Before you even think about reading this article
I should warn you with following:

“Gravity is not a friend of yours while practicing Handstands – neither is your neighbor, but that’s a complete different story. Gravity will do anything to pull you back down on your feet, head, arms or whatever body part you least expect to get hurt. In fact Gravity – which isn’t a person, neither an animal, but something completely out of this world and well described in the book “Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy” – will do anything to harm you the most vicious way you have come to know. Of course this can all be in your head and the reality is that your body isn’t ready for the world upside down – and therefor your muscles will start complaining, sending loads of nerve signals, to your brain and make it temporary shut down which immediately will cause you to fall down on your feet, head, arms or whatever body part you least expect to get hurt.”

Jump With Your Arms

A Handstand Article

In this article I will try to explain how you can launch yourself a few inches of ground. However. I can’t promise that you will succeed the first couple of times. Therefore, if you wish, wear a helmet for safety reasons. Also. I would strongly recommend that you are able to hold at least 10 – 15 secs on you handstand, be able to walk with your hands and lower yourself, with arms, a few inches and then press up controlled.

The beginning

While your holding you handstand, bend your knees. bring your legs closer to your ass/back. Still while holding the handstand.
I do this because i will use my feet to launch energy upwards. How? Easy, after bending, I kick them up as hard as i can. Practice on this.
Launch your feet in the air, bend them and launch again. Some of you will experience that you automatically will lower your shoulders and elbows a bit every time you lower or launch them.
Well. This movement in it self won’t do much. But it’s one of the key elements of jumping with your hands. Though some of you will actually leave ground looking like a tire suspension bouncing of a car. What we want it to look like is a controlled up and down bounce, to do this we need to address the second part of the technique.

Advancing.

Now leave that technique for awhile. Start practice on lowering your upper body closer to the ground. Bend your elbows, feel the pressure on your wrists and shoulders. As well as your muscles on the upper back start working heavily. A few inches is enough. Now push yourself controlled back up, then repeat. Get the grip of this, try not to fall backwards by focusing on your core muscles. After you get the grip of it, try it with more force, making it explosive. It’s hard, but you will get there. Practice! The turtles sure didn’t.

Finishing up.

When you feel you have control of both bending your knees/lowering feet before you launch them up again, and you can lower your upper body a few inches close to the ground and pushing it upwards with control – without falling. Try this: Bend your knees like you did last time, now start lowering yourself some inches down to the floor again. Bending your elbows, putting more pressure on your wrists and shoulders. Don’t go all the way, or even think about it, some inches are enough. Now, simultaneously as you launch your feet upwards, push up with whole upper body – arms and shoulders mainly. Some of you may experience that your launching yourself backwards and onto your feet. Others will fail at the simultaneously part. Practice this until you get the hang of it; and when I say get the hang of it, I mean when your starting to feel that you actually are leaving the ground a few inches. And then land on your hands again. Because when you do, I will be the first voice popping up in your head. Telling in a very bad Norwegian accent “holy crap, good! Now repeat! Get higher! Draw your arms with you while you jump, jump – jump again!.”

Congratulations! What next?