After my 1 year transformation post some people asked me about what I did to get the free handstand pushup.
Here’s a video with the 4 steps I first took to build the foundation:
Well, the truth is that if you follow these steps you’ll spend enough time building the foundation and then you won’t get stuck in plateaus like most people.
I’ve seen so many people doing it wrong that I wanted to lay out a proper plan so that you can stick to it and get real results.
And yes you can follow this plan even if you don’t have a 30 second handstand (the standard requirement to do presses and free handstand pushups).
But please also train your handstand or you’ll have to do the handstand pushups next to the wall and that’s not cool haha.
You may already be familiar with the pike pushup (the number 1 exercise to build a foundation for the HSPU) but it’s worth reviewing it as to reap most of the benefits you want to have perfect form.
If you want to go deeper with pike pushup form I recommend you to check out Antranik's reddit & blog post.
These are the main points:
So as most people I started bodyweight training to improve my physique, so I was mostly doing sets of more than 8 reps. But at some point I started to obses more about strength and skills and at that point I realized I was taking it too far in the other direction.
When I first was training more for strength and skills I was doing everytime low reps with too high intensity. After a while I got stuck in plateaus and my joints were screaming me to stop. I was definitely missing some conditioning and muscle.
That’s why in the second step I want you to take a step back and do some higher rep work for muscle and conditioning as now you’ve already mastered the movement pattern of the pike pushup:
At this point you want to level up the pike pushup progression. Doing a handstand pushup at the wall would be still too challenging. Maybe you could do few back to wall HSPU if you’ve low bodyweight but I don’t really like back to wall as it makes the “forward lean” cue virtually impossible.
So the best exercise here is the L Pike Pushup. The same points from the regular pike pushup apply but now you’ll do them with your feet elevated. This will be closer to a chest to wall handstand pushup but less intense.
But the key is to always track what’s your current ROM as that way you’ll make sure that you’re progressively increasing the intensity which is the name of the game.
On the last step I’ll introduce you to what has been for me the key to unlock both HSPU and bent arm press handstand: The Pike Pushup Plus.
Aside from doing the pike pushup plus, you’ll also be doing regular pike pushups for conditioning / hypertrophy.
So this time I recommend you to have two calisthenics workouts per week. One with skills (pike pushup plus) and one for conditioning (high rep pike pushups).
So once you’re lifting your feet focus on holding that bottom position with your elbows bent while leaning forward. This one thing will be priceless when it comes to unlocking the free HSPU and the bent arm press handstand.
These are the exercises that you want to be focusing on each step to build an excellent foundation for the HSPU (links to video demonstration on each exercise):
Finally, big thanks to Tom Merrick for sharing with me this awesome progressions.
(Edit: included the sets)
Here’s a video with the 4 steps I first took to build the foundation:
Well, the truth is that if you follow these steps you’ll spend enough time building the foundation and then you won’t get stuck in plateaus like most people.
I’ve seen so many people doing it wrong that I wanted to lay out a proper plan so that you can stick to it and get real results.
And yes you can follow this plan even if you don’t have a 30 second handstand (the standard requirement to do presses and free handstand pushups).
But please also train your handstand or you’ll have to do the handstand pushups next to the wall and that’s not cool haha.
1. Introducing The Basics
You may already be familiar with the pike pushup (the number 1 exercise to build a foundation for the HSPU) but it’s worth reviewing it as to reap most of the benefits you want to have perfect form.
If you want to go deeper with pike pushup form I recommend you to check out Antranik's reddit & blog post.
These are the main points:
- Lean forward as much as possible when going down. If you don’t get into the habit of leaning forward you will never balance the free HSPU, plus you’ll be hitting more the upper chest which is always nice).
- Keep you forearms vertical or perpendicular to the ground. A signal that you’re not leaning forward enough is having the forearms pointing backwards. This again will hinder your balance on the future as it will put your center of gravity behind your hands.
