How To Do A Press Handstand In One Week
Disclaimer: This is for people who can already hold a 30 to 60 second static handstand or those who are close to achieving a pancake position. If you can already do a straddle press handstand, even better.
A press handstand demands a tremendous amount of strength, balance, and mobility. It is a concerted, full body effort that is especially hard on the shoulders. You need to make sure your shoulders are strong enough to support your body yet mobile enough to align with the rest of your body.
You’ll want to check out these 5 Awesome Mobility Hacks before getting started.
This program is designed to teach you systematically how to do a press handstand in 7 days. Each day contains a session with various drills and exercises that address a specific part of the movement. The sessions are arranged a certain way for a reason. Make sure to do them in proper order.
Exercises You Need To Know
Not all the exercises in this program are familiar to everyone. Below, we will walk you through the different exercises and movements you’ll be encountering throughout your 7 day press handstand journey.
Wall Handstand Pushup
Do a handstand against a wall but facing away from the wall. Once you’ve aligned your body, slowly lower yourself until the top of your head reaches the ground. Push yourself back to a handstand position with your arms fully extended. For an easier regression try negatives, meaning you only conduct the eccentric or lowering phase of the handstand pushup. Kick yourself back up after each negative repetition.
Wall-Assisted Frog Handstand
Perform a handstand facing a wall. Your hands should be planted firmly about 1-foot from the wall. With proper posture, bring your knees to your sides until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Then tuck them until they are directly under your chest. Do this slowly in one controlled motion. From under your chest bring yourself back to the starting position. It should look almost like a breaststroke/frog kick.
Straddle Press Handstand
Position your legs more than shoulder width apart. Bend forward at your hips and lay your palms flat on the ground at shoulder width, directly inside your feet. Keep your back and knees straight and your toes pointing forward. Your same-side hands and feet should be as close together as possible. Shift your weight onto your hands and pull your hips forward until they align with your hands. Eventually, you should be able to lift your toes off the floor and assume a straddle position. Slowly raise your legs until you reach a full handstand. This step is very crucial so you should keep your core really tight while assuming a posterior pelvic tilt.
Jefferson Curl
Stand on top of a bench, box, or step. The surface should be higher than two feet off the ground. While on top of the surface, get a light weight (a kettlebell or barbell should do). Bring your chin as close to your chest as possible, then slowly round your back. You should feel the weight pulling your back muscles closer to the floor. Keep bending until your back is completely rounded. Make sure to keep your hips back and your weight squarely on the balls of your feet. Your legs should be completely locked out. Once you are at the bottom of the stretch, slowly raise your back the same way you went down--almost like you pressed the rewind button.
Prone Hollow Rock
Lie down with your back flat on the ground. Extend your arms above your head, keeping them shoulder width apart. Raise your hands and legs so that your body forms a U-shape. Brace your core and rock back and forth for 30 seconds.
Weighted Pike Stretch
Crouch on top of a bench and hold a 15 to 20 lb. plate underneath you and the bench. Straighten out your legs and hinge your torso at the hip. Don’t bend your knees or lean your hips forward. You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and shoulders. Hold.
V-Sit
Lay flat with your back against the ground (supine position). Arms above the head for added difficulty. Simultaneously raise your legs and lift your back off the ground until your body is shaped like a “V”. Bring your arms to your sides and keep them parallel to the ground with pointed toes and fully engaged quads and core. Neck and gaze should be neutral. Hold for 30 seconds to 1 minute with the option to tuck knees to chest for an easier regression.
V-Snap
Assume the same starting position as a V-Sit. In this supine position, picture sucking your core down to your spine to remove the gap that exists between your lower back and the ground. From there, simultaneously lift your legs, back and arms off the ground and reach for either your toes or the ground next to your hips. Keep your arms and legs straight at all times and make the movement controlled and coordinated.
Straddle Hold (With Parallette Bars)
Grab a pair of parallette bars (see: How To Do Gymnastics At Home With Minimal Equipment). Position the parallette bars shoulder width apart. Grab each bar, engage your shoulders and slowly lift your legs parallel to the floor, with your left and right leg positioned outside your arms at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock, respectively. Tighten your core and keep your legs straight and toes pointed throughout the movement. Hold for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
*Note:
For all the handstand exercises, you’ll want to stack your shoulders and assume a posterior pelvic tilt. Stack your shoulders by placing your hands directly underneath your head. You should feel your shoulders “locking” against your scapular. From there, squeeze your glutes tightly and feel your tailbone point forward. A proper posterior pelvic tilt should feel like your glutes are being forced together and pushed forward. These pointers are absolutely essential to performing a handstand that is properly aligned.
An Intro To The Press Handstand
The press handstand is a rite of passage for most workout aficionados. It’s part of the transition from being an Average Joe in the gym to being a beast.
Here’s how to do it:
[if !supportLists]1. [endif]Sit on the ground and position your left and right legs at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock respectively.
