Wall Split Handstand Front Leg Pulses
Wall Split Handstand Front Leg Pulses
Muscle Group Stretched: Hamstrings
Muscle Group Strengthened: Hip Flexors
Type of Stretch: Active Dynamic
Difficulty: Advanced
Suggested Prerequisites: Flat front split & comfortable handstand at the wall
This is one of several drills I like to work on active split flexibility for flatter splits in a handstand (where we no longer have gravity helping smoosh our bodyweight into a flat split, but rather have to use our hip flexors and glutes to split our legs apart ourselves). Specifically, this drill works on strengthening the hip flexors in the front leg of our split to pull it lower to the ground. Pair this with Wall Split Handstand Back Leg Pulses to hit both legs!
While this drill is written for students working on their split handstands, you could absolutely do this in a forearm stand as well (but I would not recommend it for headstands).
How To
Note: this is an advanced drill that assumes you already know proper handstand technique. This how-to does not cover the shoulder/core engagement needed/used in a backbendy wall handstand.
Step 1
Start about a leg’s distance away from the wall, kicking into a handstand with both feet reaching to the wall.
Step 2
Keeping one foot firmly pasted on the wall the whole time, extend the other leg away from the wall, kicking it as far away and down toward the floor as you can. Once you’ve reached the working leg away from the wall as far as you can (essentially doing a contortion handstand split with your other foot on the wall for balance/support), pulse your straight free leg down to the floor.
Pulse your leg for 8-12 slow and controlled pulses, then switch legs.
Modifications
Need to make it easier?
Work on your pulses in a forearm stand instead of a handstand.
Keep the wall leg higher up the wall, opening your legs into as wide a “V” as you can instead of a split.
Want to make it harder?
Experiment with other shoulder positions (ex. open/hollowback shoulders vs. closed/contortion handstand shoulders).
