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Someone from zero cannot do a handstand in 30 days. Period. I think it's a cool goal, but you ain't doing in 30 days.

by throw7 4y ago

mettamage 4y ago
I remember with PE in high school that I'd just throw myself up the wall until I succeeded. Took me 3 tries and 4.5 hours in total. I was super bad at it due to very bad flexibility (one of the worst in class). However, I wasn't scared of throwing myself up and I knew how to fall well. It can be done.
- str34m 4y ago
- 2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
  What ever you were capable of in school as a child has almost no relevance to your adult self unless you have kept up those skills. Kids also learn physical moves much faster. I only know a couple of adults that have learned how to handstand as adults and even then, they were already fit or had good strength to weight ratios. Still took a long time to get a good looking hold. I’ve seen kids just pick it up and start walking and hopping with control in weeks.
  - mettamage 4y ago
    > What ever you were capable of in school as a child has almost no relevance to your adult self unless you have kept up those skills. I can still do a handstand, with difficulty, but I can do it. To be fair, it was always with difficulty, it takes a few tries. I was 14/15 when I could do it. > Still took a long time to get a good looking hold. You need to get it right for 1 second to call it a handstand IMO
    - lemming 4y ago
      > You need to get it right for 1 second to call it a handstand IMO I don't think many people would call that a handstand. Or at least, if you do then the definition is so wide as to be useless. There's no balance at all involved for 1 sec, just luck.
    - 2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
      > You need to get it right for 1 second to call it a handstand IMO Just kick up with the right amount of force and you’ll float for a few seconds. That can be achieved with luck.
      - mettamage 4y ago
        Yup, that's why it's possible within less than 30 days.
        2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
        It’s not a skill if you can’t do it on command. I’m not sure why we need to lower the bar of success or dilute the skill so that more people can say they succeeded. This wouldn’t even be an argument if we were talking about someone standing on their feet. It’s ok to not be good at everything.
      - smsm42 4y ago
        Or you will fall down, or you hands would collapse and you'd plant you face into the ground. Not everybody has the same physical capabilities.
    - swatcoder 4y ago
      > You need to get it right for 1 second to call it a handstand IMO I don’t know your background, but this reads like the mentality that gives a lot of “bro” workout communities a reputation for being irresponsible and injury prone. Call it a handstand when you can do a handstand, and work your way up to it humbly. Your joints will thank you.
  - paulpauper 4y ago
    kids have more strength relative to weight, I think
- Retr0id 4y ago
  Doing a handstand against a wall is very different to doing it without a wall.
xboxnolifes 4y ago
What do you consider to be from zero? Zero exercise experience ever? Zero gymnastic experience? Zero sport experience? I've never been able to maintain balance of a handstand as a kid, I haven't actively played sports since middle school, and I haven't done any amount of meaningful exercise in over 3 years now. Yet, I feel very confident I could do a handstand within 30 days of practice.
- 2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
  I’ve seen a lot of strong gym going people try to get handstands and almost all fail. Please be careful.
- unrealhoang 4y ago
  Also the hardness of handstand is strictly dependent on your weight. A normal person at 50kg should have no problem learning handstand in 30 days, 90kg with no prior fitness training to handstand in 60 days is next to impossible.
  - Jtsummers 4y ago
    A 90kg person can definitely get to it in 60 days. My only fitness before starting BJJ in 2015 was running (which I did regularly) and I weighed about 90kg. I was successfully hand walking down the length of the mats during our warmups in a couple months (though I was falling a lot in the first month, and was never stellar at it). I'm also uncertain how 50kg is the weight of a normal person. If I get below 75kg I'm around 5% body fat, and I'm barely above the US male average height. Getting to 50kg would mean losing a substantial amount of muscle mass, I literally have never had enough fat and so little muscle (even when I was obese) to be able to healthily cut down to that weight. And, again, I'm only about 1cm over the US average.
    - smsm42 4y ago
      If you're a regular runner, you probably are pretty lean, way leaner than an average techie, and probably leaner than most people. 90kg can be 90kg at 15% fat, or 90kg at 20% fat, or 90kg at 30% fat. Those would be very different starting points.
malsanton 4y ago
This is an unreasonable assessment. I did it in a couple weeks. Maybe not guaranteed, or for everyone. But if you’re fairly athletic is it a fair goal.
dymk 4y ago
I've taught friends who had no prior calisthenics/gymnastics experience to do a supported handstand in an hour, and they were doing a few seconds of balance within a week. They weren't gym nuts, but they weren't out of shape either. Your average pacific northwest "goes on a hike every once in a while" kind of person.
pengaru 4y ago
Stabilized against a wall? If "zero" includes someone in reasonable fitness having a normal BMI, just has never been inverted on their arms before, it can be trivial to do with no preparation.
- chrisweekly 4y ago
  Agreed. I'm baffled by the "impossible" commments.
throwaway892238 4y ago
A rock climber can... a little kid can (they have crazy strength-weight ratio)... anyone who can do dips on rings or parallel bars and a couple push-ups/pull-ups can. It's mostly balance, and some arm/shoulder/chest strength. If you have a flexible back it's easier. If you're used to being upside-down it's easier. It also depends what "form" you're going for, as capoeristas sometimes have a different method than yogis. Some want you to learn only by shooting your legs straight up, some are fine with rolling into it, some start with a wall, some start from a shoulder stand. I personally prefer the "flail my legs around trying to look at the closet mirror and then fall on the pile of dirty clothes" method.
deleted 4y ago
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CipherThrowaway 4y ago
"Zero" here means no previous handstand practice. >5 seconds of freestanding handstand in 30 days seems pretty realistic for someone in reasonably okay shape.

