(beat-heavy dramatic music)
- What's up, guys?
I know from the past couple videos
I've been doing a lot of handstand pushups.
But I don't think I've ever shown you guys officially
how I learned how to do handstand pushups.
So today I'm gonna show you the top five exercises
to master your handstand pushups.
And these are the same five exercises that I used
to get my handstand pushup.
So I'm gonna drill you guys through these right now.
Now, handstand pushups is all about strength and balance.
Strength in the pressing,
being able to press your own body weight,
and balance, being able to hold that handstand
while you're going up and while you're going down
in that handstand position.
So it's super important that, before even starting this,
you already wanna have a solid handstand
for this to really be effective.
But the best way to master the handstand, in my opinion,
is to break down strength and balance
into separate components, train them,
and then start training them slowly together
to eventually give you that handstand pushup.
So this first exercise that I wanna show you guys
is the elevated pike pushup.
This is gonna be a great intro pressing exercise
that's gonna really strengthen
those shoulders and those triceps,
getting you stronger in that pressing angle
to prepare you for the real handstand pushup.
So if you're just getting started
in pressing in that inverted angle,
then this exercise is a great introductory exercise.
You're only pushing a portion of your body weight,
so it's gonna be a lot easier,
and it eliminates the balance factor
of holding that handstand
so you can focus more on creating more reps
and getting stronger with this press.
So a stronger press is gonna be really easy
when you apply it into a handstand.
You wanna be able to do 15 of these
before moving on to the next progression.
Let's go for it.
So we're gonna put our feet up on an elevated surface.
We're gonna walk back, keeping our legs straight
and our body piked.
So the highest point should be your hips, right?
So from this position right here,
we allow our elbows to go down and our head to come forward.
The crown of our head should come down
and bring it right back up.
So this is slightly forward movement.
Press on your fingertips to stop yourself
from falling forward.
All right, here we go.
(beat-driven music)
All right, so there we have elevated pike pushups.
So if you can do 15 of these perfectly with good form,
then you should be able to do one of the next progression,
which is number two to the top five exercises
to master your handstand pushups.
And that is handstand pushups against the wall.
So this move right here would be
the next direct progression.
As soon as you can do elevated pike pushups,
you wanna go straight into these right here.
And specifically, you wanna do them
with your stomach facing the wall.
And what makes this move so special is that
it simulates the actual position of a handstand pushup.
And additionally, this will be your full body weight,
so it's gonna require the strength that you would use
in an actual handstand pushup,
but it excludes the balancing aspect,
so it's gonna allow you to focus more on
that strength aspect, getting more reps in there,
increasing and building strength in that press.
So we're gonna go into these handstand pushups
against the wall, now.
You wanna be able to do at least 15, with perfect form,
before moving on to the next progression
I have for you guys.
Let's go for it.
All right, get as close as you can to the wall.
Stare at that same point in between your hands.
Press on your fingertips so you don't fall forward
and begin to descend.
Let your elbows come out and then press back up.
As you press back up, you're pressing with your fingertips.
Keep your body straight, straight, straight like a pencil.
Here we go.
(beat-driven music)
There we have the handstand pushups against the wall.
When you're doing a handstand pushup,
you have to maintain that straight line.
You have to maintain that form
as you go up and as you go down.
So keeping this wall behind you
is gonna help you maintain that straight line.
This is as real as you can simulate a handstand pushup
without involving the balance factor.
Which brings us to number three, handstand press.
Now we're gonna begin to incorporate balance and strength
for the first time.
And what's special about this move is that
it really allows you to unlock and master
the concentric part for the handstand pushup.
You can have amazing balance
when it comes to holding a handstand,
but once you start to press or descend,
then that's a whole nother level,
which is why I think the handstand press
is the best exercise to first start
getting into that pressing motion.
And it's the most natural next progression,
as it's a combination of the last two progressions,
that elevated pike pushup and the handstand pushup
against the wall.
But this is a move you wanna start training without the wall
to really start getting closer to your handstand pushups.
So if you need to use the wall, go ahead and use it,
but this is an exercise right here
that you really don't wanna be using the wall for.
And it shouldn't be too much of a problem
because, as I said at the beginning of this video,
you already wanna have a pretty solid handstand
before going after those handstand pushups.
So let's go for some handstand presses.
We're gonna go for 10.
If you can do 10 with perfect form,
then you're ready to move on to
the next progression I have for you guys.
So this is what it's gonna look like.
All right, so for this exercise right here
we're gonna start off with our hands shoulder-width apart,
almost like we're in that pike position.
Right here, you wanna have your hips up
and we're gonna begin to lean forward
and press into that pike.
As we're starting to press forward,
we're gonna lift our lower hips up.
Keep that core tight, forward motion, up.
From this position right here,
you don't wanna have your shoulders past your elbows.
If you pass that 90 degree, you're already coming down.
So whatever you do, don't even try to really bend your arms.
Just try to go forward into this position.
And as you go as forward as you can,
you're gonna lift those hips up, bring those feet up,
and press with a forward momentum at the same time.
And that's gonna be the handstand press.
