Handstand Push-Up

Technique

How to perform Handstand Push-Up

1. Kick or press into a freestanding handstand, stacking your hips over shoulders and wrists with elbows locked, core braced, and legs together.
2. Fix your gaze on a spot between your hands, draw your shoulder blades down, and squeeze your glutes to keep a hollow, rigid body line.
3. This is your starting position.
4. Inhale as you bend your elbows, lowering your body in a straight line until the crown of your head lightly taps the floor; keep your elbows about 45 degrees from your torso and avoid letting your lower back arch.
5. Pause briefly, maintaining full-body tension and fingertip balance corrections, then exhale as you press firmly through your palms, extending your elbows to drive your body straight back to the locked-out handstand, hips still stacked and ribs tucked.
6. Stabilize at the top for a moment, then repeat for the recommended number of repetitions, exiting safely by cartwheeling or stepping down when finished.

GymDaze demonstration

Watch Handstand Push-Up

Programming relevance

Muscles involved

Primary targets: Anterior Deltoid, Triceps Lateral Head, Triceps Long Head, Triceps Medial Head.

Calisthenics graph

Progression relationships

These relationships describe graph position, not personal readiness.