ALIGNMENT

The complete guide to creating the perfect straight handstand

Alignment Ebook / Table Of Content

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction 01

What Is Alignment 02

Stacking 03

The Golden Rule 04

Why We Stack 05

Creating Alignment 06

Alignment Programs 08
Page 1 | Introduction

INTRODUCTION
The alignment is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the
handstand, that can severely limit your ability to balance…

With the handstand you have to develop several components that will
later be put together into the handstand. But each component must be
develop separately, and must be given enough time and focus.

You also don’t want any of the components to limit the other. If your
alignment is not the best, don’t let that keep you from practicing your
balance or vice versa.

The alignment is not something that you ’learn’, it’s something that’s
developed over a long time. It requires a set of cues that must be
engrained deep into your brain to the point where it’s automatic.

There are also several restrictions and roadblocks that must be taken
care of before the line can be achieved. In this guide we are gonna go
through all of this and help you get started with xing your alignment.

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 Page 2 | What Is Alignment

1. With improper alignment, the joints are not
directly stacked on top of each other.
WHAT IS ALIGNMENT
The de nition of alignment is ’’arrangement in a straight line or in
correct relative positions’’.

With regards to handstand training, alignment refers to the shape of your

handstand. Where a desired shape is one where there is a straight line from the
bottom to the top, or from the hands to the feet through the body.

There are many reasons for striving for the proper alignment in the
handstand… Why focus on alignment?

1.A straight handstand looks better.

2.The handstand becomes easier to balance.
3.Better transfer to other skills.

While there are many great reasons for developing a strong alignment, it’s not a
must have for balancing or training the handstand. But it will make your
handstand a little bit easier to balance, it will have a greater transfer over to
harder handbalancing skills such as press handstands, and it looks good.

I want you to see alignment training as accessory training. This is something

that is done by the side of your main training (handstand), and it will gradually
improve over time, in conjunction with your ability to balance the handstand,
2. With proper alignment each major joint is
which will make you a more overall capable athlete.
stacked above each other.
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Page 3 | Stacking
We have three general handstand types 1) arched, 2)

STACKING stacked, 3) too open. Each happens for different reasons.

The alignment is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the

handstand, that can severely limit your ability to balance…
In addition to being stacked, the body must also be as straight as possible
or ‘aligned’. This means shoulders open and extended toward the ears,
ribs pulled down, back at with the hips maintaining a posterior pelvic tilt.

The head should be between the arms with the neck pulled somewhat
into the chest and the thumbs just visible when peered at through the
eyebrows. Cranking your neck forward is going to ruin your alignment and
looks less appealing.

Obviously obtaining good handstand alignment is an involved process and

will require a substantial amount of time. The time devoted to it, is
however clearly worth it. Since a handstand is the most e ciently done
when stacked.

In addition, a well-aligned handstand is better able to handle an increased

load and leads to more advanced elements with less di culty. This means
the more advanced skills will be easier to learn and more easy to perform.

The stacked and aligned handstand is, therefore, easier to balance, will be
able to handle an increased load and it prepares you for more advanced The stacked position is our goal in this program, because
handstand elements and gymnastics skills such as p-bar swings etc. the handstand becomes more effortless to hold.

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What about alignment?
Yes, alignment is important, but not as important as you
think. You could have the perfect alignment, and still not
be able to balance.
But if you develop a strong sense of balance, you can then
easily improve your alignment and end up with a good
looking and controlled handstand.
You must not train with a perfect handstand to learn a
perfect handstand, perfection is the long term goal…
Page 4 | What Is Alignment
THE GOLDEN RULE
To learn the handstand, you need to learn and adapt the golden rule
of handbalancing.
Like with most sports and practices there are guidelines that must be follow for
optimal performance, this is THE one when it comes to handbalancing. The
golden rule of handbalancing says:
‘’Centre of mass over the base of support’’
Your center of gravity (COM) of the human body is a hypothetical point around
which the force of gravity appears to act. It is the point at which the combined
mass of the body appears to be concentrated.
The base of support (BOS) refers to the area beneath an object or person that
includes every point of contact that the object or person makes with the
supporting surface.
COG over BOS = Balance.
In our handstand the center of gravity will be placed within the body around
your midline, at the center of the body. The base of support is your hands. As
long as you are able to keep your COG over your BOS you will remain in
balance. Whether you are straight or not, does not matter, which is why
alignment is not everything.

 Page 5 | Alignment Variations

1. OPEN SHOULDERS 2. CLOSED SHOULDERS 3. STACKED SHOULDERS

With the open shoulders, your weight have With the closed shoulders, your weight has With the stacked shoulders, you remain
shifted back, causing the feet to travel shifted forward, causing the feet to hang perfectly straight with the shoulders stacked
forward, in order to maintain the COG over over the body in order to counterbalance above the wrists, with no compensations
the point of balance or BOS. and keep you in balance. from the feet or back.

