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❌ Shaky handstand while holding for less than 15 seconds. ❌ Back arching during handstand. Feet drape over head and body is not stacked above shoulders.WHY YOU STILL CAN'T HANDSTAND Your back arches when you handstand You over tuck your head Your shoulders sag You don’t train wall assisted holds with intention Starting with the first point, when training the handstand whether with or without the wall, your back arching usually could mean 2 things: You don’t engage your core and glutes (which you should be doing) and /or you lack overhead mobility. Arching, caused by either reason mentioned, is generally unhelpful to handstand because it affects the line from your hands to your feet and makes the skill harder due to less overall stability. Don’t get me wrong- it is possible to handstand while your back arches, but it’s not recommended for long-term progress.2. YOU TRAIN IMPROPER FORM You struggle to hold a wall handstand for more than 15 seconds You spam kick ups to handstand but don't train long holds against a wall at all (and if you try, you can't hold long) You have not gotten used to being fully upside down Why are these problems? It really comes down to making sure your basics are solid and have room to progress. Because think about it, if you can barely hold yourself upside down with a wall, how do you expect to kick into a handstand, then find your hold, and maintain concentration to balance while blood is rushing to your head? Short answer- you can’t. In addition, you’ll have less endurance to train the handstand more frequently. 1. LACK OF CONDITIONING A Free Analysis For Why You Haven't Progressed © Black Flag Hybrid Training & Performance | 2026 Over tucking your head (see video) and sagging shoulders also impact your handstand hold. Over tucking makes balancing more
Shoulders sagging vs. how they should be. ❌ Over tucking your head. challenging and sagging shoulders don’t provide stability since your scapulae and surrounding muscles now have more room for unwanted movement. At this point, you may have begun to realize there’s more to handstand than upper body strength and balancing... But there’s more! How you train handstand holds to get closer to a freestanding handstand matters because reinforcing bad habits/technique will make your handstand journey take longer. Another major issue is slouching against the wall during assisted holds. The basic consequence of doing this is that you’re not allowing your body to adapt to the total bodyweight you would be holding in a freestanding handstand. Many people put too much weight on the wall and do not actively attempt to use minimal assistance. A lot of help is good in the beginning but at some point you need to get stronger. 3. LACK OF COORDINATION & CONTROL Not controlling your kick ups Cannot control the top once you’ve kicked up Going back to the idea of training with intent, not only should assisted holds be trained in this manner but your kick ups as well. If you’ve been kicking your legs up into handstand for months but not seeing progress, you need to actively work on the quality. It’s better to be able to work more on actually balancing in the hold rather than spending a majority of your time trying to even get into the hold in the first place, so consciously gauge how hard you need to kick your legs. Don’t kick at random and hope for the best. Now let’s say, you can kick up pretty good and you feel like you’re placing yourself almost perfectly upside down, but you still tip over. This is probably a lack of a breaking mechanism. What that means is you can get yourself up using some momentum but once you do, you have no real way of stopping it. © Black Flag Hybrid Training & Performance | 2026 ❌ You don’t kick up hard enough or you kick up too hard.
Actively using fingers You only train the handstand 1-2 times per week It’s only one point but it’s a major one. Conventional bro wisdom in the gym might tell you to train a body part once or twice a week. However, for a skill like the handstand it needs more attention because it’s complex. The handstand is a skill such as learning to ride a bike for the first time or cooking. It’s not an isolated and simple movement like a bicep curl. The handstand requires balance, control, and time. To achieve results fast you need to train it more often. Training the skill more than twice a week (and obviously for what you can handle) will not be the end of the world. You can start with training for the handstand twice a week, but you should increase the total number of training sessions when your body is more prepared. 5. TRAINING FREQUENCY You put a majority of your weight on the bottom of your palms and don’t use your fingers to aid with balance and control In short, your fingers (and potentially wrists) could need strengthening and need to be used during the handstand. 4. HANDS & FINGERS I offer coaching that helps you solve each of your handstand mistakes and actually gets you closer to your dream skill. DM me @blackflag_hybrid on Instagram and let’s see if 1-on-1 coaching is right for you.LOOKING FOR MORE? © Black Flag Hybrid Training & Performance | 2026