There’s no single best width where the straddle is concerned—a wider straddle will provide better leg clearance but requires more strength, whereas a narrower straddle will offer greater stability but will make it harder to get your legs out of the way. Do what’s most comfortable for you. If you prefer, you can also start in a standing position, with your feet a little wider than hip-width apart and your hands on the floor directly beneath your shoulders. This position will give you a little more leverage, which can be helpful if you don’t have the strength required to press all the way up from the floor. [2] X Research source
Spread your fingers out on the floor as much as you can to create a wider base and lend added stability to your handstand. [4] X Research source
Focus on keeping your torso as rigid as possible during the first part of the press. If you’re too loose, your own weight will be working against you, decreasing your leverage and pulling you off balance. Make sure your head stays well in front of your hands to serve as a counter-lever to your lower body. If you can look down between your hands, you’re not leaning out far enough.
Extend your shoulders completely by pushing your straight arms down away from your head. This will distribute more of your weight among your trapezius, scapula, and core muscles, which are much stronger than the muscles of the arms themselves. [7] X Research source Avoid letting your knees bend, if you can help it. Just like a loose torso, relaxed legs can create an imbalance.
Don’t rush the leg lift. Doing so could cause you to wobble or overshoot your mark and fall forward. The key to a solid straddle press is to perform each movement in a slow, controlled manner. Keep your awareness on your hands, arms, and shoulders as your legs come up. Otherwise, you may lose tightness and topple over prematurely.
Dialing in your handstand may feel harder than normal, since you’ll already be fatigued. Do your best to hold the position with good form for 5-10 seconds, then gradually increase your time to build up your endurance. [10] X Research source If you need some assistance, practice pressing up against a wall, or have a friend spot you by holding your hips once you get inverted. The added support will help you learn how to transition between each part of the movement without having to worry about maintaining your balance.
Place your feet on the floor and stand up if you started in a standing position. If you pressed up from seated position, bend your arms to bring yourself back down to a seated straddle. As your straddle press handstands improve, you can start performing multiple “reps,” going from straddle to handstand and back again without ever setting your full weight back down. [11] X Research source
Try to set aside 15-30 minutes per day to practice. The more you train, the quicker you’ll get the hang of it. Stop practicing when you feel your form start to slip. You don’t want to get in the habit of performing the movement with poor technique.
If you’re having trouble holding full boat pose with proper form, bend your knees slightly or a place a block between your thighs. You can also leave your feet on the floor until you develop enough strength to maintain the hollow body position. [13] X Research source Boat pose, or navasana, is a traditional yoga pose which can be used to strengthen the muscles of your core, inner thighs, hip flexors, and shoulders.
Start with sets of 5-10 reps and gradually add more with each workout. Try touching your hands to your feet at the top of each rep to intensify the exercise and get more bang for your buck.
If you need to, you can do push ups from your knees until you’ve gained the strength necessary to perform a proper planche push up. When you get to the point where you can do 20 or more strict push ups, start introducing more challenging variations, such as diamond, clapping, spider, and one-armed push ups. Pike push ups translate especially well to the kind of shoulder strength required for a straddle press handstand. [16] X Research source
Be sure to keep your chest up and your arms straight throughout the entire movement. You should be relying on the explosive power of your lower back, hips, glutes, and hamstrings, not your arms. [18] X Research source Set a goal of 20-30 swings per set, or simply do as many as you can in 30 seconds or a minute.
If you’re having trouble getting your legs off the floor, keep your knees bent or prop your feet up on a chair or exercise ball to take some of the difficulty out of the early stages of the movement. [19] X Research source You can also use a wall to brace yourself if you need a little assistance. Stand facing the wall in a straddle position and place your hands on the floor 6–12 inches (15–30 cm) away from the bottom. Lean forward until your shoulders are resting against the wall, then lift your legs up into a supported handstand. Pike handstands are actually tougher than straddle handstands for many people due to the extreme weight shift, so if you can do a strict pike handstand, you should have all the tools you need to press up from a straddle.
