A list of exercises that can be done along side compound strength exercises without interfering with them. The list is sorted into A, B, and C exercises, where A is the most important or useful. The exercise descriptions are merely meant to point you in the right direction or to the right resource.
Read this post and follow its advice.
Shoulder extension and shoulder flexion. Both of these are necessary for an excellent handstand. They should be done weighted, but first start out with none to get used to the range of motion, working up to 10-15kg for the extension and 20kg+ for the flexion. These can be done for reps or for time. You should be conservative in increasing the weight. For flexion, these should be done first until you are comfortable with them: video 1 and video 2. You can then begin with a weighted bar and begin moving it backwards overhead, like in this video. Bridge is also a good way to gain flexibility in this area. For extension, see this section of my Manna tutorial.
Bands are required. This one of the most important ones on the list. The shoulder must be able to stabilize in all different types of positions, especially if it gets out of its normal pattern of movement. Ido Portal has a great video on some exercises, as well as a protocol on how to implement it.
Bands are required. This is one of the most important on the list as well. All is said in Ido’s blog post.
A basic beginner's routine can be found here.
The bridge is a basic position that provides great mobility benefits for both the shoulder joint and thoracic spine. Two resources:
Avoid the 7-minute challenge part, but Ido Portal has good hanging information and resources here.
Video found here. These are an excellent wrist conditioning exercise that you can do almost anywhere. I like to do these 1-2 times per day, 10-15x each.
Post by Ido Portal:
I first read about the concept of Structural Balance years ago from an article written by Charles Poliquin. Poliquin described a certain relationship that should be achieved between various upper body movement patterns (notice I am careful not to say 'muscles' here) but more importantly educated me about the need for specific shoulder stabilizers conditioning.
While trying to apply some of these concepts I became a big fan of the 'Cuban Rotation' as one of the most 'bang for your buck' exercises for upper body structural balance.
The Cuban Rotation entails an external rotation motion of the upper arms in an upright, 90-90 degrees both in shoulder and in the elbow joints. (Some of you may know the Cuban Press, but I find it a waste of time to include the Upright Row and the Press motion where the weight is basically held back by the Rotation portion of the lift).
A good long term goal with the Cuban Rotation is to aspire for a HALF BODYWEIGHT lifted for 5 reps with at least 3 sec eccentrics. Some of you may laugh, but this is no crazier than doing a One Arm Chin Up and will keep your shoulders healthy and strong while allowing further development of the internal rotators as well, as balance sets in.
Training with the Cuban Rotation should be performed 2-3 times a week for 3-7 sets at a time. Rep ranges can vary as you should start with lower intensity and work your way through to lower rep sets.
If you can have one goal out of 5 to balance all your upper body strength training I would put the 50%BW Cuban Rotation as that goal. Try it and you will be surprised how good your shoulders feel and how the rest of your strength training is effected. Enjoy!
Work up 3-5x30-60s/r for tuck holds, tuck rocks, straddle holds, straddle rocks, full holds, full rocks. Progressions can be found here. Rocks are demonstrated here.
The frog stand is the most basic handbalancing position. From there you can move onto air baby and straight arm frog stand. Frog stand tutorial here. Elbow lever is another basic handbalancing position. Once you get the two armed version down, you can do the one armed version (Crocodile). Elbow lever tutorial here.
The pancake stretch is imperative if you want to achieve a press handstand, Manna, or just want to be flexible. Kit Laughlin’s Master the Pancake can be found here (PDF here). Another more basic, but effective, method is to simply use weights to get you deeper into the stretch. See Emmet Louis' video on loaded progressive stretching here.
The pike is a basic gymnastic stretch, and is important if you want a press handstand, Manna, V-sit, L-sit, or just want to be flexible. Kit’s Master the Pike can be found here (PDF here). You can also do LPS, in the form of seated or standing pike, or Jefferson curls.
Emmet Louis' tutorial can be found here.
See tutorial here.
Video here. An excellent exercise for increasing shoulder girdle flexibility. Follow a guide here.
This can be in the form of pulling or pushing. For pushing, you can start with a standard plank. Work up to at least 3-5x1:00 min on all five fingers, then remove the pinky, then ring, and so on. Working up to longer holds time is better, as it ensures the tendons of the hand and fingers are recovered and adapted (they take almost 10x longer to adapt/recover from exercises than muscles do). For pulling, you can start with basic hanging in the row position and deadhang. Same protocol for this. Work up to 3-5x1:00 min for each combination.
See tutorial here.
An uncommon but very beneficial stretch for hamstring and calf flexibility. See Emmet Louis' videos and guide here.
A common weak link in most athlete’s training, the ankles need to be both mobile and strong for all types of movement types, from basketball and soccer to martial arts. An excellent ankle strengthening tutorial here.