Straight Arm Press

It’s a skill that has long eluded me. A straight arm press.

With my long limbs, I don’t have the leverage and flexibility to quite get the move. Bent arm presses are easy. Straight arm presses not so much. But I am making progress.

There are a number of ways you can work up to this skill. And today I’ll be discussing one which has been a big help.

The first straight arm press to work on is from a straddle. With the legs spread wide the idea is to bring them out and around as you come up into a handstand.

This skill takes strong arms, particularly the shoulders as you must support your body in a leveraged position. Plus you need the ab and core strength to raise the legs up while holding yourself in space.

As the legs start low, it makes sense that in order to make this move easier, you start off with the legs on a raised platform. From here it’s like starting in the middle of the move. The higher up you go the easier it becomes (that is until a certain point where it just becomes awkward due to the height).

As you improve you ability to raise off the ground in complete control, with no momentum, you can lower the height you start from. Eventually you’ll make it to the ground.

Follow this progression and you’ll be able to do straight arm presses from a straddle. From there you can move onto more difficult progressions.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher