Handstand Push-Up Progressions

[Danielle Durante]

Progression List

Exercise: Pike Push-Up
Area: triceps, pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, trapezius
Equipment: Floor
Starting Position: The person will start with hands and feet in contact with the floor. The body will positioned in an upside down "V". Hand placement should be shoulder width apart and arms are fully extended. The legs and feet should be together. The person's head should be tucked in between the arms and the eye focus is looking at the feet area.
Movement: The person will slowly flex the arms getting the head as close to the floor as possible and then pushing back up to the starting position.

Exercise: L Push-Up
Area: triceps, pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, trapezius
Equipment: floor + raised area- i.e. box
Starting Position: The person will start with the hands in contact with the floor and the feet should be placed up on a raised area. The person's body will positioned in an upside down "L". Hand, legs, and feet placement is the same as the pike push-up.
Movement: The movement will be the same as the pike push-up.

Exercise: Handstand Push-Up with assistance
Area: triceps, pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, trapezius
Equipment: floor + partner
Starting position: The person will start in a handstand position, which means the hands are in contact with the floor only and the body should be in a straight line. The person's arms should be fully extended and the head should be tucked in between both arms. The partner should be holding the shoulder and leg area.
Movement: The movement will be the same as the prior exercises.

Exercise: Handstand Push-Up against wall
Area: triceps, pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, trapezius
Equipment: floor + wall
Starting position: The person will start in a handstand position, which means the hands are in contact with the floor only and the body should be in a straight line. The person's arms should be fully extended and the head should be tucked in between both arms. This can be done with the back towards the wall or with the body facing the wall. If the person wants to focus on technique, facing the wall would be best.
Movement: The movement is the same as the prior exercises.

Exercise: Handstand Push-Up (no assistance)
Area: triceps, pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, trapezius
Equipment: floor or parallettes
Starting position: The person will start in a handstand position, which means the hands are in contact with the floor or parallettes only and the body should be in a straight line. The person's arms should be fully extended and the head should be tucked in between both arms.
Movement: The movement is the same as the prior exercises. Try touching your head first and if that is easy try touching your nose to the floor.

Related Exercises:
*Handstand holds (with or without assistance)
*Practice doing the eccentric part of the handstand push-up
*Military press (last resort)

Enjoy! :)

[Analisa Naldi]

GLORIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUS! thank you so much for this! I love that you gave us more teaching points, progressions, and shared all of your expertise!
You da bomb lady!
:D

[Shaun Conness]

I really like that you said facing the wall focuses on better technique. It generally sets the shoulder up in a better biomechanical position as well. When you face away from the wall people have a tendency to over extend their spine and also put too much pressure on their anterior joint capsual. I have found that facing the mirror with your shoes off works pretty well. It allows the person to focuse on keeping their alignment because their feet can slide up and down on the mirror.

[Scott Kolasinski]

How does facing the wall focus on better technique and what is the biomechanical advantage? Is this similar to doing military press from the front is a biomechanical advantage to doing it behind the head?
I have tried facing and not facing the wall, and I found the biggest difference was safety. After getting fatigued, it was much easier to bail by pushing off the wall, tucking my knees into my chest and landing with my feet on the floor. As for facing the wall, I only found tucking my chin and somersaulting out of the move easiest. Also, when facing the wall, I didn't feel like my body was totally perpendicular to the floor. I need the clarity.

[Shaun Conness]

The shoulder press is a good example Scott. That was what I was refererring too. I believe Danielle was refererring to spinal alignment. I agree that facing the wall is harder to bail out of at the point of fatigue.

[John Nguyen]

"When you face away from the wall people have a tendency to... put too much pressure on their anterior joint capsual."

Which joint capsule?

.

[Shaun Conness]

I was referring to the anterior joint capsule of the glenohumeral joint.

The following is from wikipedia website

Glenohumeral joint

The glenohumeral joint is the main joint of the shoulder and the generic term "shoulder joint" usually refers to it. It is a ball and socket joint that allows the arm to rotate in a circular fashion or to hinge out and up away from the body. It is formed by the articulation between the head of the humerus and the lateral scapula. The "ball" of the joint is the rounded, medial anterior surface of the humerus and the "socket" is formed by the glenoid fossa, the dish-shaped portion of the lateral scapula. The shallowness of the fossa and relatively loose connections between the shoulder and the rest of the body allows the arm to have tremendous mobility, at the expense of being much easier to dislocate than most other joints in the body.

The capsule is a soft tissue envelope that encircles the glenohumeral joint and attaches to the scapula, humerus, and head of the biceps. It is lined by a thin, smooth synovial membrane. This capsule is strengthened by the coracohumeral ligament which attaches the coracoid process of the scapula to the greater tubercle of the humerus. There are also three other ligaments attaching the lesser tubercle of the humerus to lateral scapula and are collectively called the glenohumeral ligaments.

There is also a ligament called semicirculare humeri which is a transversal band between the posterior sides of the tuberculum minus and majus of the humerus. This band is one of the most important strengtening ligaments of the joint capsule.


website emedicine

The shoulder is the most commonly dislocated joint in the body. When shoulder dislocation occurs in adolescents and children, it has the worst natural history of any injury; the rate of recurrence in later years is at least 70%. As many as 95% of shoulder dislocations are anterior. Anterior dislocations often lead to recurrent anterior glenohumeral instability. Recurrent anterior glenohumeral instability accounts for the largest portion of the shoulder laxity spectrum. Excessive deviation of the humeral head on the glenoid occurs in all or 1 of 3 directions: anterior, posterior, or inferior. Although certainly not life threatening, recurrent subluxation or dislocation is clearly lifestyle threatening and can effectively disable an otherwise active individual.

