Are handstands beneficial as cross-training?

[hangboarderjon]

I've wanted to be able to do handstands for a long time.

Is handstand training an effective way to balance out the "pull muscles" used in climbing?

The abdominal strength needed for handstands crosses over with climbing well. Also, the shoulder mobility needed for handstands is definitely good for shoulder health (ability to hold arms straight up using rear shoulder muscles/ upper back). However I'm a bit concerned about possible wrist and shoulder strain, as well as blood pressure issues.

[MarkAnderson]

I think shoulder presses are helpful. Handstand presses are similar. My concern would be wrists, so make sure you are warm, loose and stretched out in the wrists first.

I’m don’t know about blood pressure.

[jetjackson]

May 20, 2020 7:34:41 GMT -7 MarkAnderson said:

I think shoulder presses are helpful. Handstand presses are similar. My concern would be wrists, so make sure you are warm, loose and stretched out in the wrists first.

I’m don’t know about blood pressure.

I started on the paralettes recently trying to do the L-sit and tweaked one of my wrists. Couldn't do any press exercises on the wrist for a week. I'd second this. 

[MarkAnderson]

I recently developed some wrist tendinitis from playing too much quarantine guitar, so wrists have been on my mind a lot!

Now I play with a wrist brace, very rock n roll.

[hangboarderjon]

Nice, it figures that you'd get injured playing a guitar instead of hanging on monos on your hangboard.

Regarding the handstands, I'm building up the shoulder/wrist strength slowly by doing L-stands against a wall (upper body vertical, legs parallel with ground, feet on wall). This is an easy transition from downward dog yoga pose. I think being slow and steady and taking rest days, much like for the hangboard routine, can keep my wrists pretty healthy. I still haven't figured out the blood pressure management, but I think its controlled with breathing.

[MarkAnderson]

I would consider placing your hands on something other than the floor.

For example, when I hurt my wrist I found I couldn’t do normal pushups because my wrist hates large extensions. Now I do push-ups with my hands on my dumbbell bars. I don’t know if this will work for you, because obviously you can’t have the dumbbells rolling around, but if you can find a similar solution it may prevent wrist problems in the long run. Some heavy hex-shaped dumbbells might work. And I know they make stable bars for this specific purpose.

[hangboarderjon]

Yeah but that prevents me from practicing handstands; it's not just an exercise to support climbing, but also for the handstand goal.

From what I've learned, one of the primary factors in holding a handstand is wrist/hand/forearm strength because your center of gravity has to be over your palm instead of your wrist. So while I'm practicing L-stands, I'm focused on pushing down through the entire palm and fingers, as well as maintaining my shoulder position and straight back. Some resources suggest stretching and warming up the wrists before each handstand practice, for instance especially to increase how far back the hands can bend towards the forearms. While holding a handstand, the wrist angles are pretty similar to a pushup, but the amount of force that has to be generated by the backwards-bent hands is much greater in order to correct small shifts from balanced.