Stop Scrolling for more handstand tips.
To progress at Handstands, you don’t need tricks - you need a roadmap.
Here it comes:
If you can’t hold a 10-second handstand in the middle of the room yet, stop the endless core drills, stop bookmarking random IG tips, get a cup of coffee, a pen and some paper and get ready: Here’s everything nobody tells you about handstands.
🤹 Handstands = Plural
Before you even think about balance, you need to understand what you’re chasing.
Most beginners obsess over one picture-perfect shape without realizing there are dozens of valid options. If you stop forcing yourself into the “Instagram line,” progress suddenly becomes faster and more forgiving.
There isn’t “one” handstand.
There are hundreds of shapes.
That “perfect straight line” (Instagram’s holy grail)?
It’s beautiful, but it’s unforgiving at first.
👉 Stop obsessing over it. You’re making your life harder.
Instead, pick the shape that gives you the best results.
Often, that means asymmetrical legs:
- V shape
- T-pot
- Stag, etc.
🧱 Your First Test: Back-to-wall Kick-Ups
The wall isn’t a crutch, it’s your lab. Every kick-up attempt is data, and the wall gives you instant feedback you can’t get freestanding. This is where you’ll actually learn which shapes help you and which sabotage you.
When you kick up against the wall, 3 things happen:
- Airball (miss completely)
- Touch (graze the wall, then fall back)
- Land (arrive on the wall)
💡 Always aim to land.
Ignoring the wall when you can reach it is like throwing away your crutches while still limping: it doesn’t make you heal faster.
PS. If you can’t reach the wall yet, I got something for you. Head here.
🎯 How to Choose Your Shape
Your first reliable handstand won’t be the one you dream about: it’ll be the one your body naturally clicks with. By testing shapes against the wall, you can discover your “gateway” position. Once you know it, everything else accelerates.
- If you can’t land yet → pick the shape that gets you closest.
- If you can touch → pick the one that keeps you on the wall longest (without leaning head/shoulders).
- If you can land → pick the shape that lets you land softer and softer.
Every week:
- Track 10 attempts → count airballs, touches, lands.
- Goal: 10/10 landings.
- Then → grade softness (elephant 🐘 / medium 🤷 / feather 🪶).
- Goal: improve the soft-landing ratio over time.
⚠️ Before Balance Comes the Kick-Up
Everyone wants balance because it looks cool, but almost nobody respects the kick-up. Think of it as the doorway: if you don’t enter cleanly, nothing inside matters. This is why pros spend whole sessions drilling the kick-up alone.
Everyone makes the same mistake: obsessing over balance and ignoring the kick-up.
Balance is the cherry.
The kick-up is the cake.
Work the 4 Kick-Up Layers to develop the perfect kick-up so that balance becomes possible.
- Momentum
- Alignment
- Tension
- Fingers
🏛 The Five Pillars (No, don’t engage your core)
Handstands are built on a framework, not scattered tips. The problem is most advice out there is recycled gymnastics cues that don’t apply to you. When you understand the real pillars, you stop wasting time on things that don’t move the needle.
The kick-up and alignment are just 2 of the five pillars of handstands.
Notice what’s NOT in there:
- ❌ Engage your core
- ❌ Squeeze glutes
- ❌ Elevate scapula
- ❌ Point toes
Indeed, you can hold a handstand without these.
Spending time fixing that is wasting time not working on what actually matters.
🧍 Alignment Test
Not all alignments are created equal, and not all of them are yours. The trick is to discover the one your kick-up gives you naturally and then repeat it both chest-to-wall and back-to-wall. This keeps your training consistent instead of fighting yourself.
The alignment you discover from your wall kick-ups needs to be replicated it chest-to-wall (C2W).
⚠️ Don’t make the rookie mistake: Practicing a “perfect” C2W line that doesn’t match your free-standing balance line.
And yes, you need both C2W (chest to wall) and back-to-wall (B2W) to progress.
Yes, no one likes C2W.
💪 Strength Check
Strength is not the limiting factor most people think it is. But you do need a baseline, otherwise every attempt feels like a battle. This quick test shows you exactly where you stand and whether strength is what’s holding you back.
Not sure if you’re strong enough?
Test it:
- Hold 15s upside down without dying → ✅ you’re fine.
- Under 15s → build that baseline first. More on this here.
🎯 Goal: 60s hold over the next few months.
🧭 Spatial Awareness = The Real Foundation
Balancing upside down isn’t just strength or drills, it’s awareness. At first, you feel blindfolded, like you can’t tell where your legs or pelvis are. This section is about learning to “see” when inverted, which changes everything.
Before balance comes awareness.
This is where you learn to tell your elbow from your… other end… upside down.
Spend time just being inverted:
- Map sensations
- Feel where your body is
- Learn to “see” in the upside-down world
No awareness = blindfolded walking → guaranteed falls.
⚖️ Finally: Balance
Only once you’ve nailed the kick-up, alignment, and awareness does balance become realistic. If you try to skip here too early, you’ll just spin your wheels.
If your kick-up is solid → you can balance ~5s consistently with little balancing skills
BUT
If your kick-up sucks → no amount of balance skill will save you.
Balance = fingers first:
- Push → body shifts backward
- Relax → body shifts forward
Ideal balance = micro forward/backward cycles, just like toes do when you stand.
🐘 Fear: The Elephant in the Room
Even with strength, alignment, and awareness, fear can hijack your progress. The wall feels safe, but the open room is terrifying until you retrain your nervous system. Tackling fear directly is the missing piece almost nobody addresses.
Fear shows up differently for everyone:
- Fear of kicking up
- Fear of C2W
- Fear of falling mid-room
Conquer it with 3 tools:
- Time upside down → safe, repeated exposure
- Overshot scenarios → spotter, corridor, or hand placement drills
- Bailing → cartwheel out of overshot
This creates a virtuous cycle:
- More awareness → more control → less fear.
✅ Quick Recap
- Pick forgiving shapes first (stag, V, T-pot)
- Train wall kick-ups → track airball / touch / land
- Focus on softness → aim for feather landings
- Build the 4 kick-up layers → momentum, alignment, tension, fingers
- Practice both B2W + C2W
- Strength baseline = 15–60s hold
- Awareness before balance
- Balance = fingers first
- Work through fear with exposure + bailing drills
🚀 Next Step
If you’re serious about training (you can dedicate 3 hours per week spread in small sessions to watch lectures and feedback videos and study the art and science of handbalancing), if you’re not chasing the latest “quick hack”(handstand do not come in one month), and you really want to level up your handstands → I offer 1:1 online coaching.
This isn’t a cookie-cutter program. It’s ultra-personalized, ultra-flexible, and I’m there for you the whole way — not just dropping you one PDF with 20 videos and wishing you good luck.
We’ll work deeply on your technique, awareness, corrections, and long-term progress… everything you need to turn your training into a joyful, mindful, result-yielding habit.
👉 If you feel you’re ready, head here. We’ll see if it’s a good fit and makes sense for you.