The body always does it best to keep it self in balance. By getting the center
of mass over the base of support, or your point of balance, in between the
hands. With three variations above, the balance is the same, but the
 Page 6 | Why We Stack

TOES WHY DO WE STACK

The purpose of stacking is to make the COM centered over the BOS
in the most e cient position as we can.
KNEES A simple strategy to create the correct alignment is simply to stack each joint above
each other. Creating a straight line from the feet to the hands. Now of course this is
not as simple as it sounds, it will require you to use certain cues and techniques.
HIPS SHOULDERS
By stacking the joints, we will quite e ciently place our COG over our BOS. Every
time we move our center of gravity (joints moving), we have to correct our balance
and reestablish the COG over the BOS, which requires a certain amount of energy.

If you keep having to correct your balance by moving these major joints, your

ELBOWS WRISTS handstand will become less e cient and require even more energy to keep you in
balance. By remaining ’’stacked’’, we can minimize the energy output from these
major corrections.

What is Stacking?
Stacking refers to the idea of placing each major joint in
the body on top of each other. Essentially stacking your
body in the straightest line possible.
We do this to make the handstand more e cient, and to
make the aspect of balancing easier. Although this is NOT
essential for balance or handstands overall.
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Instead we are mainly going to be balancing by using our hands and ngers, and
this can be done with the body not moving, saving as much energy as possible for
the handstand itself. You won’t always want or need this stacked position, but it’s a
good place to start from.
You don’t need to be stacked to follow the golden rule, you can be arched or piked
as well. The body just need’s to compensate in order to move the COG to the right
place. Which is usually done by moving the position of the shoulders, hips or
elbows.

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 Page 7 | The Handstand Line

THE LINE
The line is important to keep in focus, but don’t let it take your
focus away from more important things like shoulder strength.

What about the line? You want to think of the line as your long term goal, and
something to strive for. Don’t become obsessed with having the perfect line
from the beginning, allow yourself the room to grow and develop balance rst.

You should always do your best to nd and maintain the best alignment you
can in this moment, but remember to allow yourself to ’sacri ce’ the alignment
a little bit for balance and control at times.

With the alignment we assume that our handstand position and alignment is
perfect. But the truth is that it’s not always going to be perfect, and we need to
train with this in mind.

If you are required to have a perfect line to balance, how skilled are you
really?

In the gymnastics world the line has almost been overdone, especially for basic
handstands. Many gymnasts, athletes and normal people perform the
handstand with an overly open position of the shoulders.
What this does it that it moves the COG behind the body (towards the palm of
the hand), which makes us having to move the feet forward (towards the
ngers), in order to maintain our COG over our BOS to keep balance.
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Evaluating your alignment
When you look at your handstand from the side to
evaluate your alignment, you want to draw a line from the
middle of the palm up THROUGH the body to the toes.
You don’t want to draw the line from outside the body in
front of the shoulders, which is a common mistake that
leads to the ’’too open’’ handstand position.

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 Page 8 | Creating Alignment

CREATING ALIGNMENT
The alignment is created and developed gradually over time as the
cues and techniques are automated in your brain.

Some people will quite naturally be straight in their handstand, and some will have
to work harder for it. This all depends on your previous activity level, how your
overhead exibility is, strength in the upper back etc.

No matter what your alignment is right now, there are 5 simple and e ective cues
that you can use in order to create the perfectly straight handstand. Many of these
cues work in conjunction with each other, and will support each other.

It’s important that you always choose 1-2 cues to focus on in each workout, if you
try to implement everything at once, you will most likely freeze up and forget all of
them. So try them all out and nd which ones work the best for you.

The Alignment Cues Are:

1. Shoulders Open & Elevated (stacked).

2. Ribs/Chest Pulled Down & In (hollow).
3. Hips In Posterior Pelvic Tilt (PPT).
4. Head is tucked in ( exion).
5. Gaze On The Knuckles (eyes).

A few of the cues are speci cally helping to create the stacked position, and a few of
them are to keep yourself from ruining the alignment through various motions and
movements.
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 Page 9 | Alignment Cues

OPEN AND ELEVATED

The rst cue is to keep the shoulders open (lift arms overhead),
and elevated (pushing tall and hiding the ears).

The shoulders are our base and platform upon which the body is ’’stacked’’
during our handstand. Unlike the hips, which we stack the body on when we
are standing on our feet. The shoulders have the ability to depress, elevate,
protract and retract.