Someone from zero cannot do a handstand in 30 days. Period. I think it's a cool goal, but you ain't doing in 30 days.

by throw7 4y ago

Someone from zero cannot do a handstand in 30 days. Period. I think it's a cool goal, but you ain't doing in 30 days.

I remember with PE in high school that I'd just throw myself up the wall until I succeeded. Took me 3 tries and 4.5 hours in total. I was super bad at it due to very bad flexibility (one of the worst in class). However, I wasn't scared of throwing myself up and I knew how to fall well. It can be done.

str34m 4y ago
2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
What ever you were capable of in school as a child has almost no relevance to your adult self unless you have kept up those skills. Kids also learn physical moves much faster. I only know a couple of adults that have learned how to handstand as adults and even then, they were already fit or had good strength to weight ratios. Still took a long time to get a good looking hold. I’ve seen kids just pick it up and start walking and hopping with control in weeks.
- mettamage 4y ago
  > What ever you were capable of in school as a child has almost no relevance to your adult self unless you have kept up those skills. I can still do a handstand, with difficulty, but I can do it. To be fair, it was always with difficulty, it takes a few tries. I was 14/15 when I could do it. > Still took a long time to get a good looking hold. You need to get it right for 1 second to call it a handstand IMO
  - lemming 4y ago
    > You need to get it right for 1 second to call it a handstand IMO I don't think many people would call that a handstand. Or at least, if you do then the definition is so wide as to be useless. There's no balance at all involved for 1 sec, just luck.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
    > You need to get it right for 1 second to call it a handstand IMO Just kick up with the right amount of force and you’ll float for a few seconds. That can be achieved with luck.
    - mettamage 4y ago
      Yup, that's why it's possible within less than 30 days.
      - 2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
        It’s not a skill if you can’t do it on command. I’m not sure why we need to lower the bar of success or dilute the skill so that more people can say they succeeded. This wouldn’t even be an argument if we were talking about someone standing on their feet. It’s ok to not be good at everything.
    - smsm42 4y ago
      Or you will fall down, or you hands would collapse and you'd plant you face into the ground. Not everybody has the same physical capabilities.
  - swatcoder 4y ago
    > You need to get it right for 1 second to call it a handstand IMO I don’t know your background, but this reads like the mentality that gives a lot of “bro” workout communities a reputation for being irresponsible and injury prone. Call it a handstand when you can do a handstand, and work your way up to it humbly. Your joints will thank you.
- paulpauper 4y ago
  kids have more strength relative to weight, I think
Retr0id 4y ago
Doing a handstand against a wall is very different to doing it without a wall.

xboxnolifes 4y ago

What do you consider to be from zero? Zero exercise experience ever? Zero gymnastic experience? Zero sport experience? I've never been able to maintain balance of a handstand as a kid, I haven't actively played sports since middle school, and I haven't done any amount of meaningful exercise in over 3 years now. Yet, I feel very confident I could do a handstand within 30 days of practice.

2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
I’ve seen a lot of strong gym going people try to get handstands and almost all fail. Please be careful.
unrealhoang 4y ago
Also the hardness of handstand is strictly dependent on your weight. A normal person at 50kg should have no problem learning handstand in 30 days, 90kg with no prior fitness training to handstand in 60 days is next to impossible.
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  A 90kg person can definitely get to it in 60 days. My only fitness before starting BJJ in 2015 was running (which I did regularly) and I weighed about 90kg. I was successfully hand walking down the length of the mats during our warmups in a couple months (though I was falling a lot in the first month, and was never stellar at it). I'm also uncertain how 50kg is the weight of a normal person. If I get below 75kg I'm around 5% body fat, and I'm barely above the US male average height. Getting to 50kg would mean losing a substantial amount of muscle mass, I literally have never had enough fat and so little muscle (even when I was obese) to be able to healthily cut down to that weight. And, again, I'm only about 1cm over the US average.
  - smsm42 4y ago
    If you're a regular runner, you probably are pretty lean, way leaner than an average techie, and probably leaner than most people. 90kg can be 90kg at 15% fat, or 90kg at 20% fat, or 90kg at 30% fat. Those would be very different starting points.

malsanton 4y ago

This is an unreasonable assessment. I did it in a couple weeks. Maybe not guaranteed, or for everyone. But if you’re fairly athletic is it a fair goal.

dymk 4y ago

I've taught friends who had no prior calisthenics/gymnastics experience to do a supported handstand in an hour, and they were doing a few seconds of balance within a week. They weren't gym nuts, but they weren't out of shape either. Your average pacific northwest "goes on a hike every once in a while" kind of person.

pengaru 4y ago

Stabilized against a wall? If "zero" includes someone in reasonable fitness having a normal BMI, just has never been inverted on their arms before, it can be trivial to do with no preparation.

chrisweekly 4y ago
Agreed. I'm baffled by the "impossible" commments.

throwaway892238 4y ago

A rock climber can... a little kid can (they have crazy strength-weight ratio)... anyone who can do dips on rings or parallel bars and a couple push-ups/pull-ups can. It's mostly balance, and some arm/shoulder/chest strength. If you have a flexible back it's easier. If you're used to being upside-down it's easier. It also depends what "form" you're going for, as capoeristas sometimes have a different method than yogis. Some want you to learn only by shooting your legs straight up, some are fine with rolling into it, some start with a wall, some start from a shoulder stand. I personally prefer the "flail my legs around trying to look at the closet mirror and then fall on the pile of dirty clothes" method.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

CipherThrowaway 4y ago

"Zero" here means no previous handstand practice. >5 seconds of freestanding handstand in 30 days seems pretty realistic for someone in reasonably okay shape.