Handstand Push-Up

The handstand push-up is a challenging bodyweight exercise that uses all three shoulder heads as the primary movers. It can be performed anywhere and requires no equipment. Therefore, it’s a versatile shoulder exercise that's worth programming into your shoulder routine.

We discuss the handstand push-up in detail below, looking at the correct form, muscles worked, and programming tips. 

How To Do

  1. Find a suitable wall in a large space. Ensure that the wall is sturdy and free from clutter or obstructions.
  2. Face away from the wall with your feet hip-width apart. Stand with your head facing forward around 10 inches from the wall.
  3. Inhale and engage your core. Put your hands on the ground in front of you and kick one leg back onto the wall. Follow it with the other leg and start to bring your hands back.
  4. Continue to bring your hands back while walking up the wall with your legs. Do this until your hands are around 6 inches away from the wall with your legs vertical.
  5. With your arms fully extended, exhale and flex your elbows to lower your head to the floor. Pause briefly as it nears the floor.
  6. Inhale and extend your elbows to bring your body back to the starting position. Maintain balance before starting the next repetition.

Tips From Expert

  • To increase the difficulty, use a weighted vest. This means that you have to press more than your body weight using your shoulders. Make sure that you can perform the normal handstand push-up first.
  • Perform a suitable warm-up before handstand push-ups. This should consist of a pulse raiser and dynamic shoulder stretches. Doing this promotes blood flow, increases muscle temperature, and improves oxygen delivery to the working muscles and lungs.
  • Perform each repetition using a slow, controlled tempo. This allows you to maintain balance against the wall without falling over. It also ensures targeted muscle activation.

Optimal Sets and Reps

Use the table below to find your ideal sets and reps for the handstand push-up. As a bodyweight exercise, these are performed using the same intensity.

Training Type Sets Reps
Strength Training 3–5 4–6
Hypertrophy 3–4 8–10
Endurance Training 3–4 12+
Power Training 3–5 1–3 (Explosive)
Optimal Sets & Reps of Handstand Push-Up

How to Put in Your Workout Split

The handstand push-up is a functional strength-building exercise. It uses body weight, mainly involving shoulder flexion and extension.

It can be programmed in different ways depending on your training focus. These are the main three we suggest when programming the best shoulder workout for mass.

  • At-Home Bodyweight Workout — It goes well as an at-home bodyweight workout to provide an exercise challenge that requires no equipment. Program it alongside bodyweight squats and mountain climbers.
  • Bodybuilding Workout — For bodybuilding, program it as part of an upper-body or dedicated shoulder workout. Pair it with exercises such as lateral raises and rear delt flys.
  • Bodyweight Circuit — This provides a time-efficient way to add exercise intensity and volume. Program the handstand push-up as part of a functional bodyweight workout. Pair it with bodyweight squats and push presses.

As a bodyweight exercise, loading recommendations are not required. They can be used for the compound movements that are performed alongside it.

For strength and power training, allow 2–3 minutes between sets. Use a smaller rest period of 60–90 seconds for endurance and hypertrophy training.

Primary Muscle Groups

Anterior Deltoid

Muscles located at the front of your shoulder region

Lateral Deltoid

Muscles located at the side of your shoulder which gives your shoulders a rounded appearance.

Posterior Deltoid

Muscles located at the back of your shoulder. Helps with posture.

Anterior Deltoid

The anterior deltoid, or front deltoid, is at the front of the body. When in the handstand position, your anterior deltoids control the descent as you flex your elbows. Alongside this, they flex as you push up from the bottom position.

The shoulder press uses a similar shoulder and elbow movement to the handstand push-up. When performing shoulder flexion, the anterior deltoids showed a 33.3% muscle activation rate. This is a measure of how hard a muscle is working when stimulated.

The handstand push-up uses body weight, so this activation rate will be slightly different. However, it supports the fact that the anterior deltoids are one of the primary movers.

Lateral Deltoid

The lateral deltoids, or side delts, are in the middle of the three deltoid heads. During the handstand push-up, they control the descent as the arms adduct slightly. They also help the anterior head with shoulder flexion as you press up from the bottom position.

Posterior Deltoid

The posterior deltoids, or rear delts, are at the back of the shoulders. They’re mainly responsible for shoulder extension. This means bringing the arms behind the body. As you flex your elbows to lower to the bottom position, your posterior deltoids extend your shoulders.

