Fastest Way to Build Handstand Pushups

[Alexander Moreen]

I'd do both against a wall and the middle of a room because it takes a while to get the feel for the kick.

[Catalyst]

I have a question about the position of elbows while doing handstand pushups.

I can do more HSPU against a wall with elbows going away from my body, instead of doing them with elbows tucked in.

Which way is the correct one? And which one is better for developing higher degree of strength?

Thanks.

[Coach Sommer]

It is only possible to perform HSPU with elbows pressed outward when being supported (either by a spotter or by the wall), as soon as you transition to freestanding HSPU your elbows will automatically tuck inward during the press.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Razor]

Im confused now, can someone break this down.

What should be the elbows position when doing HeSPU & HSPU (supported and not supported). :?:

When elbows are pressed outwards aren't we training our rear shoulder griddle??

[Joshua Naterman]

If you have shoulder griddles you don't need to train, you need to cook bacon on your shoulders!!!

But seriously, you want to be in a tripod position. The wider your hands go the more you reduce leverage and put the shoulder in a vulnerable position. Think about making a more or less equilateral triangle with your hands and your head, and have your elbows in line with your shoulders the whole time. A video would probably be best.

[Razor]

  slizzardman said:

If you have shoulder griddles you don't need to train, you need to cook bacon on your shoulders!!!

hahaha good one slizz, actually i meant girdle not (griddle :shock: )

  Quote

But seriously, you want to be in a tripod position. The wider your hands go the more you reduce leverage and put the shoulder in a vulnerable position. Think about making a more or less equilateral triangle with your hands and your head, and have your elbows in line with your shoulders the whole time.

Yeh thats what i thought, but what confused me is that coach sommer said in a supported HSPU elbows are pressed outwards i guess this is the only exception, because in that position it is NOT POSSIBLE to press the elbows inwards as coach said.

Should have thought of it before posting anyways thanks for the reply.

[Cole Dano]

I think you misunderstood the Coach.

You can, and should, keep the 'tripod' position while doing them with support. Its just that its possible to do supported with elbows out, and in fact taking the hands wider than shoulder width and flaring the elbows is a way to make the movement easier for many.

[Coach Sommer]

  Mr Brady said:

... I think you misunderstood the Coach.

You can, and should, keep the 'tripod' position while doing them with support. Its just that its possible to do supported with elbows out, and in fact taking the hands wider than shoulder width and flaring the elbows is a way to make the movement easier for many ...

Exactly.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Razor]

Ok coach meant pressing the elbows outwards in HSPU is only possible, when supported.

I read it differently. Got it thanks

[jl5555]

I've been practicing my handstands on 18 and 12 inch boxes lately. Due to the nature of kicking up into the handstand it requires a press up and a lever let down. Working on the box has really improved my press. Form isn't the greatest but I was tired.

E7sMXyWIWLI

[yuri marmerstein]

  jl5555 said:

I've been practicing my handstands on 18 and 12 inch boxes lately. Due to the nature of kicking up into the handstand it requires a press up and a lever let down. Working on the box has really improved my press. Form isn't the greatest but I was tired.

E7sMXyWIWLI

seeing that you have the balance for it, you can try holding the edge of the box with your hands and working full ROM negative HSPU as this can greatly help to build up your strength.

we will work on this, improving your line and plenty more when I get down there

[jl5555]

  yuri said:

...seeing that you have the balance for it, you can try holding the edge of the box with your hands and working full ROM negative HSPU as this can greatly help to build up your strength.

we will work on this, improving your line and plenty more when I get down there

Excellent. That video is from about 6 weeks ago and I've been doing consistent work since then and have felt some good improvements.

[Erik Sjolin]

I have a couple questions about the Korean HSPU progression, specifically about what sort of equipment is acceptable. At my gym, the closest thing to a sing rail we have was a barbell rested across two benches, but that kept on sliding so I replaced it with a single bench (like the one suggested in the OA HS thread). It's pretty wobbly, but it still allows me to perform full ROM.

The second is (I think I may have posted it in this same thread), what sort of supplementary exercises are there for HSPUs? Like Coach said in the beginning, I practice handstands quite a bit (still need to work up the courage to go for the rings), but the extremely slow progress is discouraging, to say the least. ( :x grr, I say.) I remember Ido Portal said Cuban presses were good, but are there others as well?

[nikosg]

i just saw this video on youtube which had some nice variations to work up to. Some of which coach and others have already talked about..

