A new article of mine about holding a freestanding handstand is published at Breaking Muscle.
How to Hold a Freestanding Handstand
In my previous article I showed you how to get up and hold a handstand against the wall. In this article you’ll learn to take a much more advanced step by balancing out in the open. The skill required to balance in this manner is significantly higher. That being said, just about anyone who is willing to put in the work will be able to accomplish this goal in time. How long will it take? That depends entirely on how much you practice, as well as how you train it.
You can take the long route, and this is what most people do. It is what I did. After being bitten by the handstand bug, it became my goal to be able to kick up and confidently hold a handstand anywhere and anytime. So I worked on doing exactly that. While I was ultimately successfully, this is the wrong approach to take. Let me tell you why: holding a handstand is a fine-motor movement that takes lots of practice. Trying to do this without building a firm foundation is like entering the gym and trying to squat 500lbs on your first attempt. It’s not going to happen. To get a good, strong squat, you would start with where you’re at, focus on building good form, and build from there. In time you could work up to that 500lb squat. But just starting there will doom you to frustration and failure (and possibly get you crushed). The handstand is much the same.