The handstand is one of the fundamental body weight exercises. On the one hand, it helps you to develop significant static strength in your shoulders. On the other hand, the handstand will improve your balance and coordination skills which will enable you to move on to more advanced calisthenics skills. At first glance learning the handstand might seem like a hopeless endeavor since the upside-down position can be quite scary for beginners. But if you follow the progressions below you will slowly get used to the handstand position while building the strength and balance that is required to hold the full handstand.

Always start with a good warm-up! As the whole body weight rests on the shoulders and hands a good warm-up is crucial before getting started with your training. Simply stretching and circling the arms as well as the wrists should be totally sufficient. Furthermore, it should be noted that even though the handstand is a static exercise you should already possess an intermediate shoulder strength before attempting the handstand progressions. Pike push-ups are a great way to build this foundation strength since the position is pretty similar to the handstand. To perform a pike push up you have to place your feet on an elevated surface and move your hands closer to your feet. Now you simply perform a push-up. If you can complete at least 20 reps you should be ready to get started with the handstand progressions. An additional exercise to develop sufficient shoulder strength, as well as the required body tension, is the plank hold.

For the pike hold, you place your hands on the floor and move the feet as close to your hands as possible until your hips are located directly above your head. This position should be held for 20-30 seconds for several sets. If you can complete the pike hold without struggles, you can now move on to the next progression, the wall walk. Try to walk up the wall with your feet and hold the handstand position at the top at least 10 times. The slower you perform this exercise the more strength it will demand.

The next progression is kick-ups. It requires you to place your hands approximately 20 centimeters distant from a wall. Now you push yourself up using one foot. You can try that a few times to get a feeling of how much energy you need to push yourself into a vertical position. Once you are in the handstand position you can use your feet to stabilize yourself on the wall. The crucial part is slowly trying to push yourself off the wall again until you find a spot where it feels easy to remain stable and to keep your body in a straight line.
If you can do the kick-ups and hold the handstand next to the wall for at least 10 seconds without touching the wall you are finally ready to attempt the handstand without aid. Here are a few more pieces of advice that will help you to progress faster, to achieve good form, and train safely.

Firstly, you have to keep in mind that your arms need to be straight at any of the progressions because it decreases the risk of falling and also saves a lot of energy. Furthermore, spreading the fingers wide apart on the ground makes it easier to find a good balance since the fingers represent the foundation of the handstand. When it comes to learning the handstand, balance is the key. Try to focus on the feeling of push and release on your fingertips while holding the handstand. Constantly adjusting the tension on your fingertips while focusing on one point on the ground with your eyes really helps to find your balance. Many athletes that already achieved the handstand are arching their back which can cause injuries in the long term. To hold your body in a straight line it is crucial to engage your core muscles.

Once you have truly mastered the handstand, which means you can hold it for at least 30 seconds, you can learn more advanced callisthenics skills like handstand push ups, the one arm handstand, and 90-degree push-ups.