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Elbow Stand
Holy crap! Are they like, impossible? Or just require tons of shoulder strength? Was having hubby spot me (bless his heart) in attempting one against the wall. I really had faith. Lots of it. And then… no. Nope. Couldn’t do it. I tried about four or five times. I just can’t get my feet off the floor, even with him helping me balance my hips. Is there hope? I won’t give up!
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21 Replies
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I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I think they’re harder than handstands. I can do headstands and handstands quite comfortably, but I hate forearm stands so I’ve been working on them a lot lately. They require a shitton of strength!
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If you ever find the secret let me know. I tried it the other day, with hands either side of a yoga block and walking my feet up the wall, and even with the wall taking a load of weight it was essentially impossible!
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Balance-wise they are easier than handstands as the supporting surface is bigger and the body becomes shorter. If your shoulders are weak, that can be part of the problem, but it doesn’t take crazy strength or so. If your talkin FOREARM stands, no head support (Veena uses “Elbow stand” for the one that has a bit of head support and the hands together), then take care so that the elbows don’t slide away from each other. Hands and elbows need to be aligned. Videos of your attempts would help 🙂
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I started with a “tripod”. Head and hands on floor, lift your knees up onto your elbows and balance there. Get comfortable there and then start trying to lift legs up toward the ceiling. It’s a slow process just keep at it! 🙂
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Elbow stands are great ways to work on acclimating the body to an inverted position with. This can be done with handstands as well however, many people have a fear of handstands and their arms not being able to support them, so you’ll see the Elbow stand placed first in the lessons. Neither elbow or handstand are something that HAS to be learned.
Often times it’s just a matter of making some slight adjustments to fix your elbow stands. Taking video of yourself so you can see what your doing can be helpful.
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Elbow stands are really hard for me too, and they require a surprising amount of upper body strength too. I just posted a video of my hand, head, elbow and chest stands, and for me the elbow stand is definitely the trickiest.
My advice would be to first have a spotter and then start practicing against a wall. It might actually be easier to face the wall and walk your feet up against it, but you need to be comfortable in rolling over in case you lose balance. If you’re doing it facing away from the pole, you need a lot of strength in lifting your legs up (or have someone help).
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Hey Lina, forearm stands are what I meant. I read that a good tip for keeping the arms from moving is to have a yoga block gripped tightly between your hands and squeeze . It did seem to work. I am also struggling with deadlift elbow stands. I can do deadlift handstands,(as in just head and hands on floor in tripod )
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But can’t work out how to lift up when balanced on head and elbows, I can elbowstand against the pole and as I said I can deadlift a Headstand so it’s frustrating that I can’t work it out! I want that move where from laying on your belly on the floor, you cup your hands round the bottom of the pole and pull yourself in then deadlift up. It just looks so damn cool! Sorry for split post, phone is a pain.
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Don’t give up! They can be tricky at first to get the balance & mechanics down. You’re not alone! You can start with an elbow stand against the pole, then after practicing this for a couple of weeks to get use to it, then you’ll lift up into a forearm stand when you are comfortable. Then you’ll move to doing it against a wall, then on to doing them freestanding. I have been working on elbow and forearm stands against my pole for awhile(I am one of those who is scared of handstands) & have a couple of body positioning tips for starting out on elbow stands if you’re interested in seeing them, I’d be happy to Skype jam with you. Private message/inbox me if you’re interested 🙂
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@Genbob: Is this what you mean? (first thing I do in the vid):https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/5310ec1e-8340-4ee9-9caf-2c610a9aa0eb
It’s not super easy, but keeping the straddle wide helps. I didn’t start from the floor so it was only the deadlift, but if you do it from laying down you can take advantage of the small momentum you’ll get when pulling yourself up onto the elbows. Bring the legs out to the sides as much as you can. My head is in contact with my hands when I do this and when I lift I kind of engage the hands if you understand what I mean.
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Genbob, whe you say “I want that move where from laying on your belly on the floor, you cup your hands round the bottom of the pole and pull yourself in then deadlift up.”
is this the move you mean at 1:22 in this video? https://www.studioveena.com/videos/view/530ba7d9-1ea4-4eef-8c0e-2f000a9aa0ebThe pulling yourself up into an elbowstand and deadlifting up are 2 separate movements here, and the positioning can be tricky. You might want to practice pulling yourself to an elbowstand position from the floor first. You can’t be too close to the pole (you see my head is about 5-7 cm away from it) because you need to be able to push your back and butt a bit over your head to lift your legs. Lifting the legs in an elbowstand is trickier than handstand. Also for me here it helps to grip the pole with just fingers, not the entire palm (so I’m further away from the pole).
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@Jolene, apologies, I seem to have Bogarted your thread. Please feel free to tell me to sod off. @Lina ah, I think I do know what you mean about engaging through the hands. With the elbow stand as you lift most or actually all of the weight through your hands, if you lift your head off the floor completely would that translate to helping you with forearm stands? I I don’t really know the mechanics and while I get that there is a different part of your arm touching the floor, it seems like it would help. That may be an incredibly stupid question and of so Im, sorry, it’s just I’ve found that some things you think will help use totally different muscles etc and so aren’t always as helpful as imagined!
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@Haloanne. Yes! That is exactly it. Very nice btw. You and Lina have this elbowstand thing down! Hmmm, ok I think I remember the distance problem from the last time I tried this. Two different moves to practise then and link then! I’ll go have a practice and see what happens. Thanks for the tips guys 🙂
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Hopefully Jolene can use the advice from this discussion as well 🙂
Genbob, I don’t think this elbow stand holding the pole will take you too much closer to a freestanding forearm stand, but if you practice it with (or without) a wall instead I think it will be a lot more beneficial.
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Yeah I had a lot of trouble with distance from the pole and I think against a wall will be more helpful all round til I get the technique.
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