touching each other. Not only does this make it harder to balance with the fingers, but it will also make our base of support in the hands smaller.

You don't want to excessively force the fingers apart, it should be a comfortable position, otherwise it's counterintuitive to the point of the technique.

Just as with our hand position, we can also play around with this to increase the difficulty of our handstand. If you are proficient in balancing you're handstand, you can challenge your balance by keeping the fingers glued to each other.

You will quickly notice the difference this position makes in terms of balance.

Practical Takeaway: Keep the fingers spread out wide for balance and support, but make sure it's a comfortable position. 

Rule 3: Keep the fingers pointed forwards

A very common ''mistake'' I see in the gym is people training their handstand with the fingers pointed out to the side. While this is not a mistake in and of itself, it does decrease the amount of control you have over your handstand.

The reason many people use this position is because they have limited flexibility in their wrists. Pointing the fingers out to the side is a quick-fix for this problem, but does not actually fix the problem itself. 

If you are lacking wrist flexibility, some of the options you have include: Ranked in my order of preference.

1. Using parallettes 
2. Elevation of the palm.
3. Rotating the hands outwards.

I prefer using parallettes because you will have the ability to correct your balance back and fourth, which is very difficult with the hands pointed out to the side (since we balance front to back, and not side to side).

Elevating the heel of the hand is also a way to decrease the angle at the wrist and allow it to accumulate time in the position, to grow stronger and develop your wrist extension.

When, and if we have the proper wrist extension we want to have the fingers pointed forwards. You can either do:

• Index finger pointing forwards (slight rotation outward)
• Middle finger pointing forwards (no rotation)

The first one will allow for some more room for the wrists to move in, and the second option will allow for more control of the balance. In a handstand we balance between under and over balance, which means that we always travel either forwards or backwards.

That is because our hands are quite wide apart, providing a large base of support, which limits movements to the side (unlike a one arm handstand).

With this knowledge we understand that the balance of our handstand will primarily transition between the palm off the handstand, the bottom of the knuckles and the fingertips. Therefore we will have the best control of our balance with the fingers pointing forwards to counter the balance forwards and backwards.

Practical Takeaway: Keep the fingers pointed forwards for the most amount of balance, rotate the hands outwards if you have limited wrist extension or use parallettes.

 Rule 4: Active Fingers

This doesn't have anything to do with the hand position itself, but it's an important part of the handstand and creating balance. When you are balancing your handstand you can generally do it with either a focus on control or efficiency. 

• Efficiency = less energy output, longer holds, less control.
• Control = more energy output, shorter holds, more control.

You don't necessarily need to sacrifice one for the other, but you will tend to lean towards one or the other, depending on your abilities and your phase of training. 

Efficient Handstand

In order to have a more efficient handstand you will simply use your fingers less when you are balancing, and place more weight in the heel of your hands.

With the weight in the heel of the hand, your center of mass will be more properly placed over your base of support, resulting in a more effortless balance. But this does come at the cost of some control, and you will be closer to under balance, which is harder to save. 

When: Go for a more efficient handstand technique if your goal is to hold the handstand for a long time (more advanced trainees).

Controlled Handstand

For a more controlled handstand you will do the opposite and place more weight towards the fingers. Remember that this is not all or nothing, you will never have 100% off the weight in the fingers, the ratio should be more like 75-80% palm of the hand, and 20-25% in the fingertips.

With the weight on the fingertips you are more in overbalance, which you have more control over, but it will also be more demanding on the forearms, causing you to lose energy more quickly.

When: When you are learning how to balance, and want to build specific strength and capacity for the handstand.

Pressing The Fingers DOWN

The fingers needs to be continually active in your handstand, that is essential as you are learning the handstand, and will usually be a determining factor. The fingers can either be completely straight, or slightly bent, depending on your preference.

I prefer a bend in the fingers, since I find that this allows me to put more pressure in to the ground, which makes it easier to fight my overbalance (or falling forward). 

What's most important is that you press the fingertips straight down in to the floor, this will give you the most force through the ground. The point of the fingertips should get slightly white if you have good pressure on them.

This pressing of the fingertips should happen even before you get into the handstand, that will make you find the balance sooner, rather than later.

Practical Takeaway: Press the fingers straight down into the floor for the most control. Do it even before you begin your handstand.