[if !supportLists]2. [endif]Plant your hands firmly directly in front of you. Make sure your fingers are splayed and “gripping” the ground.
[if !supportLists]3. [endif]From that position, rock forward slightly and use your momentum to lift your butt off the ground and bring yourself to a handstand.
A friendly warning: a press handstand looks and sounds much easier than it actually is. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth--Step 3 is a killer! Which brings us to our first session…
Equipment To Get You There (Click For Prices)
Session One: Perfecting Your Static Handstand And Straddle Press Handstand
You can’t perform a press handstand unless you can do a static handstand hold or a straddle press handstand. And, in order to do those properly, you need to first master the nuances and details of performing a proper handstand.
The most common mistake people make is relying on brute strength to do a handstand.Handstands are 80% technique and just 20% strength. Instead of telling you to lift more, this article will teach you to make certain changes that make a handstand much easier.
One of the biggest obstacles to a handstand is muscle imbalance. That is, one side of the body being stronger than the other--which is perfectly normal. After all, everyone has a dominant side. But I digress.
The quickest way to cure muscle imbalance is through proper posture. If you keep both arms fully extended and your core and glutes tight, chances are you’ll be able to pull off a perfect-looking handstand.
In this workout, you’ll want to really pay attention to the details. When you do a handstand hold, be conscious of your head positioning/line of sight, hand placement, PPT (posterior pelvic tilt), arms, core, quad engagement and toe point. If you have a video camera, record yourself so you can see which parts need work. In a correct handstand you will noticed a nice stacked body with minimal angles.
The Workout:
3 Straddle Press Handstands
10 Wall Handstand Pushups
10 Wall-Assisted Frog Handstands
10 Jefferson Curls
10 V-Snaps
30-second V-sit
30-second Prone Hollow Rock
30-second Straddle Hold
Do 3 Sets.
Session Two And Three: Building Strength And Flexibility
In the next session, you’ll want to focus more on your shoulder strength and flexibility. This workout will strengthen your shoulders and help you get used to
The Workout:
1-minute Straddle Hold
5 Straddle Press Handstands
15 Wall Handstand Pushups
15 Jefferson Curls
15 Wall-Assisted Frog Handstands
30-second Straddle Hold
1-minute Prone Hollow Rock
30-second Weighed Pike Stretch
Aim for 3 sets.
Extra work: Half Handstand Pushup
From a full handstand, lower yourself halfway then press up. Do 8 reps at the end of your workout.
Session Four: Recovery Day
By now, you’re probably tired. And that’s perfectly normal. To help you save energy for the big day, we advise that you use one day to do some stretching accompanied with a light recovery workout.
The Workout:
30-second V-Sit
15 Jefferson Curls
15 V-Snaps
1-minute Weighted Pike Stretch
1-minute Prone Hollow Rock
Aim for 3 sets.
Session 5 And Six: Fine-Tuning
Once you’ve arrived at Session 5, you’re already more than halfway through. From here on out, everything is about fine-tuning and eliminating kinks.
The Workout:
5 Straddle Press Handstands
15 Wall-Assisted Handstand Pushups
15 Wall-Assisted Frog Handstands
15 Jefferson Curls
15 V-Snaps
1-minute Straddle Hold
1-minute V-Sit
After these sessions, you’ll want to do a lot of stretching and myofascial release to relieve tight muscles. You will want to check out this article for The Best Myofascial Release Tools.
Session Seven: The Press Handstand
The big day is finally here. Time to put everything together and do your very first press handstand.
First, do at least a 10 minute body limber with some light Jefferson Curls, Handstand Entries, Rotator Cuff Movements, Wrist Mobility, and Core Compression with V-Snaps or the like. This is a new movement so you want to steer clear of any injuries. Also, you’ll want to focus solely on the movement at hand.
Focus instead on getting as many attempts as possible. More than working out, you want to get a good feel of the movement.
When you’re ready to start, sit on the ground like you’re about to attempt a Straddle Hold. Try pressing yourself up just to feel mentally prepare yourself. Next, lift your legs off the ground and bring your hips slightly forward. This position helps you launch into a handstand using your momentum (eventually, you’ll be able to bring yourself up strictly but this is a great way to start).
From there, swing your hips back and work your way to a handstand. Keep in mind that your shoulders should always be engaged and that you should use a posterior pelvic tilt to lock your hips and legs in place.
You’ll find it difficult the first few times but with enough practice, you’ll get it done. Notice through each phase where your weakness lies and work to that weakness for the next attempt.
Congratulations! You’ve finally done your first press handstand. All the work you put in has finally paid off.
But the work doesn’t stop there. It’s one thing to do a press handstand but quite another to perfect it. In the coming weeks, take a video of yourself performing the exercise and see what you need to improve. As mentioned above, you’ll need to pay attention to kinks and imbalances so that you can address them.
Keep moving well and often and work on unlocking new skills. Pay attention to the finer details of each movement and find a deeper connection to movement you think you may have already perfected. This is the nature of true explorative movement.
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