Where should the fingers and hands be in a handstand?

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Finger/hand direction plays a very important role in maximizing the stability of the handstand. The fingers allow for subtle balance adjustments for (micro stability).⁣ ⁣

🚫 Externally Rotated: most common placement normally due to unawareness and/or wrist weakness/immobility. When learning a handstand against the wall, stability is generally removed from equation and bad hand placement habits are engrained. You can get away with hands turned out against wall because no balance needed. Try and do the same freestanding and it becomes less than ideal.⁣ ⁣

🚫 Internally Rotated: this is less common. This hand position puts the shoulder in a more compromised position and leads to a more susceptible elbow bend. It also gets less activation through all fingers.⁣

⁣ ✅ Neutral Hand: ideally looking for index finger at 12’oclock (i’ve found it to be ok even at middle finger at 12’oclock). Allows all fingers to be activated against ground giving maximize potential for micro stability.⁣
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One of the main difficulties with bringing hands to a more neutral position, aside from engrained habits, is wrist immobility. Of course the recommendation  to assist with this is more wrist specific accessory work. Along with that, I like to create some palm elevation to take away some of the stress of the extreme angle put on the wrist when the hand is flat. The 5lb change plates shown in the 2nd & 3rd pic essentially act in the same way an oly lifter does. It can help build awareness and confidence with proper hand positioning that over time will be become more natural on a flat surface.⁣