Back-to-Wall Handstand Push-up

What is Back-to-Wall Handstand Push-up:

The Back-to-Wall Handstand Push-up is a bodyweight overhead pressing exercise working primarily the shoulder flexors, shoulder abductors, and elbow extensors, particularly the front and middle deltoids and triceps brachii. It involves assuming an inverted position with your back facing the wall and feet on the wall for support.

Key Benefits:

Size and Strength: Targets the front and middle delts, upper chest, and triceps, promoting muscle growth and strength improvement.
Shoulder Emphasis: Targets the front and middle deltoids more than other push-up variations due to the inverted position emphasizing shoulder flexion and abduction, promoting shoulder muscle growth and strength.
Joint Stability: Enhances shoulder and elbow stability by engaging supporting muscles throughout the movement, contributing to joint health and injury prevention.
Core Activation: Requires core engagement to maintain stability and control throughout the movement, contributing to core strength and stability.
Functional Strength: Improves shoulder flexion and abduction strength, elbow extension strength, and overall fitness, translating to improved performance in daily activities and sports.
Versatile and Scalable: This can be performed with or without added resistance, making it adaptable for all fitness levels.
Convenience: This exercise can be performed virtually anywhere without equipment, making it accessible and convenient for most individuals.

Variations:

Chest-to-Wall Handstand Push-up: A similar exercise, with the difference of your chest facing the wall instead of your back. This mimics the free HSPU more and naturally has higher intensity when performed correctly.
Free Handstand Push-up: An advanced overhead pressing variation where you are in a free handstand position, requiring you to balance yourself with only your hands.
Weighted Free Handstand Push-up: Increase the intensity by adding resistance with a weight vest or a backpack to intensify the movement.

Grip Variations:

Narrow to Shoulder-width Grip: Lessens the shoulder abduction aspect of the movement, thus making it more of a front deltoids and triceps exercise.
Wider than Shoulder-width Grip: Incorporates more shoulder abduction aspect into the movement, emphasizing the lateral head of the deltoid engagement along with the front deltoid and triceps.
On Floor: Balancing with your fingers and palms alone, requires a more stable body from shoulders to toes, making it harder to balance.
On Paralletes: It allows you to use your forearm muscles more efficiently by gripping paralletes, thus making it relatively easier to balance. However, doing the extra range of motion will make the exercise harder.
On Yoga Blocks: Similarly, it allows you to use your forearm muscles more efficiently by gripping the yoga blocks, thus making it relatively easier to balance. However, doing the extra range of motion will make the exercise harder.
On Gymnastic Rings: Due to the instability aspect of performing the exercise on rings, which also depends on the length of the straps, the exercise will be much harder to perform.

How to perform Back-to-Wall Handstand Push-ups:

Starting Position: Place your hands firmly on the ground, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart around palm to fingers or so away from the wall while facing it. Raise your hips as high as possible and kick up to get into an inverted position with your legs on the wall for support. Engage your core and maintain shoulder elevation and slight protraction.
Execution: Initiate the movement by depressing your shoulders and lowering yourself towards the ground, allowing your head to go slightly forward between your hands. Hold this position briefly, then return to the starting position.
Repetition: Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Breathing Technique:

Proper breathing is crucial for maximizing performance and maintaining stamina throughout the exercise. Experiment with what you're comfortable with and let you perform your best. For starters, you can try the following:

Inhale: Inhale at the starting position.
Exhale: Exhale at the end position.

Wall Distance: Position yourself at a comfortable distance from the wall, ensuring good execution of the movement. Generally around a palm until the fingers or so away from the wall.

Entry: You can get into the starting position in any way you prefer, such as using some kind of press or performing kick-ups as recommended.

Feet and Wall Friction: Either wear socks to slide with your feet through the wall as you push up to the starting position or do the movement with bare feet. If you do it without socks, your feet will most likely not be able to slide up the wall as smoothly as wearing socks, or not at all. In that case, try to use your feet for support as little as possible and gradually adjust its position on the wall as you push up to the starting position.

Hand Position: From a pronated hand position, rotate your hand slightly outward to help reduce the strain on your wrists.

Scapular Engagement- Starting Position: Maintain scapular elevation for stabilitation purposes. It doesn't mean that you should have your shoulders fully elevated, it simply have to be elevated in a certain degree to counteract shoulder depression through gravity and better stabilize the shoulders and engage your muscles more efficiently.

Scapular Engagement- Execution Phase: Maintain scapular depression and slight protraction throughout the execution phase of the exercise to stabilize the shoulders and engage your muscles more efficiently.

Shoulder Rotation: Maintain shoulder external rotation for better stability throughout the exercise.

Additional Information:

Ways to make it easier:

Focusing only on the Concentric or Eccentric phase
Decreasing the Range of Motion - partial reps, only go as far as you can handle
Using external force for support - resistance bands, a partner, or something
Regressing to an easier variation/exercise

Ways to make it harder:

Playing with the Tempo & adding an Isometric phase (pause/hold)
Leaning more forward on your way down
Increasing the Range of Motion - using a pair of paralletes or yoga block
Adding resistance - wearing weight vest or backpack
Progressing to a harder variation/exercise