The Goal

Do three handstand pushups (HSPUs), without assistance or support from a wall (or similar).

Why?

I watched the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and there was a crazy-strong athlete ‘walking’ into the stadium on his hands, doing an occasional HSPU. Every so often, he would lower his legs and do some normal pushups… but all without his legs touching the ground. My memory may be blurry on the exact details, but at the time I thought it looked pretty cool for both strength and balance.

Since then, I came across an article in an Australian Men’s Health magazine with a progression of steps to build strength and technique. Hurrah, I thought, this actually looks possible for me.

Progress so far

The article I mentioned was many years ago, and I didn’t put regular effort in. About a year ago, I found another article in Men’s Health magazine that showed the technique for HSPUs against a wall, but without the progression. It also had a few weights exercises that would build up the muscles required for HSPUs.

I worked on this over a few weeks. First, I got over the surprisingly-strong fear of going upside-down against the wall. After a few times doing this, I would lower myself down then kick off the wall. I eventually could lower myself almost enough for my head to touch the floor, then come back up again. It was fairly difficult, and my face would get quite red if I forgot to breathe while doing it.

I have since recycled the magazine with that article, but I have found a few handstand pushup webpages. The second link seems to be a more gradual progression, while the video at the end of the last link looks pretty cool.

From here, I will see whether I can still do a HSPU against the wall, then try out the progressions and tips from the webpages.

As usual, I’ll report regularly on my progress.