When we are upside down on our hands, and gravity is pulling us down
towards the ground, our shoulders will naturally gravitate towards depression,
this causes the upper back muscles to relax, and will tend to result in an
arched back position.

We need to oppose gravity and go in the opposite direction, into elevation and
engage the upper traps and back muscles. This is done by pushing the ground
away from us, like a shrug but with our hands in an overhead position.
This movement is done with the arms straight, and pushing ourselves to the
end range of our shoulder elevation. It’s important that the shoulders are also
placed in the right position, in order to make this cue e ective, and that is to
keep it stacked over the wrists.
How to nd the correct shoulder position:
Lift the arms up overhead, the arms should be
covering the ears at roughly 180 degrees of
shoulder exion.
Keep the core ’’engaged’’ and avoid having the back
arch or extend during the lifting o the arms.

If you are overly exible, you will tend too open too far, and if you are sti in Elevate the shoulders by pushing the ground away
the shoulders you will tend to close the shoulders. We want nd a balanced from you, thinking about lifting the feet as high as
position in the middle where the shoulders are open, elevated and stacked possible.
directly above the middle of the palms.
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 Page 10 | Ribs Down & Chest In

RIBS DOWN AND IN

1 The second cue to pull the ribcage down and in, while thinking
about pulling the sternum IN towards the body (hollow).

We do know that we want to avoid arching our back in the handstand. Something that
happens when the back arches is that the ribs start to are out and your thoracic spine
will start to extend, resulting in a less than optimal position.

2 What we do to combat this issue is to think about pulling the ribs down, and pull the
chest bone in. Pulling the ribs down is going to be this engagement of the abdominals
(crunch down and in), and exion of the spine to avoid excessive extension.

Pulling the chest bone in helps to create this hollow position and rounding of the upper
back. To accomplish this cue, think about pulling the middle of the chest BACK, towards
you. This will happen quite naturally with the rst cue of pulling the ribs down.

The challenge with these cues comes with the opening of the shoulders at the same
time. To fully open the shoulders require a small amount of extension in the upper
How to nd the correct rib and chest position: back, which is exactly what we are avoiding with these cues.

Close your midsection and pull the ribs down by
engaging the abs lightly.
Find the hollow position by pulling your chest IN
towards you, in conjunction with the rib cue.
This doesn’t mean that you are not allowed to extend the spine, you will need to at a
certain extent. But you want to limit the extension, and make sure you keep the mid
section in control and avoid the ribs aring out, and the chest sticking out.

On the wall handstand, think about pulling your chest

AWAY from the wall to create the same e ect.
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 Page 11 | Posterior Pelvic Tilt

POSTERIOR TILT
The third cue is to tilt the pelvis ’backwards’ into posterior
pelvic tilt, where the back is straight.

It’s a common myth that you need to have a strong core in order to hold a straight
handstand, we do know that is not true. But, we do need to have a certain
amount of strength and control in our mid section to hold the straight handstand.

What we need is posterior pelvic tilt. Your pelvic tilt refers to the position of your
pelvis, and it can either be in anterior, posterior or a neutral tilt. Anterior tilt is
where the pelvis is tilted forwards, and creates an arched position in the back.
Anterior Pelvic Tilt Posterior Pelvic Tilt
Posterior tilt is where the pelvis is tilted back, creating a straight position in the
lower back. This is the position we shall strive for in order to create the straight
line in our handstand. What you will nd, is that this position requires zero e ort
from the abs. How to nd the correct posterior pelvic tilt:

In order to achieve PPT, all you need to do is tilt pelvis back, which only requires 1. Go from Anterior To Posterior Tilt.
good control of your pelvic tilt. A cue I like to use in order to reinforce the 2. Tilt Your Pelvis Back (PPT)
posterior tilt, is to squeeze the glutes. This will force the PPT in to position. 3. Squeeze your glutes.
4. Practice In Di erent Alignment Drills.
If you stand up and arch your back, and then try to squeeze your glutes. You will
nd that this is quite di cult. But if you tilt the pelvis back into PPT, you will notice
that squeezing the glutes becomes much easier and more natural. *Practice the pelvic tilt standing rst, then do it in a
plank, wall handstand and so on. The key is to
By simply squeezing your glutes, you will reinforce the straight position in your understand and learn to control the TILT.
back, with ZERO engagement from the abs.
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 Page 12 | Head Is Tucked In

HEAD TUCKED IN
The fourth cue is to tuck your chin in towards your chest, keeping
the head from sticking out.

The head does not ll in speci c function in your handstand, except for the eyes
keeping track of where you are. The head is most likely to be in the way of your
alignment and handstand, and what matters the most is that we place it in the right
position.

If you are even remotely scared of the handstand, there is a high probability that
you will tend to excessively look forward during your kick ups, by keeping the eyes
forward your head will tend to stick out, which quickly limits your alignment
potential.

When the head sticks out, and the eyes are looking forward, the body will follow.
What will happen is that your chest will open up, the spine will extend, and your
position will become more horizontal, rather than vertical

To counter the balance and get the COG over the BOS your lower back will need to
arch and move the feet forward in front of the body (towards the ngers).
Otherwise your COG will not be over your BOS, and you will not be able to balance.

To avoid this, you want to tuck your head in, and bring the chin towards your chest.
With the head tucked in, you will have a better alignment right away, and you will be
less likely to use the arched back in order to keep your balance.

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 Page 13 | Gaze On The Knuckles

GAZE ON KNUCKLES
The fth cue is to gaze on your knuckles through your
eyebrows, looks with the eyes not the head…

We do know that our body always follows our eyes, they are our primary way
to encountering the world. In the handstand, our eyes will help us keep track
of where we are, and use it as a visual cue for keeping us balanced.

Something we want to avoid is looking behind us, and throwing the head in,
this will not provide the visual cue for balance, and can easily leave you
disoriented (unless you are more advanced, and are using this as a way to
challenge balance).

What we want to do, is keep our eyes looking at our hands, ngers or knuckles.
You want to keep your GAZE at this spot the entire time, preferably you want
to choose a certain spot below you and keep your gaze on it at all times.

It’s important that you look with your eyes and not your head. When looking
forward, do it by gazing through your eyebrows, and not by extending the neck
forward. This will allow the head to stay tucked in, while keeping the visual cue.

How to nd the correct eye position:

1. Tuck your head in.

2. Look up THROUGH your eyebrows.
3. Gaze at your knuckles.
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BODYLINE ROUTINES
Bodyline Routine #1
1. Supine Bodyline - 30s x 2-3 sets
2. Standing Bodyline - 30s x 2-3 sets
3. Reverse Bodyline - 30s x 2-3 sets
Bodyline Routine #2
1. Prone Bodyline - 30s x 2-3 sets
2. Hanging Bodyline - 30s x 2-3 sets
3. Wall Bodyline - 30s x 2-3 sets
Bodyline Routine #3
1. Standing Bodyline - 30s x 2-3 sets
2. Hanging Bodyline - 30s x 2-3 sets
3. Reverse Bodyline - 30s x 2-3 sets
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Page 14 | Sample Routines
ALIGNMENT TRAINING
Use these programs if you want to develop the alignment, but only
as ACCESSORY training to your handstand practice.
To the sessions either in the beginning of your sessions 1-2 sets as activation, or at
the end of the session to build more speci c strength 3-4 sets. Rest as much as you
need, and focus on high quality of e ort at all times.
Alignment Training:
‣ Do 2-3 sets of each exercise.
‣ Always use PERFECT technique.
‣ Quality Over Quantity.
‣ Choose Appropriate Progression.
Learning The Alignment
When you are training the alignment, it’s more important that you are
choosing a proper progression and train with the correct technique, than
just doing hard exercises.
This is about developing those STRONG habits that are needed to
perform the handstand without having a 1000 things to think about.
Habits are slowly built up over time.

 Page 15 | Exercise Library

1. Supine Bodyline 2. Prone Bodyline 3. Standing Bodyline

Start in a supine position on the oor, Start in a prone position on the oor, Start in a standing position with your feet
keep the arms and legs straight and then press your forearms into the oor and together. Squeeze the glutes, lift the
lower down to the oor. then lift your stomach and chest. arms overhead and go into a hollow.

4. Hanging Bodyline 5. Wall Bodyline 6. Reverse Bodyline

Start in a passive hang: press your feet Start in a supine position with your back Start with your hands on the wall, walk
together, squeeze your glutes, pull the against the wall. Press the lower back with your feet back and go into a reverse
chest in and nd your hollow position. into the wall and lift your arms up. hollow position on the wall.
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 Page 16 | Programming Guide

E xercise Notes R eps Se ts

Do either the upper, lower

Supine Bodyline or full variation.
30-60 sec 2-3

Elevate the legs and arms for more

Prone Bodyline freedom of movement.
30-60 sec 2-3

Use a stick for more bodily feedback

Standing Bodyline and keeping shoulders in check.
30-60 sec 2-3

Focus on the ribs down, and pulling

Hanging Bodyline the sternum in while hanging.
30-60 sec 2-3

Challenge yourself by how close

Wall Bodyline the feet are to the wall.
30-60 sec 2-3

Walk as far back with the feet as

Reverse Bodyline you feel comfortable.
30-60 sec 2-3