I just wanted to know.... is this good form (3:10 onwards) ?

back arch?

[Blairbob]

Technically no. It's not horrid and he is VERY strong but it's perfect by the book. Notice his HS is a bit archy in all his work. Not that I can say that mine is any better, cause it ain't.

[nikosg]

hehe

[Warrior'sSuite]

So far I've trained the HS holds in the statics fashion, doing it only once a day 4-5 days a week (4-5 only for the hs, the other statics only 4 days a week) and i'm thinking this just doesn't work for the hs. At all maybe.

I've been stuck at 3 sets of 25s for like 2 months now. Maybe 2 weeks after i could do that i felt like i was going to start doing sets of 30s the next week but nothing. Some days they feel easy and some days they feel hard, sometimes even like it's the first time i'm doing a hs, what the hell. Some days i hold all sets free balanced and some days (like today) my feet touch the wall all the time.

I'm convinced i'll have to do at least 5 minutes total time 4-5 days a week at least, that would be doing what i'm doing right now 4 times a day; what i'm doing right now just doesn't seem to be working and i'm getting bored and frustrated with it.

Why does it seem that training the hs like the statics doesn't work? Right now i'm doing PL, FL and L-sit and they're all improving with the "1 minute a day" thing, but not the hs. Of course i don't do 1 minute total time for the hs but what i mean is i do it only once a day like the statics.

I don't remember that well but i think i actually advanced and made improvements on the hs some days that i did it more than once a day, i did this only on some days but if i remeber correctly this is when i actually advanced.

[Blairbob]

HS are a high skill movement. 1m is simply not enough. Gymnasts should be training 10-30m of HS a day.

[Warrior'sSuite]

  Blairbob said:

HS are a high skill movement. 1m is simply not enough. Gymnasts should be training 10-30m of HS a day.

Wow, didn't know that. I'm actually glad to hear it because i've always wanted to do a lot of hs each day i train it but i thought it was like the statics so that's why i did it 1ce a day.

But what do you mean it is a high skill movement? How is it different than the statics?

[Sky Child]

I have a question about the HSPU progression.

In BtGB Coach says that once you can perform a HeSPU ascent a controlled negative is no longer necessary, but was not clear on whether it is beneficial to perform them anyway.

Currently, I'm able to do about four or five ascents (on a good day) if I do not perform negatives, and only one or maybe two if I perform a negative following every rep.

So, my question is whether it would be more productive to:

1. After every ascent perform a controlled negative, and if I can't get 3-5 reps, then to finish the set with negatives.

2. Perform only ascents

Also, I've been wondering if I ought'n'd do my ascents on level ground and then switch to elevated on books for the negatives in order start building a better ROM, as I can perform very slow controlled negatives on them, but cannot yet press back up.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Joshua Naterman]

Yes, but don't concentrate on the negatives. I wouldn't recommend that you try that more than 1 day a week, referring to the full HSPU negatives.

You need to build up to either 20-30s of very controlled HeSPU regardless of reps or 7-10 good reps with a 1 to 2s ascent and descent before adding any additional depth. Don't go for numbers, go for perfect form. Add 1" every time you have the time/rep requirement WITH perfect form and not before. Stick with each new depth for at least 3-4 weeks before progressing again, even if you're perfect before then.

[Joshua Naterman]

High skill movement because there is no position other than a one arm handstand that is more unstable. Obviously rings makes HS even more difficult because there is no solid, immovable surface to stabilize on, but either way the center of gravity is the most unstable and pretty much as high off the ground as it is possible to be, relative to the ground. This makes it the most unstable position even before you consider that you are supporting your body on the most unstable joint in the body, the shoulder.

All of this requires a very high degree of neuromuscular coordination. When you talk about pressing up and down while making the handstand it becomes much more complex. Very much a high skill movement.

[Sky Child]

Thanks for the advise!

[Sailor Venus]

i try to push my body up from headstand to handstand but doesn't work as my arms aren't strong enough. Shall I keep forcing it, thus classing it as an isometric exercise?

[Daniel Burnham]

  Sailor Venus said:

i try to push my body up from headstand to handstand but doesn't work as my arms aren't strong enough. Shall I keep forcing it, thus classing it as an isometric exercise?

That won't help much. I would work on increasing my handstand time as coach said in this thread. Also you could try using dumbbells, free motion, or barbell overhead pressing to increase strength and go through the entire range of motion. Personally I never had this problem because I had been working on barbell press for quite a while when I started bodyweight training.