(don't) Trust the expert? Why it's so hard to learn handstands

Everybody and their mother has a different opinion

Handstands are not a walk in a park - they’re a practice.

Simply put: they do not come easy.

If you’re after a little party trick that can be learnt in a couple of weeks, keep searching.

To make matters worse, in here just like in so many other spheres, we entered a world of information overload with the rise of Internet and social media. 10 years ago, we needed to browse some obscure, nerdy forums just 10 years ago to get a few ideas to try on our hands.

Today, our phones are littered with content creators playing the game of attention by posting as often as possible, even if it dilutes the quality, confuses the learner, or misses the mark.

The format doesn’t always lend itself to it either: yes you have time to elaborate on a 20 minute long Youtube video that nobody is going to watch, but you don’t have time for nuance in a 30 second reels designed to please the shortening attention span of your viewers.

And you, amidst all that, try to find some clarity in HOW YOU SHOULD TRAIN TO GET YOUR HANDSTAND FAST.

And you get pretty much everything and its contrary.

I saw this morning a post from a very successful, famous account on Instagram explaining how protraction helped opening the shoulders in handstands.

Hundreds of comments flocked… people, desperate to find the key to their handstand lock, can not help but admire the latest shinny object.

Problem: it’s far, far from being that simple.

And if you HAVE to simplify it, you should rather say: protraction helps in achieving the straighter lines.