TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 3
• ABOUT THE HANDS
HANDSTAND
TAND 3
• BENEFITS OF HANDSTAND 4
2. GE
GETT REA
READY
DY 5

• CONQUER THE FEAR 7

• Excercises to help you ght fear
• MOBILITY TEST 11
• Wrist mobility test
• Shoulder mobilty routine
• STRENGTH TEST 29
• STRENGTH PROGRESS ROUTINE 30
• CORE STRENGTH 32
• FULL BODY WARM UP 37
3. HANDS
HANDSTTAND PHASE
PHASESS 41

• PHASE 1 44
• Wall walk
• PHASE 2 45
• Wall behind
• PHASE 3 46
• Wall balance
• PHASE 4 47
• Full handstand
4. TIPS ON HOW TO EXIT A HAND
HANDST
STAND
AND 51

5. ABOUT THE AUTHOR 56

2
INTRODUCTION
 About the handstand
handstand
Doing a handstand is really a challenging thing to
do. It does look pretty easy,
easy, but have you ever tried
it? Not so simple, right? It’s impressive precisely be-
cause everybody knows how hard it is to keep a
steady balance on your hands.

The handstand is a full-body advanced exercise

which activates almost every muscle in your body -
leg muscles to rebound, core muscles to get to the
proper pose and many other muscles to hold the
position.

If you want to master the handstand  and gain

full control over your body, you need to learn a
few tricks and improve your coordination. This
takes practice, so be patient and don’t give up!

IMPORTANT
IMPORTANT (Safety rst!)
Make sure you’re strong enough before you start learn -
ing how to do a handstand. Your shoulder exibility
plays an important role in this movement (we will talk
more about this in chapters (’Mobility Test’’ and ‘’Mobili -
ty Routine’’).

This is very important as it helps you avoid possible

injuries. Keep in mind that you should abstain from
doing handstands if you feel shoulder pain or you’re
suffering from any other injury.

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 Benets of handstand
The handstand is a movement that
forces you to stabilize yourself while
activating all muscles in your body.
Practicing regularly will help you
strengthen your: core, legs, glutes,
arms and back, increase your wrist and
shoulder mobility, open your shoulders,
increase your balance, etc. The
discipline required for mastering the
handstand will make you boost your
skills.

Even the famous bodybuilder Arnold

Schwarzenegger  used to challenge

his friends, after regular gym sessions,

with handstands and other bodyweight
strength exercises.
It’s a really cool movement, but it’s often
It’s
ignored because most people have a
fear of losing their balance. This is com -
pletely justied - handstand isn’t the
easiest thing to master.
master.

In this guide, we will go into details on

what it actually takes to master the
handstand - the preparation, the mind-
set, the execution and the tips that will
help you progress and prevent
injury.

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 Before starting with the handstand,
rst make sure that you are mentally
and physically prepared. This is crucial
for preventing injuries.

The rst segment of this chapter is about the fear of doing a

handstand, what causes it and how to overcome it.
After that, you are going to do a mobility test which will help
you nd out if your shoulder and wrist mobility is good enough
to do a handstand.

Then, you will do a strength test as strength is crucial for hold-

ing the position properly.
If you nd out that your mobility is poor, or you feel like you are
not entirely ready, don’t worry - we got your back. We wrote a
full shoulder and wrist mobility  routine so you can properly
prepare for a perfect handstand.

Another important lesson is about the hollow body position. It

is an awesome exercise that will get you the abs of steel and
help you hold a handstand for a longer period of time. The hol -
low body position prepares your body for the handstand posi-
tion, and increases your ability to hold it for an extended period
of time.

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CONQUERING THE FEAR
A lot of people neglect the handstand because they think they
can’t do it, or fear it for some reasons. Some people fear that
their arms won’t be strong enough and that they’ll fall on their
face, some fear they’ll fall on their back, and some people are
 just simply afraid of being upside down.

It is okay to be afraid.
But it is not okay to let your fears hold you back, so let’s start!

Excercises to help you overcome fear

Downward-facing dog with elevated feet
Starting off, you need to get used
to the feeling of your hands bear-
ing your weight. Try to do the
downward-facing dog with elevat-
ed feet. You can do this exercise at
home, just use your couch or your
bed as a resting point for your feet.
Remember to breathe and start
getting accustomed to the feeling
of seeing the world upside down.
This exercise will also help you
strengthen your arms and wrists,
which will prove really helpful later
on when you move on to the hand-
stand.

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L-Stand by the
wall
You can also practice the
L- Stand by the wall. You can
nd how to walk up the wall
in the rst phase of the chapter
‘’Phases of Handstand”. L-stand is
a great exercise that helps strength-
en your arms and wrists, increase upper
body mobility and show your mind that
being upside down is not such a scary thing
after all.Keep in mind that this exercise is not all
that easy and it might take time until you are able
to do it properly. But as with everything else, take
your time and work your way up to it.

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Excercise 1 - Finger pulses
Focus on: knuckle strength and mobility

• Get down on all fours. Knees on the ground.

• Place your hands on the ground in front of you.
• While keeping your ngertips on the oor, elevate your
wrists and put your weight on your ngertips.
• Return to the starting position.

STEP 1 STEP 2

Advanced progression:
You can increase the
diculty level by leaning
more forward and plac-
ing more weight on your
ngers, simultaneously
lifting your knees off the
ground. This exercise re-
quires precaution and it is
not suited for beginners.

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Excercise 2 - Side to side wrist stretch
Focus on: wrist strength and mobility

• Stay in the same position as in the Finger Pulses exercise.

