Handstand Pushups Tutorial HSPUS

Here is a video tutorial from the FLS members section of me explaining the workup for HSPU’s or HandStand Pushups. There is more explanation below.

For just about anyone but the most advanced people I would suggest doing the handstand pushup against the wall. I start by getting my hands in position on the floor or the elevated surface I am using to increase range of motion and then kick my legs up until they hit the wall. If this freaks you out a little, you can try doing a headstand first by making a three point contact of two arms and one head ..even though two heads are supposed to be better than one…

If you are just starting with the HSPUS then you may want to consider each kick up into the wall as a repetition. If for instance in the daily WAC you are supposed to do 5 HSPUS then kick up and then lower your feet back down 5 times. If you can hold the top position of the HSPU for 15-30 seconds then you should move into doing only the lowering part of the movement. You’ll kick up, lower yourself through the press until your head is on the floor and then kick yourself back up again. For safety sake the first couple of times you’ll want to make sure you have something soft under your head.

Once your ready to give the positive or concentric portion of the press a go, then start off with lower reps. One of my favorite methods is to pick a certain number like 8 and make sure I do 8 HSPUS by the end of the day. I could get 3 at once and then 3 in the afternoon and a couple of 1′s at night. Ad a rep every couple of weeks.

If you’re Not Ready To Go Upside Down..

Getting upside down right away can be a little intimidating so what do you do to work up your strength until you reach that point? Here is the progression:

• Pushups on knees
• Straight pushups
• Pushups with feet on a chair
• Pushups with your feet going progressively higher up the wall. You have to face into the wall for this as opposed to facing away from the wall with the kick up version.

The higher your feet go, the more the stress hits the shoulders and moves away from the chest.

At this point you are probably thinking that HSPUS just might not be worth the effort. YA RIGHT! This is FLS baby, this is the kind of stuff that rocks our socks and if it’s hard to do now, that just makes it a goal down the road.

If you need any motivation to get good at HSPUS, think about this. The next time you see a 240lb juice monkey doing military presses with 225, you can walk over and flip up into a handstand and start doing HSPUS beside him. Now that’s impressive!