[John Nguyen]

Thanks, Shaun. This is useful information for anyone wanting to understand the shoulder joint.

In my original question, I was just wondering which joint was being referred. Which, of course, now leads me to another question: How does facing away from the wall during a handstand pushup place too much pressure on the anterior capsule of the shoulder joints?


I know that both techniques are useful, but I prefer the facing-away from the wall as a less-stressful way of mounting into a handstand because it does not require walking the hands, which momentarily places almost the entire body weight onto just one shoulder to get into position. I consider the facing-the-wall method to be advanced, requiring greater shoulder strength and stability. The facing-away method starts and ends without either of the hands moving anywhere.

[Shaun Conness]

I said there was a tendency to have too much pressure on the joint. If you start in a good postion facing or not facing the wall you generally should be ok. When facing away from the wall if your hands are about 10 inches or closer you should be good. This is if you keep your legs straight. I know some poeple keep one leg bent. When you use the bent leg version hand postion should be such that you are perpendicular to the wall.
Normal ROM for shoulder flexion is 180 degrees and at 120 degrees of shoulder flexion there begins thoracic extension(Kendall,2005,muscle testing and function). When facing away from the wall if you don't postion the hands well, there can be a tendency to have excessive shoulder flexion. This is how the anterior joint capsule can be stressed.
I agree that getting into a positon facing the wall is more stressful than facing away. I basically do a donkey kick to get into positon, so yes, this is more advanced.
Bottom line. Start in a good postion and keep your spine straight. Try and stay away from too much shoulder flexion.

[Shaun Conness]

I meant parallel to the wall in the bent leg version.

[John Nguyen]

Normal ROM for shoulder flexion is 180 degrees and at 120 degrees of shoulder flexion there begins thoracic extension(Kendall,2005,muscle testing and function).

I agree with Kendall's assessment that beyond an individual's ROM in shoulder flexion, the thoracic spine extends. This is one of the reasons why exercises demanding end-range or supra-end-range shoulder flexion can be beneficial for individuals with kyphosis. However, I disagree with the statement that thoracic extension begins at 120 degrees, a blanket statement that lacks true reference support in Kendall's book. Surely a large portion of the active population has shoulder flexion beyond 120 degrees without thoracic extenion occuring. In fact, this can be observed every day at FIT when clients properly perform 1) dumbell shoulder press, 2) barbell military press, 3) push-press, 4) push-jerk, 5) jerk, and 6) snatch. Observe also clients doing pull-ups, pull-downs, and over-head lunges. In many of these exercises, the shoulders move beyond not just 120 degrees but past 180 degrees with no increased thoracic extension.



When facing away from the wall if you don't postion the hands well, there can be a tendency to have excessive shoulder flexion. This is how the anterior joint capsule can be stressed.


Agreed. Excessive shoulder flexion can stress the anterior joint capsule, as well as the inferior joint capsule... and, too, the labrum, key rotators muscles and their tendons. I'd imagine that this stress is the case with any exercise involving excessive shoulder flexion. Some people are more prepared while others need to slowly increase their shoulder flexibility. In the case of the latter, haste is a sure way to invite an injury.

But, some clarification must be made about "excessive" shoulder flexion. It is not always practical to conclude that a shoulder joint is in excessive flexion, because some people simply have the functional range of motion, while others do not. Those who do not would display obvious symptoms of a limited range of motion before the shoulders can go into excessive flexion. For example: a push-press would result in increased thoracic and lumbar extension, with the bar failing to move directly over the head; an overhead squat would cause the elbows to bend during the squat and the bar to move forward of the head.

In the case of a handstand pushup, those lacking shoulder range of motion would have increased thoracic and lumbar extension, before suffering excessive shoulder flexion.

Bottom line. Start in a good postion and keep your spine straight. Try and stay away from too much shoulder flexion.

Good advice! :)

.

[Danielle Durante]

Great advice from the both of you ;) Facing the wall focuses on better technique because you would be in the "correct handstand position": your weight is directly over your hands, your hands are right up againist the wall, your head is facing the wall, and your body is in a hollow body/straight spinal position. For safety purposes, the back towards the wall is better. Like Scott said, once fatigued you could bail easier from that position. For those that have not been in any sort of gymnastics training a handstand forward roll could be dangerous and complicated. Hope this helps! :)

[John Nguyen]

Great post, Danielle, and you see it with the clarity of a great coach.

[Herm Blancaflor]

Great thread! It's good to have such solid know-how at the tip of my keyboard.

I want to be able to do these. Now having read this, I am confident I can solve the puzzle of doing so. Thanks, everyone!:D

[shoshanna]

Yes! Great thread Danielle. This is awesome information. As said by others, I tend to face my back to the wall on handstand holds, because I usually need to bail out quickly. I find that by contracting my abdominal muscles and "tucking" my pelvis in, I can keep a more neutral spinal position.

What is the best way to get up into the handstand position while facing the wall? Do you find it's easy to walk your feet up the wall, or kick up then lean in towards the wall?

I'll give it a shot both ways and see what happens.

Thanks Danielle!

[Danielle Durante]

To get into the handstand position facing the wall, start with your hands flat on the ground and your feet on the wall. Slowly walk your feet up the wall and then move your hands as close as possible towards the wall. I hope this helps. :)

[Herm Blancaflor]

Danielle,

Thanks so much for the advice. I have been practicing for the handstand pushup. I found that doing headstands and pushing myself up into the handstand would be easier to do for myself, as doing headstands is currently in my repetoire. Is this off base, or am I on track?