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Handstand push-up: spot and fix your mistakes

In the handstand push-up, SkillTrack checks five mistakes: you pull your knees in and get momentum, you tip to the side, you tip out of the handstand while pressing up, you don’t go low enough, or you don’t come all the way back up. SkillTrack is a web app that analyzes your phone video on your device and tells you which of these mistakes you have.

How do I spot a mistake in my handstand push-up?

A video of yourself shows which of these points is off:

• Pulling the knees in: you get momentum from your legs.
• Tipping sideways: the body drifts to the side.
• Tipping out: while pressing up you lose your balance at the top.
• Not low enough: the head doesn’t go almost to the floor.
• Not back up: going down worked, pressing up didn’t.

Why do I pull my knees in during a handstand push-up?

You lack the strength to press from the shoulders. So the legs help out.

Tip: Keep your legs straight and together, even if it is slower.

These exercises help you press without momentum

• Negative HSPU: Only lowering yourself slowly, the bottom range without pressing. Go down to just above the floor, the end is the most important part.
• Hollow Body Hold: Active belly tension while lying down, which later keeps the body in line. The lower back must never come off the floor. If it does, bring your knees closer.
• Wall handstand hold: Time under load with consciously locked elbows. As soon as the elbows give way, the set is over.

Why do I tip sideways during a handstand push-up?

Balance: you lack finger pressure into the floor, or your wrist can’t extend far enough.

Tip: Claw your fingers into the floor and look at a small pebble or another small object between your hands.

These exercises help you stay straight

• Free handstand hold: The balance at the top, before pressing is added. If you tip toward your fingers, press the fingertips into the floor. If you tip the other way, press with the heel of your hand.
• Briefly release from a chest-to-wall handstand: Practice balance with the wall as a safety. Release only as far as you can return to the wall at any time.
• Finger pressure drill in the handstand: Steer with the fingers instead of the hips. The pressure comes from the fingers, the arms stay straight.
• Wrist rocks: Makes the wrist more mobile for the handstand. The palms stay flat on the floor, go only as far as is comfortable.
• Prayer stretch: Stretches the wrists into the extension the handstand needs. The palms stay pressed together, the stretch is felt in the wrists.

Why do I tip out of the handstand while pressing up?

Balance and strength: while pressing up you lose your balance at the top, and holding it takes extra strength.

Tip: Put a pebble between your hands and look at it while you press up.

These exercises help you stay at the top

• Hollow Body Hold: Active belly tension while lying down, which later keeps the body in line. The lower back must never come off the floor. If it does, bring your knees closer.
• Wall Angels: Opens the shoulders so that you stand straight in the handstand. The lower back stays on the wall, the arms don’t come off it.
• Free handstand hold: The balance at the top, before pressing is added. If you tip toward your fingers, press the fingertips into the floor. If you tip the other way, press with the heel of your hand.

Why don’t I come all the way back up in my handstand push-up?

Strength. Going down worked, but it wasn’t enough to press back up.

These exercises help you come back up

• Negative HSPU: Only lowering yourself slowly, the bottom range without pressing. Go down to just above the floor, the end is the most important part.
• Partial reps from the bottom range: Train exactly the part where it gets stuck. Your head goes almost to the floor every time.
• Pike Push-ups: Pressing strength in exactly that position. Your hips stay high and your elbows don’t flare out.

Why don’t I go low enough in my handstand push-up?

Strength: the bottom range is the hardest, your head should almost touch the floor.

These exercises help you go lower

• Negative HSPU: Only lowering yourself slowly, the bottom range without pressing. Go down to just above the floor, the end is the most important part.
• Pike Push-ups: Pressing strength in exactly that position. Your hips stay high and your elbows don’t flare out.
• Partial reps from the bottom range: Train exactly the part where it gets stuck. Your head goes almost to the floor every time.
• Tripod Headstand: Learn to hold the low position of the handstand push-up. The head sits between the hands, not in front of them.

How does SkillTrack check my Handstand push-up?

You film yourself with your phone or pick an existing video. The analysis runs on your device: the video and the body points do not leave it.

SkillTrack recognizes the angle you filmed from and checks only the mistakes that can be measured from that angle. If the angle does not fit, the app rejects the recording instead of judging it wrongly.

You get the finding in one sentence, the reason behind it, and matching exercises.

What comes next?

In SkillTrack the way to the handstand push-up has three stages: first the handstand, then the handstand push-up with your back to the wall, then the freestanding one. Which mistakes are measured depends on the stage and the camera angle.

What does SkillTrack cost, and what can it not do?

• Free: one skill of your choice with three analyses.
• After that, currently a one-time payment of €9.99 (founder price), no subscription. Then you can check as often as you like, for every skill.
• SkillTrack does not replace a coach and is not a medical product.
• You need a phone with a camera or an already filmed video. On first start the app downloads the recognition model once.

Frequently asked questions

Check my handstand push-up in SkillTrack

Last updated: 10.10.2026