Training guide
A handstand push-up is an overhead press upside down: hands on the floor, feet on a wall, you lower the top of your head lightly to the floor just in front of your hands and press back up. Most people build up to it from pike push-ups with their feet raised and a steady wall handstand, and the 3D demo below shows the strict version facing the wall.
Nobody has measured the handstand push-up itself, so the steps come from coaching practice, and the safety advice from studies of headstands, head-down yoga and kipping. Your head goes below your heart, so skip it with glaucoma unless your eye specialist agrees or while high blood pressure isn't controlled, and don't start learning it in pregnancy.
This guide shows the wall version step by step, the ladder from pike push-ups, strict, kipping and freestanding versions, how to look after your neck, how many to do, and who should skip it.
Upside down with your hands on the floor and your feet on a wall, you bend your elbows to lower the top of your head lightly to the floor just in front of your hands, so your head and hands make a triangle, then press back up. It's an overhead press with all or nearly all of your body weight. HSPU is the CrossFit shorthand, and in the UK it's also called a handstand press-up.
The coaching ladder runs from pike push-ups, to pike push-ups with your feet on a step, box, bench and about desk height (5 sets of 5 at each height before you go higher), to the wall handstand, then slow wall handstand push-ups to a cushion: 3 to 5 sets of 1 to 3 reps, as our handstand push-up progression does. No study has tested the ladder.
In 30 male gymnasts, 6 weeks of shoulder presses, dips and pull-ups added about 5 (heavy) and 8 (light, with blood flow restriction) handstand push-ups in 40 seconds, against fewer than 1 with usual training.
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In 16 CrossFit athletes, kipping handstand push-ups put about body weight or more through the head, and the 5 who reported neck pain, stiffness or headaches all let their neck bend back under the load. Coaches teach strict reps, in which the top of the head only taps the floor, before any kipping.
Skip it with glaucoma unless your eye specialist agrees, and while high blood pressure isn't controlled. Don't start learning it in pregnancy. Leave it out with neck problems or severe diabetic eye disease. Headstand doubled eye pressure in 75 yoga practitioners, hanging upside down raised blood pressure, and Canada's eye specialists advise people with glaucoma to avoid handstands and head-down positions.
No study has measured the handstand push-up's muscle activity, forces, or eye or blood pressure during it. In injury surveys it was rarely the cause: 4 of 146 injury-causing movements in 308 CrossFit athletes and 14 of 1,147 injuries in 3,668 app users, with shoulders the commonest site in both.
Hands on the floor about shoulder-width apart, feet on a wall (facing it, chest to the wall, or with your back to it) or balanced freestanding. You lower until the top of your head lightly touches the floor just in front of your hands, then press back to straight arms.
Versions: strict (no swing); kipping, a CrossFit version in which your knees drop and your legs kick to help the press; deficit, with your hands raised on parallettes or plates so your head goes below your hands; and freestanding, with no wall. Our 3D demo shows the strict version facing the wall.
No study has measured the handstand push-up. Holding a handstand, gymnasts' wrist flexors and upper trapezius contributed most, then the front of the shoulder and the triceps, and in upright overhead presses the front and side of the shoulder work harder than in other exercises. So, in our reading: the front and side of your shoulders, your triceps, and the upper trapezius and serratus anterior, which turn your shoulder blades upwards, with your trunk holding a straight line and your wrists taking the weight.
Nobody has measured it with your feet on a wall; freestanding, it's all of it. In a pike push-up it's part of it, rising as your hips stack over your hands and your feet go higher, as our pike push-up guide explains.
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Strong pike push-ups with your feet raised and a steady handstand at the wall, as our move page asks. CrossFit's coaches add a strict overhead press and strict, full-range ring dips. You also need wrists that are comfortable bent back under load, and shoulders that reach fully overhead without your back arching.
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Gymnasts start far ahead: the trial's college gymnasts were tested on how many they could already do in 40 seconds. Longer arms mean a longer press, heavier bodies press more weight, and tight hamstrings make the pike steps harder (bend your knees a little). Most of the research is in young men or experienced CrossFit athletes.