Let's go for it.
(beat-driven music)
Again.
(beat-driven music)
Let's go for one more for good luck.
(beat-driven music)
All right, so the most important thing
to take away from this move right here is the press.
Get really comfortable with pressing up,
that's the main focus.
But now, to really focus on being able to
press up and then come back down,
the very next progression that I have for you guys
is that L-sit to handstand.
All right, L-sit to handstands.
Now you're really doing something.
So this exercise right here is going to incorporate
that strength aspect, of course,
because you're pressing all the way up,
the concentric portion of it, and control
to press all the way up there and hold it.
And then we're gonna be focusing on, finally,
the eccentric portion if this exercise,
being able to control, tighten that core,
while being able to come down and descend slowly
while maintaining that muscle activation
and engaging properly.
So this move right here has basically all the components
when it comes to the handstand pushups.
And this is only natural,
for this to be the next progression,
because this incorporates the elevated pike handstand pushup
the handstand pushup, as well as the handstand press.
You're gonna move into every single one of those positions
and utilize everything that you learned
from those progressions in this exact move right here.
And the reason why we haven't gone
straight into the handstand pushups yet
is because you still have to fight that balance factor.
When you're doing handstand pushups,
you need to have a really, really solid balance
as well as that coordination to be able to
go up and down while maintaining that muscle engagement.
But with the L-sit to handstand,
if you're doing the eccentric part of your handstand pushup
and you happen to lose your balance and start to come down,
you will come down and you'll still engage those muscles,
but you'll go into an L-sit.
All right, so let's do four.
If you guys can do four of these L-sit to handstands,
then you're ready for the last
and most important progression I have
for the five exercises to master handstand pushups.
Let's get 'em.
(beat-driven music)
All right, so from this position right here, guys,
you're gonna start to bend the arms,
but you're also gonna start to bring down the legs
to get ready to go into that L-sit position.
And you wanna start going, coming down in a forward motion.
So same thing, we're gonna go up.
And down.
Bring it in again to that L-sit.
(beat-driven music)
All right, so there we have the L-sit to handstand.
(metal scraping against floor)
Which brings us to our last exercise
to master your handstand pushup,
the negative handstand pushup.
Now, I say it in a lot of videos on the vlog channel
and also on the official THENX channel
that doing the negative of any exercise
eventually is gonna give you that exercise.
If you can't yet do a more harder, advanced movement,
the best thing for you to do is to do
the negative of that movement.
Doing the negative of a particular exercise
is gonna allow you to be in every position of that exercise
without yet being able to do it.
So one, your body's gonna get really comfortable
with being in every single one of those positions.
And eventually, being in those positions
are gonna build your strength
to being able to actually do one of those exercises.
So the negative handstand pushup
may be one of the hardest progressions,
but it's also one of the best
because it requires the most balance.
So this should be like the last move you'll ever need
to acquire your handstand pushup.
This move is gonna utilize all the other components
that we did before.
So basically what you wanna do is
to start off in the handstand position, lower yourself,
and control as slow as you can.
Then hold that bottom position and we'll just come down.
And not long after, you'll find yourself
repping out handstand pushups.
So, without further ado, let's get into some right now.
So let's go for it.
Kick up into a handstand.
Come down, hold.
Then come back.
And that's basically it.
You wanna master this aspect,
control from the very beginning.
If you don't already have control into your handstand,
don't start to come down.
Get a nice, controlled handstand,
come down in a controlled fashion.
Don't drop down super fast.
You wanna completely be in control of your body weight
the whole time.
When you get to the bottom, squeeze again and hold it there.
Then, you can come down.
So let's go do some more reps.
Hold.
(beat-driven music)
That's basically the handstand negative,
negative handstand pushup, right there.
So, I'm already bustin' a sweat.
So this whole routine right here
you can also use to obtain your handstand pushup,
if you can't already get to it, you need a workout routine.
Do this for reps, start in the progression
that you feel most comfortable at,
work your way up, work your way down.
Just start doing these top five exercises
to master your handstand pushups.
And if you've been doing it for a while,
it should look something like this.
(beat-driven music)
Whew, hey!
All right, just had to finish my routine right there.
I'll probably do this for about three more rounds.
But thank you guys so much for watching.
If you enjoyed the video, smash that like button.
Comment down below.
Let me know what you want the next video to be about.
I post every single Thursday on this vlog channel
at 2:00 p.m. USA Eastern time.
And some huge news, guys.
The weight vests are almost done in production
and they're gonna be available on chrisheria.com
in just a couple days, weeks.
We'll let you know as soon as they're out.
The official update for the Heria Pro app
is about to be released in just a couple days, guys.
What's been out on the Heria Pro app
that you've already downloaded
on the iTunes and Google Play store
is just the beta version.
Get ready for the real thing.
This is like a whole brand-new app,
way more powerful than the last one,
way better feel than the last one.
Just get ready to download it.
This is gonna be the best fitness app in the world.
So I'll see you guys next Thursday.
Mad love.
Peace out.
(beat-driven music)
Smash that like button, guys.