Handstand Push-Up
- Primary muscleTriceps
- EquipmentBodyweight
- DifficultyAdvanced
- TypeCompound · Push
Kicking up against a wall and pressing your entire bodyweight overhead turns the push-up into a vertical pressing feat, closer to a maximal shoulder press than a chest exercise. Most lifters need a strong pike push-up base first, and sets of 2-5 strict reps are respectable working sets.
How to do the Handstand Push-Up
- Find a wall and face away from it, standing a few feet away.
- Place your hands on the ground shoulder-width apart and kick your feet up against the wall, coming into a handstand position.
- Bend your elbows and lower your head towards the ground, keeping your body in a straight line.
- Push through your hands and extend your arms to return to the starting position.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Tip: Screw your hands into the floor as if turning the fingers outward to set the shoulders before each set.
Muscles worked
Primary
Triceps · Arms
The triceps finish the rep by locking the elbows, and they do more work the narrower your hands are.
Secondary
- Delts — The front delts assist the chest, especially on decline variations where the feet are elevated.
- Pectorals — The chest drives the arms together as you push, and it is loaded most in the bottom half of the rep when the elbows are bent.
- Abs — The abs hold the body rigid so the hips do not sag, which is why a push-up is also a moving plank.
Common mistakes
- Hips sagging or piked — the body should stay a straight line from head to heels; squeeze the glutes and brace the abs before each rep.
- Elbows flared to 90 degrees — flaring the arms out wide loads the shoulder joint; keep the elbows tucked to about 45 degrees from the torso.
- Cutting the bottom short — chest should come to within a fist of the floor; if that means fewer reps, do fewer reps.
- Head dropping first — the chin reaching for the floor makes it look like a rep when it is not; keep the head neutral and lead with the chest.
Where it fits in a workout
Push-ups work as a warm-up before bench press, as a finisher after chest work or as the main push exercise when training with no equipment. Superset them with inverted rows or a band pull-apart for balance.
How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.
Variations and alternatives
Similar exercises
Without bodyweight
When to talk to someone
- Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
- Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
- Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.
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Sources
- ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
- ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
- ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
- CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)
Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.
Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.