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From our move page, StrongFirst, CrossFit and our pike push-up guide, in our editorial wording; the hand distance is editorial. With your back to the wall you kick or step up with your heels on the wall and press the same way: easier to get into, but your back arches more. Facing the wall keeps the line, as our handstand guide prefers.
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The movement on the figure: Wall handstand push-up
These are the same lines as our handstand, headstand and pike push-up guides and our wall handstand push-up move page.
Head-down positions raise the pressure inside the eye within a minute. In 20 people with and without glaucoma, it rose in four common yoga poses and settled within 2 minutes of coming out; in 75 yoga practitioners it doubled in headstand; and hanging fully upside down raised it from about 16 to 34 millimetres of mercury (mmHg).
The Canadian Ophthalmological Society advises that people with glaucoma avoid handstands and head-down positions, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology advises getting your doctor's OK before inverted postures. Glaucoma UK advises against long spells with your head below your heart, while noting there's no proof this worsens glaucoma. No study has measured eye pressure in a handstand or handstand push-up, so this follows the closest evidence and agrees with our handstand guide.
Going upside down raises heart rate and blood pressure: hanging upside down took it from 110/77 to 130/90 mmHg in one study, and inversion increased the heart's workload in another. Skip inversions while your blood pressure isn't controlled; our high blood pressure guide gives the readings at which to hold off.
Once it's controlled, breathe out on every press and keep sets short, as our pike push-up guide says.
With proliferative or severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, or after recent eye laser treatment or surgery, leave out head-down positions until your eye team says they are safe.
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Ask your eye team before going upside down (our suggestion).
The NHS advises avoiding activities with a risk of falling in pregnancy, so don't start learning handstands, headstands or wall walks, as our pregnancy guide says. If you already practise them, ask your midwife (our suggestion).
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Your head touches the floor in every rep, so our headstand guide's list applies. Skip it with neck pain, neck arthritis, a past neck injury or surgery, or a history of stroke or a torn artery in the neck.
Inversion raised the heart's workload even in healthy men. With heart failure, the British Heart Foundation advises avoiding exercises that use your whole body as a weight, such as press-ups, as our pike push-up guide says.
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Leave handstand push-ups until loading these joints is comfortable, including after a recent shoulder dislocation.
After a recent shoulder dislocation, or shoulder or elbow surgery, follow your surgical team's limits first.
If you push a manual wheelchair, dips and overhead pressing load the shoulder in positions the spinal cord injury guideline advises limiting: favour rows, pull-downs from shoulder height and rotator cuff work, and stop if it brings on shoulder pain.
Across 34 studies in healthy adults, resistance exercise raised eye pressure, and in a bench press study, holding the breath on the last rep raised it by 4.3 mmHg against 2.2 breathing out. Breathe out on every press.
We found no study of muscle activity, forces, head contact, or eye or blood pressure in a strict or wall handstand push-up, and none measuring how much of your weight your hands carry with your feet on a wall. A review of 21 studies of handstand mechanics included none of the push-up; in it, gymnasts with more strength balanced better.
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In a randomised trial of 30 male college gymnasts, 6 weeks of pull-ups, bar dips and machine shoulder presses, 3 days a week on top of their gymnastics, either heavy (3 sets of 10 at 75% of maximum) or light with blood flow restriction (a cuff that limits blood flow from the working muscle), raised handstand push-ups in 40 seconds by 4.7 and 8.3 reps, against 0.4 in the control group. The authors left handstand push-ups out of the training because their load is hard to measure. One trial in young elite men.
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In 16 athletes from one CrossFit gym (6 women and 10 men, aged 23 to 66), 322 kipping reps on force plates under 5 cm of foam put a mean peak of 896 newtons through the head on landing and 991 newtons in the kip, usually more than body weight. The 5 who reported neck stiffness, pain or headaches afterwards all let their neck bend back under load. The forces were below those proposed to damage young men's necks but overlapped those proposed for women's.
It's one small study by a single author in a journal PubMed doesn't index, with symptoms self-reported. The author suggests the strict version puts little force on the head, but didn't measure it.
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In 45 experienced practitioners in a forearm headstand, the head carried about 28% of body weight going up, 34% holding and 28% coming down, with peaks of 40 to 48%. In a tripod headstand before kipping, it carried 69% in 16 CrossFit athletes. These are different skills, but the nearest measures.
