3 Steps to Free Standing Handstand Holds

Want to build the strength and control to knock out free-standing handstand pushups? Here are 3 steps to master this challenging movement!

Free Standing Handstand Holds Transcript

Hey, guys. Pamela Gagnon here from performanceplusprogramming.com, and I have three steps to get a freestanding handstand push-up. It is a super badass skill and here are the three things you need to make sure you do.

The first one is handstand hold. So this will be the top of your handstand push-up and the start. So if you don’t have the foundation of the handstand hold (and wall handstand pushups), it will be really hard to control the descent. Solid mobility is also crucial to your ability to hold a free-standing handstand.

The second one is a drill I would like you to do, where you will begin by getting down into the headstand. Remember, when you do a headstand, most of your weight is on your hands. You’re going to put your heels on the wall, and then we are going to take our heels off the wall. We’re in kind of a tricep position requiring upper body strength. I’m going to drive through the palms. I’m then pressing up where I have a wall as a spotter, but it’s not something I want to rely on. This is going to help you with spatial awareness. So let’s take a look at that again. We’re going to get into a headstand position. Feet are going to start on the wall. I’m going to squeeze my glutes. Press up. And hopefully, be able to balance a little bit as I hit the top of that handstand again.

The next thing we’re going to do is start from actually. I can leave that there in case you want the wall to help you. We’re gonna start from the top of the handstand, and we’re going to just work on the descent and the control. I want you to do this on a three-count and the purpose of that is we really want to make sure that we maintain full control to protect our spine. You’re also going to notice I hit a slight tripod position and that is because we need to balance when we are at the bottom. So I’m going to start really stacked in my handstand, and then I’m gonna lean into a tripod, and I’m going to come to the bottom of my handstand push up.

So if you get those three drills, it will take some time to come away from the wall to work on getting that strict freestanding handstand push-up.let’s take a look at it. So we want to make sure we brace our spine to control our descent and then press back up and have a great time with this skill.

If you need more work, check out our handstand programs on performanceplusprogramming.com.