January 14, 2011
In this stalder drill the aim is to land in a pancake position with the arms straight and shoulders pushing and stretching away from the bar. Gymnast that have some personal difficulty with the pancake position need to develop better flexibilty to be able to perform great stalders. During the stalder drill the gymnast should not rush to straddle right on the handstand but planche down a little and then push away while moving into the pancake position. Keeping good form in any training drill helps to establish long lasting excellent presentation habits.
January 13, 2011
In this progressive step of the previous stalder drill, the gymnast continue increasing the amplitude of their body extension coming out of the pancake compression and also aim to direct that extension closer to the vertical line until they eventually reach a total handstand. In this variation the gymnast is mostly concerned with mastering the initial motion to bring the straddled legs toward the deep pancake. Each time he takes the legs out, he just swings back to practice coming in from a position closer and closer to a complete handstand. Eventually he combines a high position to start the stalder with a powerful extension out of the pancake bottom toward a vertical handstand and back performing the complete skill. Take a final look at this progressive drill.
