How to Do a Handstand: Get Your First Handstand in 30 Days

A handstand is one of the coolest exercises ever, but it’s also one of the most advanced moves to learn.

Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place.

Today you start your journey to the Upside-Down!

We'll start your journey to the Upside-Down with Handstands today!

Ah, not that Upside-Down…we’ll keep you in this dimension.

We’ve helped many of our coaching clients achieve their first handstand and today we’ll share with you how it’s done with this guide!

Nerd Fitness Coaching. You’ll be seeing a lot of him in today’s article because Jim can do handstands in his sleep.^[1]

The Secret to Performing a Handstand

The hardest thing about handstands is actually the mental component.

Sure, we need to build strength to support ourselves upside-down, but even that hurdle is overblown.

A proper handstand actually starts to feel easy.

That’s because once you’re balanced and aligned, it becomes uber efficient. Just as you don’t exert yourself much if you stand straight with good posture, a good efficient handstand is the same way… it will soon start to feel effortless.

Actually, the biggest hurdle to overcome – especially at the beginning – is the mental fear.

Don't be scared of handstands. It's not like anything spooky from ST.

The voice/feeling in the back of your head that says “you could get hurt doing this!” SCARY!

And I won’t sugar-coat things, you CAN hurt yourself working on these skills… but it’s no different than if you walked into the gym first day, slapped 315 lbs on the bench press and gave it a go.

Or went out and tried to run 13 miles without training.

The exercise itself isn’t dangerous, unless you attempt TOO much, too quickly.

If you wouldn’t load up a bar to deadlift 500 lbs on your first day in the gym, why do so many people just kick and fling themselves up into a handstand, failing repeatedly, hoping one day they’ll “get” it?

Don't try to do a handstand your first day practicing! Work up and progress as directed by this guide.

There’s a smarter way!

How do we overcome this fear and keep ourselves safe? Just like learning any other fitness skill: slow, easy, successful steps!

These small victories accumulate over time to bring us to our goals safely while having a lot of fun.

Are you ready to learn?

I'm glad Jack here wants to do handstands. But maybe he could be more chill about it.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Read on for ways to safely progress to handstand mastery!

Handstand Progression Warm-Up Routine

Folks from all over the NF Rebellion do handstands!

For any handstand exercise, there is going to be a significant amount of stress on the hands and wrists. So, it’s important you stretch and warm things up.

Here is a video from our NF Handstands course going over some of our favorite wrist stretches to prepare to get upside-down. Go through each stretch about 10 times.

Let’s spotlight a few of these Handstand Warm-Up exercises:

Forward and Back Wrist Stretch:

Rocking can help gain wrist strength, critical for doing handstands.

Lifted Palms Wrist Stretch:

Simply lift your palm off the ground for this stretch.

Reverse Palm Stretch:

Reverse your palms like so for this handstand stretch.

Backhand Palm Stretch:

Do this stretch with your backhand facing the ground.

Upside Down Wrist Stretch:

Another stretch for your handstand progression.

The trick with wrist stretches is to move as many different ways as feels comfortable. Feel free to make the warm-up your own!

The shoulders are another stressed area in the handstand. There are several ways we can prepare them for work

A few rounds of jumping jacks:

Jumping Jacks are a great cardiovascular bodyweight exercise

Or arm circles

Arm circles are a great way to warm-up for your handstand!

That will get the blood moving and the area ready.

From here, we’ll begin our journey leveling up your Handstand Progression.

We’ll start by having you work with some balance drills and some positional drills.

Nothing too crazy, and in fact some of these might seem TOO EASY. That’s fine! That’s what we want, remember?

We’re using small victories to motivate us. Landing on your head is not a great way to motivate anyone.

Don't progress so quickly that you hurt yourself in a handstand.

Want someone to build you a custom made progression plan for doing your handstand? Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program will do just that, plus your coach can review your movements through our app so you’ll know your training correctly and safely.

Level 6 Handstand Progression: How to Do a Handstand

We are now ready for you to try a handstand!

It’s going to come down to you slowly but surely leaving the safety of the wall.

First, just try to take one leg off the wall during your wall walk:

Lifting one leg during a wall walk is how we'll start our full handstand.

When you’re comfortable taking one leg off, trying switching them!

Once one leg feels comfortable, the trick will be switching legs like so!

The objective is now is to switch your legs in a slow, smooth manner – one lifts off the wall while the other simultaneously moves back to the wall.

Once you get comfortable with this, it’s time to take both legs off the wall!

When you have both legs off the wall, you are doing a handstand! Woot!

BOOM! Your first handstand!

Are you doing it right?

A good way to tell would be to record your handstand practice and review it against the videos here to check your form.

Want to have an expert review your form? Check out our

1-on-1 Online Coaching Program! Our spiffy mobile app lets you send video of your handstand directly to your coach, who will provide feedback so you can perfect your technique.

They’ll also build a workout program that’s custom to your situation, which will have you doing handstands like Luke Skywalker in no time!