- Keep a 45º angle between your uppers arms and torso (in other words, tuck your elbows). When your upper arms are too close to your torso you make the movement too triceps dependent and you can’t leverage as good the force of your chest. But when your upper arms are too far from your torso you’ll put yourself in a more unstable position. So aim for a 45º upper arm - torso angle for a good combination of force and control.
- Lastly if you want perfect form, open your shoulders when you reach the top position. Most people shoulder position at the top looks more like a pushup than a handstand. Try getting in the habit of finishing the move with your arms in line with the upper part of your spine. At this point don’t worry about your forearms pointing backwards.
- Pike Pushups for 5 sets of 4 to 6 reps, tempo of 4s down and 1s up and at least 2 minutes rest.
2. Scaling The Basics
So as most people I started bodyweight training to improve my physique, so I was mostly doing sets of more than 8 reps. But at some point I started to obses more about strength and skills and at that point I realized I was taking it too far in the other direction.
When I first was training more for strength and skills I was doing everytime low reps with too high intensity. After a while I got stuck in plateaus and my joints were screaming me to stop. I was definitely missing some conditioning and muscle.
That’s why in the second step I want you to take a step back and do some higher rep work for muscle and conditioning as now you’ve already mastered the movement pattern of the pike pushup:
- Pike Pushups for 4 sets 10 to 14 reps, tempo of 2s down and 1s up and 1 minute rest.
3. Leveling Up The Progression
At this point you want to level up the pike pushup progression. Doing a handstand pushup at the wall would be still too challenging. Maybe you could do few back to wall HSPU if you’ve low bodyweight but I don’t really like back to wall as it makes the “forward lean” cue virtually impossible.
So the best exercise here is the L Pike Pushup. The same points from the regular pike pushup apply but now you’ll do them with your feet elevated. This will be closer to a chest to wall handstand pushup but less intense.
- L Pike Pushups for 4 sets of 5 to 8 reps, tempo of 4s down and 1s up and at least 2 minutes rest.
But the key is to always track what’s your current ROM as that way you’ll make sure that you’re progressively increasing the intensity which is the name of the game.
4. Mastering The Foundation
On the last step I’ll introduce you to what has been for me the key to unlock both HSPU and bent arm press handstand: The Pike Pushup Plus.
Aside from doing the pike pushup plus, you’ll also be doing regular pike pushups for conditioning / hypertrophy.
So this time I recommend you to have two calisthenics workouts per week. One with skills (pike pushup plus) and one for conditioning (high rep pike pushups).
- Day 1. Pike Pushups Plus for 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps, tempo of 4s down and 1s up and at least 2 minutes rest (use rest pause between reps if needed).
- Day 2. Pike Pushups for 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps, tempo of 2s down and 1s up and 1 minute rest.
- Once you reach the bottom position you lift your feet from the ground for a second or two and you drop them down to the floor.
So once you’re lifting your feet focus on holding that bottom position with your elbows bent while leaning forward. This one thing will be priceless when it comes to unlocking the free HSPU and the bent arm press handstand.
Summary (TLDR)
These are the exercises that you want to be focusing on each step to build an excellent foundation for the HSPU (links to video demonstration on each exercise):
- Pike Pushups for 5 sets of 4 to 6 reps, tempo of 4s down and 1s up and at least 2 minutes rest.
- Pike Pushups for 4 sets of10 to 14 reps, tempo of 2s down and 1s up and 1 minute rest.
- L Pike Pushups for 4 sets of 5 to 8 reps, tempo of 4s down and 1s up and at least 2 minutes rest.
- Day 1 - Pike Pushups Plus for 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps, tempo of 4s down and 1s up and at least 2 minutes rest (use rest pause between reps if needed). Day 2 - Pike Pushups for 3 sets 10 to 12 reps, tempo of 2s down and 1s up and 1 minute rest.
Finally, big thanks to Tom Merrick for sharing with me this awesome progressions.
(Edit: included the sets)
