GUIDE TO LEARNING THE HANDSTAND | CALISTHENICS

INTRODUCTION TO THE HANDSTAND

The handstand is a signature move in artistic gymnastics that has also been embraced in calisthenics. This exercise doesn’t require excessive strength; its main challenge lies in balance and maintaining proper body alignment throughout. Once you master it, you can progress to more advanced moves. The most popular progression is the handstand push-up (HSPU), but there are even more advanced variations like the 90-degree push-ups and the Tiger bend.

In this article, we’ll focus solely on how to do a handstand I’ll share some tips to make learning easier. Before you dive in, here are my other two articles that complete my handstand progression guide. They cover exercises and routines to improve both your balance and strength.

TIPS FOR A PERFECT HANDSTAND

Now that you know everything you need to apply for the handstand and are aware of what you’re working on, I’m going to give you some tips to help you learn it as soon as possible. Still, this is a movement that varies a lot from person to person—I’ve seen people training it for a year without mastering it, while others hold it for a few seconds in just weeks. So my biggest advice, as always, is patience.

Hand Position: Don’t place your hands completely flat on the ground. Instead, leave a small gap between your fingers and the floor. With your hands slightly concave, you get better push control through your fingertips, which helps with balance. It’s also important to spread your fingers apart to cover more surface area and gain greater stability.

Arms Shoulder-Width Apart: When doing a handstand, comfort is key. Many people recommend keeping your arms shoulder-width apart, but I encourage you to find what works best for you. Don’t go to extremes though—a very wide stance will strain your shoulders, and too narrow will likely put pressure on your wrists and elbows since balancing becomes harder and you might compensate by forcing joints.

Learn to Fall: It might sound trivial, but learning how to safely bail out of a handstand is crucial. Without this, you might get stuck upside down, panic, and end up falling hard or worse—hitting someone nearby. There’s a semi-rolling technique to practice, avoiding a fully vertical fall. Also, get used to falling consistently on the same foot so you can better control the landing.

Avoid Using Walls or a Spotter to Stop You: Although many recommend this, I find it more of a crutch than help. Once you’ve learned how to fall safely, there’s no problem with falling, getting up, and trying again. You’ll improve wrist strength and posture correction faster on your own. Of course, if you don’t feel safe, use assistance—it’s better than not trying at all.

That’s my handstand breakdown! I hope you crush it soon and hold a handstand for several seconds. Once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty much done—you just need to keep practicing and perfecting it. Good luck!