In gymnasts holding a handstand, the wrist flexors and upper trapezius contributed most, then the front of the shoulder and the triceps. In 13 trained men, the shoulder press worked the front of the shoulder at 33% and the side at 28% of maximum, more than other exercises, and in 15 men, standing dumbbell presses drew the most shoulder activity. Muscle activity shows effort, not what a muscle will build.
In 308 German CrossFit athletes, handstand push-ups were 4 of 146 injury-causing movements, and shoulder injuries came mostly from handstands, overhead pressing and bar work. In 3,668 users of a bodyweight training app, they caused 14 of 1,147 injuries; in 456 Czech CrossFit athletes they were less often involved than other movements. In 181 Dutch calisthenics athletes, 59% reported an injury in a year, the shoulders most often. None gives a risk per rep.
In 20 people with and without glaucoma, downward dog raised eye pressure from about 17 to 28.5 mmHg within a minute, and in 50 people it went above 31 mmHg in both groups; it settled within about 2 minutes of coming up. Headstand doubled it in 75 yoga practitioners for as long as the pose was held. Hanging upside down raised it to about 34 mmHg in one study of 26 people and about 36 in another of 16 volunteers, and raised blood pressure from 110/77 to 130/90 mmHg. Inversion also raised the heart's workload in healthy adults. These are small studies, mostly decades old.
3 holds of 5 breaths, hips high and weight over your hands, if you're new to pikes (our handstand push-up progression). With glaucoma, keep it brief.
3 sets of 6 to 8, lowering the top of your head lightly to the floor just ahead of your hands. Move on when all 3 sets reach 10 with a light touch each time (our handstand push-up progression). The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) rates the pike push-up advanced and uses 3 sets of 5 to 12.
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Feet on a step, then a low box, a bench, then about desk height: 5 sets of 5 at each height, moving up after 5 sets of 5 with good form, as StrongFirst teaches. A folded mat under your head helps if you can't reach the floor yet.
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3 to 5 walk-ups to the height you control, walking down as deliberately as you walked up (our handstand push-up progression).
Chest to the wall, body stacked: 3 holds of 20 to 30 seconds (our handstand push-up progression). You need steady holds before the wall push-up.
3 to 5 sets of 1 to 3 slow reps, lowering over about 3 seconds to a cushion or folded mat, then walking down (our handstand push-up progression; editorial). Lower the cushion over the weeks: StrongFirst uses a block under the head, while CrossFit's coaches prefer full range with easier steps, so don't stay on the cushion for good.
The top of your head lightly to the floor: build to 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps (editorial).
Our handstand push-up progression puts these into one 30-minute session. The feet-raised pike push-up uses the same demo as the floor version.
No swing: you lower and press with your arms alone. This is the one to learn, and the one our demo shows.
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Your knees drop to your chest and your legs kick up to help the press, as in CrossFit. It isn't a learning step: coaches teach it only once strict reps are strong, and it put about body weight or more through the head in the one study of it.
Your hands on parallettes or plates, so your head goes below the level of your hands and the press gets longer. An advanced step, once full-range strict reps are solid.
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No wall: you need a solid freestanding handstand and a practised way out. One coaching source uses 3 to 5 sets of 1 to 2 slow reps. Our handstand guide teaches the balance; the wall version builds the press.
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Kick or step up with your heels on the wall, hands a little way from it. Easier to get into, but your back can arch more; no demo shows it.
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Coaches aim for the top of the head only tapping the floor, not your forehead and not your weight resting on it. Nobody has measured the load on the neck in a strict rep.
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Your head lands just in front of your hands, so head and hands make a triangle, with your elbows angled back about 45 degrees. A head between or behind your hands turns the press into a forward fall.
In the one study of kipping, every athlete who reported neck pain, stiffness or headaches had let the neck bend back under load. Keep your neck in line, and learn strict reps first.
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Stop if you land heavily on your head, or get neck pain or pins and needles down an arm, and skip the session after a recent neck or shoulder injury, as our handstand push-up progression says.
At the wall, 3 to 5 sets of 1 to 3 slow reps to a cushion or folded mat (our handstand push-up progression; editorial, within StrongFirst's practice of single reps), building to 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 full-range reps (editorial). CrossFit's coaches move up a step at unassisted sets of 10 to 15 and 5 to 10 slow three-count lowerings; freestanding, one coaching source uses 3 to 5 sets of 1 to 2 slow reps.
Stop 2 or 3 reps short. Training to failure adds little, and a failed rep upside down drops you on your head, as our move page warns.
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About 2 to 3 minutes between these heavy sets, as our plans advise for heavy lifts, kneeling or standing rather than staying head-down. Resting more than about a minute gave a small advantage for muscle growth across 9 studies.
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2 or 3 times a week, a day apart, at the start of a session while you're fresh, counting it as your overhead pressing for the day (our handstand push-up progression).
Add reps, then slow the lowering, then lower the cushion or raise your hands: one change at a time, as our plans advise.
A kip put about body weight or more through the head. Lower slowly and touch lightly.
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It went with neck pain in kipping athletes. Keep your neck in line, top of the head down.
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It turns the press into a forward fall. Aim your head just in front of your hands.
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Angle them back about 45 degrees.
Fast reps make your lower back arch. Slow down and keep your ribs down.
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Eye pressure stays up while your head is low. Kneel or stand between sets.
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Breathe out on every press.
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Both train overhead pressing, and no study has compared them. A press is easier to load in small steps and keeps your head up, which makes it the swap with glaucoma or high blood pressure. In gymnasts, presses, dips and pull-ups raised handstand push-up numbers, and across 137 reviews, the choice of exercise and equipment didn't consistently change strength gains.
The same pressing pattern with part of your weight, and your head lower than your heart for less of the time. They are the first steps of the ladder and a good exercise in their own right; our pike push-up guide covers them.
A different direction of press, but they were part of the gymnast trial that raised handstand push-up numbers. Our dips guide covers them.
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Seated dumbbell presses, 3 sets of 8 to 12 stopping 2 or 3 reps short (our shoulder workout at home), the head-up swap; standing overhead presses, 4 sets of 6 to 8 (our shoulder workout); dips, 3 sets of 3 to 8; hollow holds, 2 of 20 to 30 seconds; face pulls, 2 sets of 12 to 20; and as a warm-up, a set of 10 scapular push-ups, 60 seconds of wrist and forearm flow, 10 wrist rocks and 3 slow shoulder circles each way with each arm (our handstand push-up progression; the circles are the move page's dose). The half handstand at the wall and dolphin pose build time upside down; the freestanding handstand is the balance the freestanding version needs, in our handstand guide.
3D demoSeated dumbbell shoulder pressIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoStanding overhead pressIntermediate · A barbell + A dumbbell
3D demoParallel bar dipAdvanced · Pull-up bar
3D demoHollow body holdIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoFace pullIntermediate · A band
3D demoScapular push-up (push-up plus)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoWrist & forearm flowBeginner · No equipment
3D demoQuadruped wrist rocksBeginner · No equipment
3D demoShoulder CARs (controlled articular rotations)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoHalf handstand at the wall (Ardha Adho Mukha Vrksasana)Intermediate · A wall
3D demoDolphin pose (Ardha Pincha Mayurasana)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoFreestanding handstandExpert · No equipmentThe handstand push-up progression is the follow-along version of this guide's ladder. The handstand progression builds the balance; the home workouts use pike push-ups as their overhead press.
A 30-minute ladder towards the wall handstand push-up: pike push-ups, then with your feet on a step, box or bench, then slow wall handstand push-ups.
30 minAdvanced12 movesA wall, A bandBuild toward a handstand: wrist prep, dolphin pose, pike push-ups, crow, the wall handstand and freestanding holds.
25 minAdvanced9 movesA wallAn upper body workout at home with no gym: push-ups, band rows, pike push-ups, face pulls, close-grip push-ups and Y-T-W raises, with dumbbell options.
30 minIntermediate13 movesA band, An anchor pointA 30-minute home shoulder workout with dumbbells or a band: presses, lateral raises for the side of the shoulder, and rear-shoulder and rotator cuff work.
