Sure, a handstand looks pretty cool. But if you’ve already got the handstand down, why not challenge yourself and make the entry look badass too?
A press handstand is one of the coolest ways to show off your crazy gymnastics strength and control. It’s also one of the TOPS skills. Before you can learn to do a press handstand, you should have mastered a regular handstand.
A press handstand is a handstand done starting from either a standing or sitting position. If you are going to be starting from a sitting position, you should be sitting on the floor with your legs in a straddle and your hands on the ground in front of you. If you are going to start in a standing position, you can be in either a pike or straddle stand with your hands on the floor in front of you. Then you will need to lean forward with control and transfer the weight of your body to your hands.
As the weight is transferred to your hands you can slowly raise your feet and legs off the ground in either a pike or straddle position. Most gymnasts straddle their legs up. With control raise your legs until they are straight over your head in a handstand. While you are raising your legs, your shoulders will move past your hands, and then as your legs rise, they will move to straight over your hands.