Ralph asks:
“Hey Logan what up? Just wondering I’ve never done a handstand pushup and I’m wondering adding that to my Deceptive Strength workouts will it create a pushing imbalance like aggravate all the sitting/resting and stuff. Thanks your products are incredible and amazing for strength and all things related.”
I can remember when I was early on in doing handstand pushups (HSPUs). Then I got into kettlebells too. I figured I would continue with HSPUs and add in kettlebell presses on top. This way I would get much stronger at both.
It only took ‘til about the second week when I stopped making progress!
Quite simply, it was too much work.
That doesn’t mean they couldn’t both be done, but it would have to be in the right way. Not like I did it then, where I simply added a whole other workout schedule on top of my already full one!
If they are alternated, substituted, or otherwise done in a balanced way with the body then it won’t necessarily be an issue.
Moving on, the fact is I can’t tell you if it will create an imbalance. There are too many factors at play such as:
• Frequency of training
• Intensity of training
• Volume of training
• Severity of training
• Recovery ability
• What other exercises/movements involving same or different muscles are done
• What you might mean by imbalanced in the first place
• Even your beliefs will matter!
So what will tell you if it works?
Your body. By this, I mean learning how to listen to it as I describe in Beyond Biofeedback: The 4 Levels of Intuitive Training.
Your results. By this I mean are you making forward progress in everything you’re doing.
Try it and see. I’m a big fan of experimentation.
Take my recent training as an example. For a while, I was doing two pullup and two handstand pushup workouts per week. But then (based on a dream!) I started adding in bent pressing too. That was just fine in the beginning…but as I continued to progress, I hit a bit of a wall. I stopped making progress. Doing so I recognized that all that was a bit too much. I dropped the pullup and HSPU workouts to a total of three workouts, rather than four per week, along with a single bent press training session and that is working fine. Making progress in all of them. Expecting to hit new all-time bent press PR’s for myself soon.
Once progress stops, or other reasons I might want to change things, then I will do so.
That’s how training is. That is what should be done when you here a new idea that you think you might want to use.