increasing ROM on HSPU's

[Jonathan Renner]

Handstand Pushups have never been hugely difficult for me, as I have the luxury of having a relatively light frame, and I'm good at bodyweight exercises as a result. I can usually grind about 15 of them out on a good day, with good form, head touching the ground every time.

Today though, I tried to toughen things up. I used two 45 pound plates for my hands to push from and as a result, increase the range of motion. I mean, I knew it would be more difficult, but wow.....I only got three. What are some ways to get better at them? Do one or two sporadically throughout the day? The most difficult part is obviously getting from the ground to an inch or two off the ground since I have little problem with the regular ones and that's the only difference between the two. So maybe holding a static pose with the plates, an inch off the ground would be a good way to strengthen those muscles?

[Steven Low]

You can grease the groove because that works

I would also check your form. If you're doing them with mega arch and/or arms wide that's a decent way to do them for CF stuff, but if you truly want to build strength you'll want arms tucked in and a nice hollow position to focus the work onto the shoulders and triceps

[Robert Bohn]

I had a question for opening up your shoulders during the HSPU how is that done correctly? I purchased Coach Summers book BGB but it doesn't explain it that well. Any help would be awesome. Does anybody have a workout template they used to increase their HSPU other than working M,W,F doing a 5x5. I try to keep my hands right a shoulder width apart when practicing a balance HS or handstand walking without the wall. Should the hand placement form more of an isosceles triangle or widen the base with my hands? How often do you perform Ring HSPU. I can crank out like 4 or 5 on the rings and only 10 wall HSPU. On keeping hollow should my hips be slightly closed with just my butt almost touching the wall with my hands 4-6inches away from the wall. Thanks for the advice.

[Steven Low]

I had a question for opening up your shoulders during the HSPU how is that done correctly?

Opening up the shoulders is like you would do for the barbell press for the most part, but you need to make sure to control your body.

Near the top of the movement, the hands should be pushed away from the head and far back as possible to straighten out the handstand

Does anybody have a workout template they used to increase their HSPU other than working M,W,F doing a 5x5.

Eh, in Overcoming Gravity I teach you how to program your workouts to increase strength.

I try to keep my hands right a shoulder width apart when practicing a balance HS or handstand walking without the wall.

Correct.

Should the hand placement form more of an isosceles triangle or widen the base with my hands?

No, you want the elbows in to act as a lever for your body to be able to control the movement.

How often do you perform Ring HSPU. I can crank out like 4 or 5 on the rings and only 10 wall HSPU.

Depends on your goals.

On keeping hollow should my hips be slightly closed with just my butt almost touching the wall with my hands 4-6inches away from the wall. Thanks for the advice.

Yes.

[Joey Shishineh]

Try some HSPU with parallettes...and dip your head below the bars, those are a lot harder.

[Robert Bohn]

Opening up the shoulders is like you would do for the barbell press for the most part, but you need to make sure to control your body.

Near the top of the movement, the hands should be pushed away from the head and far back as possible to straighten out the handstand

Just to be sure I'm tracking so if I'm performing a press as I propel the bar upward I'm spreading my hands apart trying to rip the barbell apart, right? So when my hands are on the floor with active shoulders do I try and retract (pinch) my shoulders together to get them as far back as possible? Do you have your book on PDF, maybe a little cheaper? I'm in Afghanistan right now. Thanks homie

[Shelby Duncan]

I have SERIOUS problems with HSPU's...
I have been doing 6 sets of as many as I can do, but the thing is I was only using an abmat with no plates so I guess I got used to it. I got to being able to do 7 unbroken with an abmat or a pillow or something to touch down on..

I tried going to a 25# plate with an abmat and I can barely do 1....

What exactly is "grease the groove"? How can I build up strength to get better at these?

I'm 6'9, 215#'s. My goal is to do 15 unbroken.

[Blair Robert Lowe]

What exactly is "grease the groove"? How can I build up strength to get better at these?

Lots of worksets@50% of max/intensity spread out through the day. So low intensity/high volume approach.

For instance, like 1 set after waking up, another right before leaving the house for school/work. Perhaps a set on a break, another a lunch, and another when you get home. Then a handful more spread out till bedtime.

An example could be 1 set every 1-2 hours.

6'9. That's gonna be rough with that arm length, but you know that.

6 max rep sets. Where they all 7 reps or did they diminish from set 1 to set 6? Kinda wondering how much total volume you managed and how much rest in between.

2" of depth is roughly 10% of ROM with your arm limb length, I'd guess.

[Shelby Duncan]

7 is my max, but on the sets I would get 5-6 each set. And I would take a minute to two minute rest in between each set.

And thank you for explaining that.

[Blair Robert Lowe]

Was this during the same session as those abmat HSPU, the day after, or the day after that (48hours ish)?