Half Handstands With the Knees on a Box Are a Great Lead-Up to Full Handstands

Gymnastics: Handstand Progression Using a Box Horse

Dick Moss, Editor, PE Update.com

A good way to teach students the handstand is to start them with half-handstands in which they place their knees on a box horse.

This gives your beginners the feeling of being upside down with their weight on their hands. It's also a good time to line up their shoulders and back since they can hold this supported upside-down position for a long time.

Progression
An advanced progression from the half-handstand is to have students perform handstands with their chest facing a wall,

Handstand Against a Wall, Touching One Toe at a Time

alternately touching each toe to the wall. However, if they can't perform this skill without arching their back, it's too soon for this progression.

References:
1. Heather Brown, How to Improve at Gymnastics, Crabtree Publishing Company, 2009.
2. Gord Hopper, “Progressive lessons: Bridges and handstands.” For Rec Only, November 1994.

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