Secondary Muscle Groups

Clavicular Head of Pectoralis Major

Muscles located at the top of your chest, running from your armpit to collar bone. Smaller portion of your chest muscle.

Erector Spinae

Muscles that span the entire length of your spine on either side.

Serratus Anterior

Small, fan shaped muscle that lies deep under your chest and scapula.

Upper Trapezius

Triangular shaped muscles located between your neck and shoulder blades.

Middle Trapezius

Muscles located in the middle of your back between your upper and lower traps.

Triceps Lateral Heads

Muscles located on the back of your arm between your shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Medial Heads

Small muscles located at the back of your arms. Deep to the triceps long heads between the shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Long Heads

Large muscles located at the back of your arms between your shoulder and elbow. Most outside portion of the tricep.

Wrist Flexors

Muscles that span the inside of your lower arm, between your elbow and wrist palm side up.

Wrist Extensors

Muscles that make up the back portion of your lower arm, between your elbow and wrist.

Triceps Lateral Heads

The triceps lateral head is the outer portion of the upper arm. It’s at the back of the upper arm just below the shoulder. It originates from the humerus, or upper arm, and inserts into the ulna, or forearm.

As you push up from the bottom position, the lateral heads extend the elbows. This means they straighten them from a bent position.

Triceps Medial Heads

The triceps medial head is underneath the lateral head and long head. It also primarily functions to extend the elbow. However, it’s active during all forms of elbow extensions even without resistance.

During the handstand push-up, the medial heads work alongside the lateral heads to extend the elbows.

Triceps Long Heads

The triceps long head is above the medial head and next to the lateral head. It originates from the scapula, or shoulder blade. When doing a handstand push-up, the long heads extend the elbows and stabilize the shoulders as they move.

Clavicular Head Of Pectoralis Major

The clavicular head, or upper chest, primarily performs shoulder flexion and adduction. This involves bringing the arms forward and into the body.

As you push up from the bottom position, the shoulders flex and adduct to bring your body up. This requires the clavicular heads to function as secondary movers.

Upper Trapezius

The upper trapezius muscles, or traps, are at the back of the head. They span the shoulders and upper back. As you perform the handstand push-up, the upper trapezius muscles stabilize your scapula. They elevate them as your arms are overhead.

Middle Trapezius

The middle traps are under the upper traps. As you push up from the bottom position, they stabilize and adduct the scapula. This ensures the shoulders function correctly as the primary movers.

Serratus Anterior

The serratus anterior is a fan-shaped muscle that originates from the ribs and inserts into the scapula. During the handstand push-up, the serratus anterior muscles function to stabilize the scapula. They help to protract the scapula as you push up from the bottom position.

Wrist Flexors

The wrist flexors are a group of muscles located on the inside of the forearm. The hand position used for the handstand push-up requires a flexed hand position. The wrist flexors help to carry this out.

Wrist Extensors

The wrist extensors are a group of muscles located on the outside of the forearm. The wrist extensors do the opposite of the flexors during handstand push-ups. They prevent excessive extension, keeping a stable wrist position as you press.

Erector Spinae

The erector spinae muscles span the whole length of the spinal cord. They make up the core musculature alongside the rectus abdominis and obliques. When performing handstand push-ups, they function to ensure a stable body position. They prevent excessive back flexion and extension as your shoulders work.

Equipment

Bodyweight

Bodyweight

Requires bodyweight resistance and additional equipment for proper execution.

Variations

Exercises that target the same primary muscle groups and require the same equipment.

Chair Inverted Row

Pike Push-Up

Arm Circle

Cross-Body Shoulder Stretch

Dynamic Arm Swing

Reverse Snow Angels

Bear Crawl

Bent-over Rear Delt Fly

Chest And Front Of Shoulder Stretch

Reverse Iron Cross Push-Up

Alternatives

Exercises that target the same primary muscle groups and require the different equipment.

Cable Lateral Raise

Squat To Overhead Press

Barbell Military Press

Cable Face Pull

Dumbbell Front Raise

Dumbbell Arnold Press

Alternating Dumbbell Press

Barbell Front Raise

Weight Plate Front Raise

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Who Should Do?

Functional Fitness Athletes

The shoulders are heavily involved in most of these functional movements. When placing something overhead, the shoulders are the primary movers. In throwing sports such as the javelin and shot put, the shoulders are also the primary movers. 

