Holding a handstand is like putting together a puzzle. There are many little pieces that you need to fit together if you want to complete it. These pieces are the secrets that will help you get down the road to success quickly.

Still, the handstand is a very difficult skill. These secrets alone won't let you magically become an expert overnight. Nothing takes the place of practice and in hand balancing this is especially true.

But what you learn here will go a long way to helping you out. Also, these tips will ensure you get started with good habits which will set you up to learn even more advanced stunts later on.

One of the worse possible scenarios is to try to learn this trick all by yourself without any instruction. Why is this so bad? First, you have to pave your own path which always takes longer.

But mostly you may be teaching yourself bad habits. Once a habit is ingrained in takes a lot of effort to unlearn it. That being the case lets set up good habits in the handstand.

The easiest way to learn the handstand is to first practice it against a wall. This takes the difficult part of balancing out of the equation, so that you can learn the proper body position first.

The handstand itself does not take very much strength. In fact, when you do it right, your weight is supported by your bone structure which is very strong. All you have to do is hold the right position.

First step is to kick-up into the handstand. To get a great handstand a good kick-up is a must, especially when you move away from the wall. We will start in the easiest manner possible.

Get in a sprinter's stance. That is both hands on the floor about shoulder width apart approximately 6-10 inches from the wall. One foot should be close to your body while the other is farther back. With the back leg you kick up and then bring the other leg to meet up with it against the wall.

It takes fine tuning to use the proper amount of force to land softly against the wall. Practice the kick-up until you can do it easily every time.

Once you are holding a handstand against a wall you can start to tweak your body position until you are in good form.

Make sure your fingers are spread wide apart. Also curl your fingertips as if you are trying to claw the ground. These two steps will help you keep the balance when you are doing free standing handstands.

Keep your elbows locked. If you do not lock your arms it will require more strength to hold a handstand. While it can be done, you will fatigue quicker.

Push your arms into the ground. This movement is made from the shoulder girdle. You want to shrug your shoulder toward your ears. This helps to keep your body locked out and tight.

For most people some arch in the back is normal. There are different ways to go about it depending on the style of handstand you are going after. Just do whatever is comfortable for you.

Keep your butt and legs tight. Point the toes. This is for more than aesthetics. Since your legs are farthest away from you base of support any movement in them will throw your balance off most.

Stretch upward with the entire body. This creates a locked out, tight and strong feeling.

All the points for a good and stable handstand position are here. The goal is to create this same position every time you do a handstand whether against the wall or freestanding. Practice these steps enough until they are a habit every time you go into the handstand.

The next step is to take it away from the wall. The simplest way to do this is to kick-up against the wall and then remove your feet off it by just a couple inches and try to hold the balance.

After some practice with this you can try kicking up to a handstand in an open area.

Follow these steps and you are well on your way to mastering the handstand.

Logan Christopher runs a website devoted to the art of hand balancing and related acrobatic skills. You can find more information including a free 23 page guide with full details on mastering the handstand at Lost Art of Hand Balancing