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Inbar-Gienger Talks Technique- Cast Handstand

In today’s edition, we discuss cast handstands! Note that for sake of simplicity, I will only be dissecting the piked cast handstand, not the straddled version!

If you want to know more about the kip into the cast handstand, see my prior post on kips here.

Note that in higher level gymnasts, most mistakes in cast handstands occur from the cast position *usually* following the kip. As you can see below (not very well from this angle and I didn’t time the screenshot correctly so know that Riley’s shoulders are a little bit farther over the bar), the body shape required prior to a cast handstand is one where the gymnast is in a pike, with both the shoulders and legs over the bar. This is the position from which the gymnast generates the most power for a clean cast handstand.

As the gymnast’s hips leave the bar, her shoulders need to remain over the bar, and her body should remain straight (ribs in, flat hips, legs straight, feet pointed, etc.)

Once the gymnast is in full handstand, arms should be covering ears, shoulders should be pushed completely open, hips should be flat, ribs in, everything squeezer super tight.

Often times you will see the gymnast’s handstands be “short” (not fully vertical with the bar), because their cast position is either not good enough (shoulders not over the bar to the extent they need to be), or when they begin the cast, the shoulders come back and the gymnast therefore shoots their toes on a slight diagonal instead of directly vertically. Important to realize that most girls fail to get their shoulders over the bar because they haven’t properly learned to “shift their wrists” so that they are completely on top of the bar finishing the kip going into the cast. See below, shoulders are not over the bar enough and wrists are not far forward enough.

Bad cast= short handstand.

Other mistakes include bending the arms to generate more power into the handstand if the cast technique isn’t as strong. Gymnasts who bend their arms often arch to make the handstand.