Why Can’t I Jump Back Or Do Handstand In Yoga?

You can do plank. You can do chaturanga. Your core is not the problem. So why does your pelvis feel like dead weight the moment you try to jump back or kick up to handstand? This month’s question of the month is about what else can restrict our movement through a jump back or into a handstand in yoga when we already have a strong core.

The Question:

Harinder Bering wrote in and asked, “I read and hear a lot about shoulder, arms, and abdominal strength for handstands and jump backs and forwards, but I find that my lack of ability to push from my pelvis and glutes is what inhibits me. I can do planks and chaturangas really well, so surely it’s not a core strength issue.”

The Answer:

It’s not always a core strength problem

Hari, you’re right. It’s probably not a core strength issue, and I think you’ve actually identified something that most people completely overlook. Let me rephrase what I think you’re describing, because I think you’re closer to the answer than you realize. Okay. When you go upside down or when you try to jump back, the chain of connection does matter. In other words, the flow of where you push and stabilize from matters. Okay?

It starts at your hands, travels up through your arms into your armpits. You know I’m big on armpits and serratus. And then that connects to the torso, and that whole connection is the foundation. Without it being solid, your pelvis has nothing stable to push or work away from.

What moves the pelvis when we’re upside down?

But here’s the piece most people forget. Once that foundation is established, what actually lifts the pelvis to a handstand in yoga? It’s not your abs. It’s your paraspinal muscles, your erector spinae. Those muscles running along either side of your spine are what have to lift the weight of your pelvis and tilt it with your legs hanging off of it, up and over the gravity line above your hands. That’s a significant load, and it’s one that almost never gets trained directly.

Tension on the pelvis is one issue

Now, the other piece: if you have more than average tension in your hamstrings or your hip flexors, that tension is going to make it more difficult to control your pelvis as it tilts and rotates in space. Tight hamstrings pull on the pelvis from below. Tight hip flexors can pull on it from the front or, if they’re too tight, make it so they’re not as strong as they could be. Either one disrupts your ability to move and control the pelvis independently and precisely, which is exactly what a handstand in yoga and jump backs demand.

How to train the erectors for handstand

One way of training this is to get into handstand. Use the wall. That’s fine. But when you come down, instead of lowering one leg, stay in handstand and bend your knees. You can touch the wall, I guess, a little bit as well. And then when you start to flex at the hip joint, try to resist the pelvic movement toward the floor. In other words, resist the tuck of the pelvis and the curl of the spine as you’re going down.

Now, how well you can or cannot do this should give you a clue as to whether my guess—and it’s only a guess—is a good starting point to focus on. If it is, clarify the pelvic movement in something simpler like headstand. Look for that pelvic tilt component there as you come up and as you lower down.