• Rotate your hands outward and spread your ngers
(left-hand ngers pointing to the left, right-hand ngers
to the right)
• Move side to side by pushing away from the ground while
keeping both hands in place.

STEP 1 STEP 2

Remember to keep the heels of your hands on the ground

the whole time and perform the movement slowly to really
feel that stretch.

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Excercise 3 - Rear facing wrist stretch with
palms down
Focus on: wrist strength and mobility; stretch the forearm

• Still in the same position as in the previous exercise, just

move your ngers towards your knees, elbows facing
backward.
• If you can’t keep your arms straight, or heels of your
hands on the ground, you might have placed your arms
too far from your knees. Your ngers should almost touch
your knees.
• Exhale and sit back - keep hands at on the oor - focus
on the stretch

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Excercise 5 - wrist push up
Focus on: Wrist strength and mobility, arm strength

• Clench your sts and put your knuckles against the wall.
• Roll your hands out: you will switch from the starting
po sition to a position where the back of your hands are
in contact with the wall
• Do a push up.
• Get back to the starting position

This movement is very stressful for your knuckles if

 you rush the progress. Start next to a wall and then
 progress to the oor.

Beginners - stand next to a wall

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

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After you get familiar with the movement of the Wrist Push Up
and you feel condent enough, you can progress to the “get on
all fours” position.

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

As you grow stronger increase the diculty of the movement

by placing your legs even further back. The push up stance is
the most advanced starting position .

STEP 1 STEP 2

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Shoulder mobility routine
Exercises like the handstand , push ups, planks, and pull-ups
put a lot of pressure on our shoulders. Make sure you develop
good mobility and open shoulders because it helps you
maintain a good posture and avoid injuries.
You can do these exercises right after the wrist mobility
routine.

If you get the feeling of tightness, while doing these exercises,

don’t push too hard and don’t cause yourself pain because you
are risking an injury by doing so.
Do the exercises in the stated order, slowly, keeping control, for
15-20 reps.

Excercise 1 - Back and front raise

This is a great exercise that will help you increase shoulder
mobility and your posture. You will need a pilates stick, PVC
pipe or a broomstick.

• Starting position: While standing hold the stick with a

wide grip.
• Focus on keeping elbows straight and chest down.
• Lift the stick up and over your head, pushing it as high as
you can.
• Ideally, you should be able to go all the way back until the
stick touches your lower back.
• Extend your arms back to the starting position.

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Hollow body rockers - After perfecting the hollow body
progressions, you can move on to the rockers.

Hold your arms and legs in the air, straight, and rock back and
forth. Remember that you need to keep your lower back
rounded and touching the oor - your movement must be uid!

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Full body warm up
Before jumping into a handstand, you need to warm up your
entire body. You can do this warm-up before or after the
mobility routine, it’s up to you.

Warming up your body is of great importance because

 you need to wake your muscles up and prepare them for
the handstand. If you try to do it while your muscles are
still cold, you increase the risk of injury, which could cost
 you time and a lot of progress. So, train smart!

Warmup duration 8 minutes

Active rest between exercises 20 - 30 sec max

Duration of each exercise 1-2 minutes

Keep in mind that the resting periods in the warm-up routine

should be spent actively, i.e. doing the exercises: arm rotations,
tractions, swings.

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WARM UP ROUTINE

T plank rotation
High knees

Bicycle crunches

Jumping Jacks

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 • At the beginning, lift your body slowly.
Start doing it faster after you get familiar with the
movement.

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

The lock:
This part is a bit tricky because you have to position your body
parts correctly while standing upside down and try to keep
your balance. You need to:

• Extend your shoulders.  Don’t keep your shoulder blades

retracted (pulled back) so your body weight presses on
them. You are the one who should be pressing the oor, or
more precisely, pushing away from it.
• HOLLOW BODY - Contract your abs, shift your pelvis in
ward and tighten your glutes. All of these movements are
interconnected, so one should naturally follow the other.

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 • Squeeze your legs together and try to keep them as
straight as possible.

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

You are now in a locked position and your handstand looks

absolutely magnicent. The hardest part in this position is ade-
quately distributing your weight over the surface of your palms
and the tips of your ngers in order to maintain your balance. If
you have the tendency to kick too hard in your handstands, try
shifting a bit more weight onto your ngertips on the way up.

On the other hand, if you don’t have enough momentum and

can’t kick hard enough, shift more weight onto the heels of your
hands.

You can also use your body positioning to keep yourself bal-
anced, but that means you are no longer in a locked position.
With time, you will learn how your body functions in this posi -
tion so it will get easier. Even if you use body positioning for
balancing and leave the locked position, you will learn how to
get back to the locked position.
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51
The handstand can be pretty scary if you don’t know how to get
back on your feet.

There is more than one way out of a handstand, start with the
basic one and then, as you get comfortable, switch it up.

Basic walk out - beginners

If you’re doing the handstand with the wall behind you (Wall-
assisted handstand), the simplest way to get out is to bring
your legs down before you get tired. As you gain more
strength , you can start walking your hands away from the wall
and then bringing your feet down.

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

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Pirouette bail - beginners
This exit can be done with any type of a handstand  (wall-as-
sisted or not). What you need to do is basically perform the
second part of the cartwheel.

• While up in a handstand, you spread your legs a little bit

and put all of your weight on one hand  (usually the domi
nant one - the hand you use to write), while moving your
other hand a bit more forward (don’t go too far).
• While doing this, your dominant leg will move and touch
the oor rst
• To complete the movement, push yourself off the oor
with your hands.

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