Bent Arm Strength
101
Welcome,
The following tutorials are about understanding the nature of Bent Arm Strength in the context of handstands.
Two main families of drills are demonstrated:
1) The Pike Push - Up
2) The Protracted Push - Up
The explanations are thorough, and therefore long. You’ll find hereafter a short, easy-to-access version of the drills.
But I invite you to go through the theory: for me, those two drills are an excuse to discuss how you should train Bent Arm Strength, whether it’s a transition to crow, chaturanga, a HSPU, etc.
The Pike Push Up and the Protracted Push-up akine are not enough to train the strength required to achieve every possible transition from / into a bent-arm position.
They are good staples. But once you have clarified your goals, go through the theory part.
The Pike Push Up and the Protracted Push-up akine are not enough to train the strength required to achieve every possible transition from / into a bent-arm position.
They are good staples. But once you have clarified your goals, go through the theory part.
The drills
PIKE PUSH UP
PROTRACTED PUSH UP
The theory
WHAT IS B.A.S. AND WHY BOTHER?
A DIFFERENT LEARNING CURVE
3 forms of Strength
2 Shoulder patterns that break first
PIKE PUSH UP (LONG VERSION)
PROTRACTED PUSH UP (LONG VERSION)
TROUBLESHOOTING
1) I KEEP LOSING CONTROL APPROACHING THE FINAL POSITION
2) I KEEP FALLING UNDERSHOT ON MY WAY DOWN
3) HOW DO I WORK ON MY WEAK LINKS?
FINAL WORDS
Reference & “inspo”
Here are a few examples of how I have personally used - and also, very humanely, struggled with too - BAS in my own inversion practice. Hope this helps or gives you things to try and adapt to your own practice.
Bent elbows and aesthetics
Who said Bent arm Handstands were ugly? I actually really like those shapes that combine a bit of side flexion with bent arm, and sprinkle a dynamic entry into it - like a cartwheel - on top of it
Pressing
In my own quest for the press a few years ago, using an element of elbow flexion proved to be very useful. This has then been confirmed with experiments I conducted on my guinea pigs students in Dublin!
In you are into developing very useful pressing strength, nothing like trying to hold impossible positions with momentum. Impossible to train in a regimented way (too much chaos), but incredibly hard and rewarding.
A subtle lingering elbow flexion towards the end of my press journey, as I was getting rid of that tool.
Elbow levers
There are a few ways to perform elbow levers - and mine are pretty sideways compared to, say, forms we see in yoga. Good news: the logic is the same when it comes to strength development.
Those dynamic variations that involve sometimes too much momentum and suboptimal hand positioning hugely benefit from BAS. In terms of control and injury prevention:
Can you see the floors of my building that needed more work?
Crows
Below ground floor: the basement
HSPU & co
Down the Handstand Rabbit hole
The Flagship course
