The Straddle Handstand

The third most important handstand shape. With Straight being number one, the home position, the place where handstand sequences normally start and finish. Number two goes to Tuck, my nemesis and a common challenge for anyone with tight hips and thoracic.

The Straddle Handstand can be split into three variations; Big Straddle, Small Straddle and Half Straddle. Big Straddle is the widest split and the hips pike slightly which sends the feet towards the front the of the body. The shift in the legs would pull you towards under-balance therefore the hips need to move backwards to compensate. The Small Straddle is as wide as you can take your legs but with zero pike, therefore not needing the shift in hips. The Half Straddle is a very narrow position with feet roughly shoulder width, this a commonly used by handbalances in One Arm Handstand as it looks very cool with hand raised at the same angle as the legs. Beginner to Intermediate and especially those still working on the wall don’t need to overly worry about Small an Half but its good to have an understanding of what they are.

To train the Straddle I would first build conditioning of the position with holds either freestanding, Back to Wall or Chest to Wall. Aiming for a hold of between 15 and 30 seconds. If you’re back to wall your butt should lightly kiss the wall and if you’re chest to wall it will be your feet that lightly rest on the wall. Once you have the controlled hold start to work transitions from Straight to Straddle and back. During the transition try to create a smooth pathway with the hips gradually changing position to compensate for the feet moving forwards and backwards.

If you would like more info and visually see the Straddle variations check out my recent YouTube video: