Another question came in recently regarding breaking through handstand pushup plateaus.
I’m now able to balance about 15 seconds at best, but I do see progress.
Focusing my weight on that first row of knuckles helps a lot. I also started doing more forearm stands as a balancing drill which have helped.
… On another note, I have been plateaued at about 10 handstand pushups max (but not all the way down). This is against a wall and going down to touch a yoga block about six or eight inches off the ground. If I go all the way until my head hits the ground, I can get just one rep. I’ve been at this level for a couple months. Any suggestions to break through the plateau?
Thanks,
Dean
An isometric handstand pushup
This is a questions I’ve actually answered before in The Ultimate Guide to Handstand Pushups, which by the way, is on sale nowalong with all my other products.
From the book in Chapter 11 – Common Problems:
Use the exercises in the beginning of Chapter 6, such as negatives, isometrics and others. Using these moves especially to work harder and to work on sticking points will make you stronger. As long as you can do just a little bit more than last time you are improving. Sometimes improvements come fast. Sometimes they are slow.
If those do not work try switching up your routine. Often just going from normal HSPU’s to Reverse HSPU’s will work wonders. Or change your set and rep scheme. If you’ve been doing 5 sets of 5 try 8 sets of 2 or vice versa. Or maybe you should break from the HSPU’s altogether and use weights for a while.
So there you have it. There are four ways you can change up what you’re doing to make faster progress. Not to mention in the book you’ll find a lot more regarding positioning of handstand pushups that can make a HUGE difference.
Good Luck and Good Handstanding,
Logan Christopher
Comments
I already implemented negatives and holds still no progress. I have been stuck on 3 reps wall hspu for idk like 3 months +. My rutine (after warmup) 3×3 then sometimes try switching 4×3 for progressive overload. After that i do negatives with issometric holds like 5 sec down and hold 90 degree 2 sec. I do 3 sets of negatives up to 5. Lastly I end with some Planche lean pushups to strenghten shoulders further. Haven’t seen any improvements. I’m thinking about doing grease the groove. Like 2 hspu every 3 hours.
Yep, when I started reading your comment I was going to say a different approach such as grease the groove would help. Sets of two is good. Also singles like every hour would be helpful. Only do these sets of one and two for a couple weeks, increasing the total volume you do over time, then go for a new max.