Build Strength with the Tiger Push Up

When starting to do a handstand push up you should be able to hold this handstand position against the wall for at least 15 seconds before you start working toward the push up. But there are other ways that you can build up to the strength by doing things like Tiger push ups.

A Tiger push up is a normal push up, but you have your feet closer to your hands – bending your legs at your hips with your legs straight. With your backside in the air, you then do sets and reps of normal push ups. This will develop your deltoid strength which you will need for the handstand push up.

Do Negatives & Use the Wall for Support

Another way to develop the strength required for sets and reps when doing a handstand push up is by doing negatives. This is simply done by pushing yourself up to a handstand with your feet resting against a wall. You then slowly lower yourself down until your head touches the floor. Negatives are usually done in stages where you stop every 6 inches for about 6 to 10 seconds. One can take this a step farther by putting each of your hands on a thick book. This will mean that your head will be going a bit lower than where the floor would be and you will be working the full range of the deltoid.

Doing the military press with weights will also be working your deltoids to full range, but if you do not have this type of equipment it can easily be achieved without equipment. For example using the books as mentioned above can also be done in stages where you increase the height of the books. Adding more books will not increase your ability to do handstand push ups as fast as negatives will. Sports Science has proven that you are 60% stronger on an eccentric movement. This means that you will easily first fail when pushing yourself up after your head touches the floor.

Pushing yourself against gravity is the concentric movement and that is what will make you stronger. When you are able to do sets and reps doing the handstand push up, you will quickly develop the strength it takes to do them without using the wall as support. When doing these negatives to develop the strength in your shoulders to do a complete set of standing push-ups you should stop after each rep. This means that after lowering yourself down in stages and stopping you should bring your legs down and rest up.

Build Strength with Elevated Push Ups

Another way to develop the strength for handstand push-ups is to simply elevate your feet on something like a bed and do push ups. When you get strong enough to do sets and reps in this position you can then elevate your feet even more until you are eventually in a handstand. If you choose to employ this method to build strength, the right process is simply to do regular push ups, followed by elevating your feet on books, followed by elevating your feet on a bed. From there, you can work your way up to using the wall for support.

If you do this practice on a regular basis you will soon be doing the handstand push up with sets and reps. It takes a bit of practice to be able to do the hand stand push up without resting your feet against a wall. Just like doing a handstand. it takes balance and this is a skill that can be developed with practice.