30 minBeginner8 movesA band, A dumbbellA gymnastics conditioning session: jumps from the youth vault trial, landings, wrist and shoulder strength, wall handstands, and hollow and arch holds.
45 minIntermediate22 movesOther / check instructions, A stepBuild towards a planche: wrist prep, planche leans and lean push-ups, frog stands and tuck planche holds, with pike push-ups.
30 minAdvanced8 movesNo equipmentIf you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
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For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest; severe difficulty breathing, or a chest that feels tight or heavy; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining. The NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for a headache that's triggered or made worse by coughing, sneezing, bending down or exercising.
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Possible signs of sudden (acute) glaucoma: intense eye pain, a red eye, rainbow-coloured rings around lights, blurred vision, a headache, or feeling sick.
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A face that has dropped on one side, an arm you can't lift, or slurred or garbled speech; also sudden blurred vision or loss of sight, sudden dizziness or falling over, a sudden severe headache, or sudden weakness or numbness down one side.
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Sudden loss or blurring of vision after a handstand needs checking the same day (our suggestion: a rare bleed at the back of the eye has been reported after a short handstand). With diabetes, ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if your eyesight suddenly gets worse or you get blurred vision.
Come down, kneel or lie down until it passes, and get up slowly, as the NHS advises. See a GP if dizziness won't go away or keeps coming back.
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See a GP if neck pain comes with other symptoms, like pins and needles or a cold arm, as the NHS says. Go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E if your arm tingles or feels numb, as the NHS advises for arm pain.
Call 999 or go to A&E: after a fall or injury, your shoulder looks out of place or has changed shape, you cannot move your arm, or your shoulder is painful, bruised or swollen. Do not drive yourself, and do not try to put it back in yourself.
Call 999 or go to A&E if you heard a crack, the joint or limb has changed shape or points at an odd angle, it's numb or tingling, or the skin looks blue or grey or feels cold. Get help from NHS 111 (in the US, urgent care) if it's very painful, very swollen or bruised, very stiff, or you can't put weight on it or walk more than a few steps.
Call 999 if someone has hit their head and has been knocked out and not woken up, can't stay awake, has a fit, has fallen from a height of more than 1 metre or 5 stairs, has problems with their vision, hearing, balance, walking or speech, or has new numbness or weakness. Get help from NHS 111 after a head injury if you're being sick or feel dizzy. If you're told to go to A&E, don't drive yourself.
For severe wrist pain; feeling faint, dizzy or sick from the pain; a snap, grinding or popping noise at the time of the injury; being unable to move your wrist or hold things; a wrist that has changed shape or colour; a very painful, hot or red lump; or lost feeling in your hand. In the US, use urgent care.
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If wrist pain is no better after 2 weeks of home treatment, or comes with tingling, diabetes, or a hot, swollen, stiff wrist.
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Some discomfort during these exercises is fine and doesn't mean you are doing damage. Keep it to about 5 out of 10 or less. It should settle within half an hour or so, and your hand should be no worse the next morning. If it is, do fewer, smaller or lighter next time, not nothing. That's our wrist pain guides' rule.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for sudden or very bad shoulder pain, an arm you can't move, a shoulder that has changed shape or is badly swollen, pins and needles that don't go away, no feeling in your arm or shoulder, an arm or shoulder that's hot or cold to touch, pain after an injury or a fall, severe pain in both shoulders, or feeling feverish or unwell. Go to A&E if, after an injury, you can't move your arm or your shoulder looks out of place or has changed shape. See a GP if shoulder pain is getting worse or hasn't improved after 2 weeks.
In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care. While your shoulder is sore, the NHS says not to make up your own strenuous exercises or use heavy gym equipment.
Keep shoulder pain to about 5 out of 10 or less during the exercise, back to its usual level by your next session, as our shoulder guides advise. A sharp pinch means lower, lighter or stop.
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See a GP if you think you have a hernia, a bulge or lump that may get bigger when you strain and smaller when you lie down. Get help from NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, you feel or are sick, you're vomiting blood or your vomit looks like coffee grounds, you're constipated, you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery, or you've suddenly become confused. Call 999 or go to A&E for a femoral hernia (a small lump at the top of your thigh, in your groin) with very bad tummy pain, sickness, being unable to fart or poo, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
The NHS lists lifting heavy weights among the causes of a femoral hernia. After an inguinal hernia repair, avoid heavy lifting or strenuous activity for at least 4 to 6 weeks.
Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new or harder session is common and fades. Sharp pain, or pain that builds during a set or lingers into the next day, isn't: swap to an easier version, and see a clinician if it persists, as our plans advise. The NHS says to stop exercising straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, and to get help from 111 if symptoms worry you or don't go away.
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Speak to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns, as the NHS advises. Get advice before hard or straining work if your blood pressure is uncontrolled (140/90 or higher at a clinic, or 135/85 at home), or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
With controlled high blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe. Breathe out as you lift, as our breathing guide advises.
With a pacemaker or defibrillator, the American Heart Association asks you to check with your doctor before upper-body strength training, because repeated arm movements can damage or dislodge the leads.
Not as a rule. Strict reps haven't been measured, but coaches aim for a light tap. Kipping put about body weight or more through the head, below the loads proposed to injure young men's necks, and neck symptoms went with letting the neck bend back. Learn strict, slow reps with your neck in line, and skip them with neck problems.
It's a different skill that needs strict strength first: coaches teach kipping only after strict reps are mastered, and the kip loads the head most.
In one small study of 20 people, headstand reduced blood delivery to the brain rather than raising it, and going upside down raises eye and blood pressure, which is why some people should skip it. Do them for the strength and the skill.
No study supports it. As the body tilts head-down, the chest works less and the shoulders more, as the push-up studies in our pike push-up guide show.
The ladder scales from pike push-ups with your feet on the floor, and pressing strength from ordinary presses and dips carried over in a trial.
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We found no report linking handstand push-ups to brain injury. The real risks are a fall onto your head and, for some people, the rise in eye and blood pressure. A sudden, extremely painful headache is a 999 call.
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Get upside down with your hands shoulder-width apart and your feet on a wall, then bend your elbows to lower the top of your head lightly to the floor just in front of your hands and press back up. Build up from pike push-ups with your feet raised and a steady wall handstand first.
Mainly the front and side of your shoulders and your triceps, with your upper trapezius and the muscles round your shoulder blades. Your trunk holds the line and your wrists take your weight. No study has measured the handstand push-up itself.
Handstand push-up, the CrossFit abbreviation. In the UK it's also called a handstand press-up.
Raise your feet in stages, a step, a low box, a bench and about desk height, moving up after 5 sets of 5 good reps, then go to the wall. Our handstand push-up progression workout lays out each step.
Facing the wall keeps your body straight, and it's how our demo and move page teach it. With your back to the wall it's easier to get up, but your back arches more. Our wall walk guide teaches the walk-up.
Not until strict reps are strong. In 16 CrossFit athletes, the kip put about body weight or more through the head, and those with neck pain had let their neck bend back. Coaches teach kipping only after strict reps are mastered.
Not when done strictly with a light touch and your neck in line, as far as anyone knows, though nobody has measured it; kipping loads the head more. Skip them with neck pain, neck arthritis, a past neck injury or surgery, or a history of stroke or a torn neck artery.
Skip them while your blood pressure isn't controlled, and with glaucoma unless your eye specialist agrees. Going upside down raises blood pressure and eye pressure, and Canada's eye specialists advise people with glaucoma to avoid handstands. A seated dumbbell press trains the same muscles with your head up.
Your head is below your heart, which raises pressure in your head and eyes while you're there. Come down, kneel and come up slowly, and keep sets short. A sudden, extremely painful headache is a 999 call (911 in the US), and one brought on by exercise needs an urgent GP appointment or NHS 111.
At the wall, start with 3 to 5 sets of 1 to 3 slow reps to a cushion, 2 or 3 times a week, building towards full range and sets of 3 to 5. There are no research standards for how many is good.
Both train overhead pressing, and no study has compared them. Presses are easier to load in small steps and keep your head up, and in gymnasts, presses and dips raised handstand push-up numbers. Choose the one that suits your eyes, blood pressure and goals.
No study has timed it. For most adults it takes months of pike work, as our rough estimate, and gymnasts start far ahead. Move up the ladder only when your current step is solid.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
