Handstand ProShoulders · At the wall
Wall arm slides
Back to the wall, arms overhead, forearms against the wall from elbow to wrist. You slide your arms down, then back up, without anything coming off the wall, neither your back nor your forearms.
The point is that the wall won't let you cheat. In a handstand, a lack of shoulder mobility hides in an arch: your arms can't get through, so your back bends to finish the line. Here, the wall stops you from compensating, and you see exactly where your range stops.
- Family
- Shoulders
- Equipment
- A wall
- Type
- Mobility
Train this exercise in the app
How to do it
- Back to the wall, lower back and upper back touching it.
- Raise your arms overhead, forearms flat on the wall.
- Slide your arms down the wall, trying to get your elbows to 90 degrees.
- Slide back up slowly, keeping contact with the wall.
The mistake that skews everything
Arching your back to go lower. Your lower back leaves the wall, your rib cage opens, and your arms gain a few centimeters. It feels like progress, but it's exactly the compensation the handstand will make you do: the banana. Only go as low as the contact allows, even if that seems like very little. If your forearms come off the wall before your elbows reach 90 degrees, that's your range for now, and it's useful information.
A coach in your ear
Upside down, you can't read a screen. In the app, a voice guides you through the exercise and tells you what to fix right when you need it. For example, when your back comes off the wall to go further:
“Keep your lower back on the wall, don't arch to go lower”
Train this exerciseRelated exercises
Chest-to-wall holdChest facing the wall, only the toes touching: the position where you learn the right line.
Pike holdHands and feet on the floor, hips high: the simplest version of that right angle, the one that teaches your shoulders to carry.
Scap push-upsIn a plank, arms straight, only your shoulder blades move: it's the movement that pushes the floor away in a handstand.All exercises: the catalog