No, A Handstand is NOT a Display of Core Strength
By: Ben Walker
Tags: Health, Fitness, Bodyweight Exercise, Handstand, Yoga

Handstands are kind of challenging, but actually more approachable than most think. They do require strength, mobility and coordination. But one of my biggest pet peeves is that you must have a super strong core to pull it off.

If you’re looking for a beginners guide to the handstand, check out my other piece;

So what does a handstand actually ask of us?

Image: Author/dDara via Nounproject

The ability to kick up, either with hands starting on the ground or being placed as part of the movement. This requires coordination, flexibility in the back of the legs, and leg strength. The ability to hold a specific shape in the trunk, which translates to coordination and awareness of our spine, ribcage and hip positions. The ability to push our shoulders towards our ears whilst holding our entire bodyweight. This translates to scapula elevation strength. The ability to position our arms directly overhead without compensating in the spine. This translates to mobility in and around the shoulder. The ability to take our entire bodyweight in our hands and to make micro-adjustments to our balance. This translates to mobile & strong wrists with well-coordinated hands.

In addition to the above, getting into a handstand is much easier when we have a strong back (top to bottom). Well developed posterior musculature gives us the ability to pull our shoulders over our hands and hips over our shoulders, without relying on the perfect jump.

Basically a stronger back gives us more wiggle room.

We do use our core during a handstand. In fact, we use it at all times of the day. Our core muscles (the abs & obliques area on the front/sides of the torso) provide stability and play a role in organising our trunk position. They can help us to modulate the tilt of our rib cage and pelvis, which they do while we’re standing just as much as while we’re handstanding.

To that extent we make use of them to maintain the hollow body position in a handstand. It’s not even that hard — gravity is pulling down on us from top to bottom, so not really applying much force compared to a plank or a hollow body hold flat on the floor. Anybody that can stand up straight has the required core strength to gain that position, though some may need to work on awareness and control of the trunk muscles (those are the core muscles plus their counterparts on the lower back).

So what is a strong core actually good for?

Our core muscles are primarily stabilisers. Beyond that the major movement they’re responsible for is bringing our hips (and by extension, legs) towards our shoulders. They flex the spine, creating a curve and shortening that gap between the two girdles (hip girdle & shoulder girdle). You can see this gap-closing movement in most of your favourite core exercises; situps, knee raises, flutter kicks, bicycle crunches etc etc.

Image: Author/dDara via Nounproject

Essentially, a strong core is good at creating a bend in the front of the body.

And what are we trying to do in a handstand? Undo the bend in the front of our body. We’re folded forwards with gravity as we enter, then unfolding to stack up above the hands. We’re trying to create a straight line. The exact opposite of core activation.

You can see in the picture what a handstand with core activation would look like. And that is not a handstand, nor is it a position that’s physically possible to hold.