Headstand pushups and carry-over between exercises?

How much carry over is there from one exercise to the next, like between HSPUs, dips, planches, and 1 arm pushups for example? I've read that being strong in one movement doesn't always mean you'll be strong in another movement.

If my immediate goal is to work up to headstand pushups, would I make faster progress by really focusing on that one thing or will there be carry over from working some of the other pressing exercises too?

I realize that if I only work one thing I would probably overwork the muscles involved but what would be a good headstand pushup focused workout program to use for a month or so?

Thanks.

From my results, working up to a headstand pushup has improved almost everything, and that is all I work. My regular pushup form has never been better. Planche leans are getting better even though I don't work them. Dips are lagging, and they don't feel good, but I'm still ok with it. I think if you abandon dips, your dip strength will go down. That happened to me. I do think it is climbing back up since making big improvements in overhead pressing ability, though. If I had to make a judgement, I would say headstand transfers to dips more than dips transfer to headstand.

To answer one of your original questions. Dips built a decent foundation to start from, meaning shoulder strength and tricep stregnth, but you have to work handstand and overhead pressing if you want to make good progress with that. The first time I did pike pushups I could feel the weakness in my shoulder girdle. Specificity is almost always dominant.

I would highly recommend adding chin-ups/pull-ups to you headstand push-up program. This exercise is complementary in terms of muscle groups used (from what I understand) and will help you avoid muscle imbalances in your shoulder girdle that may end up causing you future pain.

I do not know the details about handstand push-up's carry-over, but Coach mentions in his book that anything done in a handstand is a top tier all around exercise to improve upper-body strength.

Are handstand pushups done on the floor considered headstand pushups, or is the only difference is that in the latter you rest your head on the floor at the bottom of every rep?

Crimsoncross said:

Are handstand pushups done on the floor considered headstand pushups, or is the only difference is that in the latter you rest your head on the floor at the bottom of every rep?

In headstand pushups, done on the floor, you lower until your head touches the floor. In handstand pushups you lower your shoulders all the way down to your hands so they need to be done on parallel bars or something to get the full range of motion.

The Hansenator said:

In headstand pushups, done on the floor, you lower until your head touches the floor. In handstand pushups you lower your shoulders all the way down to your hands so they need to be done on parallel bars or something to get the full range of motion.

Yeah, I know that the "real" HSPU are those done on any kind of thing which is at least 12" tall and ergo will let you go lower than your hands and for the full ROM obviously, but I was just asking if HSPU done on the floor are considered "headstand" pushups, because a headstand and a handstand are different things.

Basically, any time your head is lowered past the base of your hands, you are doing a HSPU. So it is impossible to do a HSPU on the floor. Technically, if you lower your head to the floor but your head does not touch the floor or go past you wrists it not a HSPU or a HeSPU but something less. Kind of like a front lever with bent arms is not a front lever in this gymnastics context.

schlaffmann said:

Basically, any time your head is lowered past the base of your hands, you are doing a HSPU. So it is impossible to do a HSPU on the floor. Technically, if you lower your head to the floor but your head does not touch the floor or go past you wrists it not a HSPU or a HeSPU but something less. Kind of like a front lever with bent arms is not a front lever in this gymnastics context.

But even so, the ones you do on the floor just with your hands are still called HSPU right?

No. If your head can only go as low as your hands, it's a headstand push up. Just because you don't actually pause in the headstand position doesn't change that. When you start putting your hands on wood blocks or books or something you will be working your way towards a HSPU, which is when your hands pretty much touch your shoulders at the bottom of the movement.

So basically a HeSPU is a partial range of motion of the HSPU.

If it is done on floor, it would technically be a type of handstand pushup. It would be a headstand pushup if done to head. If done to planche, it is sometimes called a tiger-bend pushup or something like that and there are two exercises in BtGB that are called Erbs and Bowers that are similar.

So this guy is wrong in calling what he does HSPU?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCkTzWobmZk

It becomes a thing of semantics, really. Yes, they are pushups in a handstand. No, they are not full range-of-motion. We consider the full ROM to be shoulders to hands, basically just as the full ROM in a pushup is to the deck.

slizzardman said:

If your head can only go as low as your hands, it's a headstand push up. Just because you don't actually pause in the headstand position doesn't change that. When you start putting your hands on wood blocks or books or something you will be working your way towards a HSPU, which is when your hands pretty much touch your shoulders at the bottom of the movement.

So basically a HeSPU is a partial range of motion of the HSPU.

Slizzardman is correct. Using the correct terminology avoids unnecessary confusion. There is a tremendous difference between performing 10 HeSPU and 10 HSPU; regardless of what apparatus they are performed on.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Blairbob said:

If it is done on floor, it would technically be a type of handstand pushup. It would be a headstand pushup if done to head. If done to planche, it is sometimes called a tiger-bend pushup or something like that and there are two exercises in BtGB that are called Erbs and Bowers that are similar.

Tiger bends are when you go from handstand down to elbow stand and back up, arching and un-arching the back as a part of the movement. I have no idea why they are called "tiger" bends, but that's apparently what a tiger bend actually is.