The handstand push-up engages the full shoulder complex, with shoulder flexion as one of the main movement patterns. Therefore, using these same muscles and movement patterns provides a great way to improve functional performance.  

Strength And Power Athletes

Strength and power athletes perform the majority of their training with compound, full-body movements. This provides them with a suitable training stimulus for beneficial adaptations to take place. 

Even as a bodyweight movement, the handstand push-up is difficult to perform. It requires you to press your full body off the floor, maintaining coordination and balance. With this, it gives you a good strength-based exercise that you can perform anywhere. 

Bodybuilders

As a bodybuilder, the main goal is to improve your body composition. This requires a suitable resistance training stimulus and a well-organized diet. 

When resistance training, volume is a key determinant of muscle growth. The handstand push-up offers a bodyweight movement that works multiple muscle groups. These include the shoulders, pectoralis major, triceps, and traps. This provided a good amount of volume for your upper body. 

The handstand push-up is a great exercise to perform in the gym or as part of an at-home shoulder workout. 

Who Should Not Do?

Total Beginners

As a total beginner, it takes time to build up physical characteristics such as muscular strength, coordination, and balance. Once this is done, you can progress onto advanced movements. Therefore, beginner training should consist of simple, foundational movements. 

While the handstand push-up uses body weight, it’s difficult to perform. It requires a large degree of muscle strength, balance, and coordination. Therefore, it’s classed as an advanced movement. 

Those With Chronic Shoulder Issues

Performing the handstand push-up requires large degrees of shoulder flexion. It also uses shoulder extension as you come down to the bottom position. 

Chronic shoulder issues such as shoulder impingement tend to cause pain and limit range of motion. At this stage, the muscle strength and coordination needed for the handstand push-up may not be possible. Therefore, those with chronic shoulder issues should avoid it. 

In this case, speak to a qualified rehabilitation progressional. They will be able to assess the extent of the issue based on symptoms. With this, they can prescribe suitable exercises that will likely involve less shoulder flexion. 

Benefits Of The Handstand Push-Up

Builds Strength

Muscular strength refers to the ability of the body to exert force against an object. For example, pushing a door open requires a certain amount of strength. Pressing weight overhead requires strength. 

Strength building is done using a suitable training stimulus. When enough intensity is provided, the body adapts to the resistance session to better deal with it next time. 

The handstand push-up provides a suitable exercise intensity to build strength throughout the shoulders. Even as a bodyweight exercise, it requires you to press your whole body off the ground.

Perform it as a part of different shoulder workouts at home or in the gym. Pair it with strength-based exercises such as overhead presses and push presses. 

Tones Muscles

Muscle tone refers to the amount of tension in the relaxed muscles at any given time. In terms of appearance, it’s mainly determined by body composition. More specifically, the degree of fat mass and muscle mass on an individual’s body. 

Someone with more muscle mass tends to have less fat mass and therefore more muscle tone. Building muscle mass requires a certain amount of training volume to stimulate the adaptive muscle-building responses.

The handstand push-up works all three shoulder heads. This provides exercise volume for each of them using one movement. As a main determinant, this stimulates muscle growth and can improve muscle tone. 

Improves Shoulder Stability 

The shoulder Is a complicated joint that’s heavily involved in most movement patterns. The prevalence of shoulder injuries in overhead sports ranges from 5%–36%. With this, it’s one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints among athletes. 

Shoulder stability refers to the ability of the joints and muscles to maintain proper positioning during movement. It requires things such as muscle strength and coordination. 

The handstand push-up works all three shoulder muscle heads. This ensures well-rounded, functional shoulder muscles. If programmed correctly, this can improve shoulder stability. 

With better shoulder stability, the risk of injury during movement and exercise is heavily reduced. This ensures healthier, better-functioning shoulders.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are handstand push-ups good for?

Handstand push-ups are a great exercise to build strength and tone muscles when programmed correctly. Furthermore, they help to build shoulder stability and require no equipment.

Are handstand push-ups the hardest?

Handstand push-ups are a hard exercise to perform due to the body position and shoulder loading. They require a large degree of shoulder strength to push your body from the floor. You also need balance and coordination.

How many handstand push-ups are good?

What’s considered to be a good amount depends on your ability level and training goals. Follow the guidance above, using the correct form for each repetition.

What muscles do HSPUs target?

The primary movers are all three heads of the deltoid muscles. The secondary movers include the triceps, trapezius, serratus anterior, clavicular head of the pectoralis major, and erector spinae.

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Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.

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