The BEST Way to Wall Handstand for Beginners

You want to learn how to handstand, right? If so, you need to know the right way to wall handstand for beginners.

By practicing these techniques, you’ll learn how to balance a handstand as soon as possible!

Are you working on your handstand but seeing very little progress?

You may be trying skills that are too difficult for your current level. Aka, ego lifting! (I am guilty of this in my one-arm handstand training lately).

When it comes to trying to handstand, do you just cross your fingers and hope that you’ll magically be able to balance it? (we’ve all been there)

Even though this may be fun to try once in a while, there are better ways to achieve the strength, balance and technique needed to hold a handstand.

If this sounds like you, it’s time to take a step back and start practicing handstand drills that you can execute with good form in order to see improvement.

I’m all for play and exploration; it just can’t make up the bulk of your training if you have a specific goal you are trying to achieve (like holding a handstand).

Doing 80% conditioning and 20% play keeps me happy while still making progress.

Handstand Training Rule of Thumb:

Spend 80% of your handstand practice doing drills you can execute with proper form and 20% of the time exploring new challenges and having fun.

Wall Handstand Drill for Beginners

Forget the classic banana-shaped wall handstand; instead, learn how to create a stacked handstand using the wall. This will help you develop strong shoulder elevation, learn where your body is in space and help you control your balance using your fingers.

How to Do a Wall Handstand for Beginners

Place hands a knees distance away from the wall
Kick up
Make sure that your hands are under your shoulders (not too wide)
Grip the ground with your fingers (this is how you control your balance)
Push through your shoulders as tall as possible
Straighten your elbows
Extend your hips
Knees stay together
Find a stacked line from wrists to shoulder to hips to foot
Use your fingers to gently pull the weight off of the wall. Extend one leg
Hold
Slowly switch

handstand shoulder tap for handstand walking

Sore Wrists in a Handstand?

If your wrists become sore while doing handstands, this is a sign that:

You need to strengthen your wrists
That your wrist mobility could be lacking
You need to spend more time warming up your wrists

Sore wrists are completely normal in the beginning stages of learning how to handstand. Forcing your wrists into a 90-degree angle while supporting your entire weight is not a regular practice in our day-to-day lives. For this reason, your wrists may be weak in this position.

With time, your wrists will get stronger. Add drills like planks and push-ups to your regular training to aid in strengthening. Working on your grip strength via pull-ups and lifting weights will help too.

When your wrists tire out in your handstand training, switch to performing the drills on push-up bars, as they are much more wrist-friendly. My favourite pair is from Pull Up & Dip, discount code summerfitness10.

Wall Handstand Technique for Beginners

How to Program Your Wall Assisted Handstand Training

1 Perform endurance holds. Record the time on your first rep, then repeat that time for 3-4 sets. You can start with just holding with both knees bent before moving on to single-leg holds

2 Challenge your balance by quickly switching from one leg to the next

3 Perform shoulder elevation drills. Keep your body tight and core locked in place, then transition between a depressed or neutral shoulder position to an elevated position for 5-12 reps for 2-3 sets.

Beginner Handstand Routine

Here’s a beginner handstand routine you can do at home.

1. 5 mins of cardio
2. Wrist warm-up 2-4 mins
3. Positional drills 4-6 mins
4. Seated banded shoulder elevation 8-12 reps, 1-3 sets
5. Kick-Ups, 10 each leg.
Beginners, keep your legs split, arms straight, pushing your shoulders strong and tall. Only kick as high as you can land softly (if you’re crashing, then you’re kicking too high, focus on controlling the lowering portion). Over time, you’ll gain more control and height in your kick.
6. Wall handstand drill, work up to accumulating a total time of 30 seconds to 2 mins.
7. Chest-to-wall plank/handstand hold, 3 sets. Set a timer on your first go, come down just shy of failure, then repeat that time for the rest of the sets. Increase your total time week to week.
8. Mobility/cool down.

Serious about getting your handstand? Do my follow-along beginner handstand workout it has a full warm-up, wrist mobility, workout and cool down 🙂

How Often Should You Train Wall Handstands as a Beginner?

If handstands are your goal, you should train them at least 4 days a week for a minimum of 10 minutes per session.

Begin your workout by doing:

a full-body warm-up
positional drills that help with handstands
shoulder mobility
and a wrist warm-up

As a handstand beginner, your wrists may only allow you to train handstands for 5 minutes. That is fine. With consistent effort, you will increase the total amount of time you can spend handstand training.

When I started calisthenics, I could only do 10 minutes before my wrists tired out. Over the years, I increased that number until I could fully transition to calisthenics training – which was such a happy day! Now I can train on my hands for hours without issue.

Beginner
Handstand Program

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Are You Teaching Yourself How to Handstand?

If so, know that the wall will always be your best training partner – no matter your skill level. I even use wall assisted handstands to practice my one arm handstands, warm up for my handstand day, and get deeper in my side bends and tucked handstand.

Here are some more challenging wall assisted handstand drills you can incorporate as you improve.

Wall Handstand Progressions

Wall Assisted Handstand Training Summary

You can’t magically learn how to balance a handstand by just kicking into it with your fingers crossed.

You must dedicate time to working on your balance, shoulder pushing strength, shoulder mobility, wrist mobility, and proprioception (where your body is in space).

To do this, spend 80% of your time devoted to training beginner handstand drills you can execute with good form. The other 20% of the time you can use to play around and explore what your body is capable of (or try that latest Instagram handstand challenge).

For handstand routines and to see how I schedule my training visit: