Pushing up out of HeSPU

Hi guys

Just a quick one for you, I don't seem to have the strength yet to push up out of the HeSPU. I have been working on the negatives quite successfully for the past couple of months. I also do 1 minute handstand stomach against the wall, followed by a further 30seconds of handstand before I do the HeSPU negatives.

Any tips for developing this strength to push up from the bottom? Should I just continue doing negatives and try to do them slower? I did mix in using parallets with my feet up on a box in addition to the 3x5 negatives (to try and increase the range of strength), but i'm worried that i'm adding too much volume to the training....

Thanks for the great site anyway!...i'm looking forward to the upcoming books (liquid steel™ + the dynamic physique).

Are you too tired to do the negatives or fatigued in general or when performing the box HeSPU?

Have you tried doing a negative to the point of where you could push out of it?

No not too tired or fatigued at all. Normal Box HeSPU's are easy for me with hands on the floor - i can do x10 straight out.

...in a handstand position up against the wall I can lower to around half way and push back out of that.

It's just that lowest part that i'm struggling with- when I go into a headstand position and I attempt to push up into a handstand, I don't have the strength to push my head off of the ground. I'm wondering if continuing to do negatives will be the best course of action, combined with static handstands for time.

OR using parallets - with my feet on a box so that the range is increased.....(i hope that makes sense!?)

There is some technique involved with pushing up from a HeS. You have to angle your body slightly back and then straighten it back out as you go up.

Also, with the box HeSPU your likely using some stretch reflex, whereas the freestanding HeSPU you have to start from a dead stop. It takes more strength going from a dead stop.

You can try to use your legs to assist you, and then over time decrease the amount of legs assistance. Like this:

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Triangle is correct, out of a free HeS, it's harder to push from the dead stop than just lowering down on the wall.

You could try lowering down, hold for 5s and try to push out while not letting your head touch the ground. You will have that tension already engaged.

So, I guess this is why I really like GB website. I saw this thread earlier and didn't think a whole lot about it. I have my personal goals regarding HeS and HS and getting between the two which I hadn't realized yet and was thinking it would be a long, long time coming. I always felt that I didn't have the shoulder girdle and uppper body strength to get there.

I got to the gym and was thinking about Ido's gatherings. I've been keeping up on my HeSLL and doing just fine with those. I've even been throwing in some of the HSLL against the wall which are tough but also improving. I just never thought that I'd get to Ido's gathering with a push up to the HS. But reading this thread and seeing the video and thinking about how I've been getting along made me think I might just try it.

So, against the wall I went, did a few practice rounds of HeSLL just to get the alignment right. But really the convincing personally came from telling myself that I'm going to be pushing here and my entire back is going to be involved. It took a few trial runs before I was able to get my first gathering. Nothing near as elegant as Ido's, but there it was. Wow, couldn't believe it. I went on to reproduce and reproduce and reproduce.

My goalpost has changed and now I'm looking at controlling the leg movement and work more on the push to HS. STill all in all happy as hell at getting that and moving along the progression ladder that is GB (BtGB)...

get a stack of books or pillows and place them on the ground, slightly below head height.

do a few warm up sets to test your strength and work out what an appropriate height that you can press out of.

slowly lower the height over time.

Wicked guys! I really appreciate the feedback - thanks to all of you. I'm definitely going to integrate these ideas into my training schedule. I guess I was trying to do too much too soon. Blairbob if I try to hold the negative at the bottom for 5 seconds I'll definitely be eating the training mat haha, but I see what you're getting at -thanks.

Hopefully I'll be doing full HSPUs on parallel bars by the end of the year, that will be an amazing achievement!