For building the shoulders, in my opinion, there
is NO better exercise than the Handstand Push-Up...

For me, improving my strength in handstand push-ups had a
far bigger effect on my shoulder strength and mass than ANY
amount of free weight pressing that I ever did.

The reason for this is that the Handstand Push-Up is what's
called a Closed Kinetic Chain exercise...the simplest way to
describe that is that your extremities (hands or feet) are
"anchored" while your BODY moves through space.

Other examples of Closed Chain exercises include other
bodyweight movements like push-ups, chin-ups, and free
weight exercises where you hold the load on your back or in
your hands likes squats and deadlifts.

These types of exercises are generally superior for developing
muscle mass and strength as compared to Open Chain
exercises, where the BODY is "anchored" and the limbs move
through space, such as in the bench press, barbell curl,
pulldown, etc.

Closed Chain exercises will generally cause greater muscle
fiber activation BECAUSE you're moving your body through
space. This type of action requires more nervous system
involvement to balance you while you're doing it.

---

So that's WHY the Handstand Push-Up is better
than free weight pressing movements...

Now, what do you do if you're not yet strong enough to do a
full Handstand Push-Up, or you can get a few reps but not
enough to really build muscle mass...or you want to use
greater range of motion than the hands-on-floor HS Push-Up
allows for.

For the first two issues, the best solution is the Pike
Handstand Push-Up. It's a great intermediate exercise for
transitioning to the full version, while still getting most of the
benefits of the full version.

For this one, you set your feet on a bench, hands on the
floor, a couple of feet apart, body bent 90 degrees at the
hips into a pike position



This exercise is essentially a handstand push-up, without
as much bodyweight resistance and without the same
balance demands.

The issue you run into is the same as with the full handstand
version...range of motion. Obviously, you have to stop when
your head hits the floor.

You can address this by using a pair of dumbbells, and setting
your hands on the handles (ideally hex dumbbells that won't
roll...speaking from experience here)...or by using a pair of
push-up handles or parallettes (which are used in gymnastics
training...same idea as parallel bars only smaller).

All of these solutions will get your head off the ground so you
get greater range of motion and more complete shoulder
muscle and strength development.

The downside of dumbbell handles and push-up handles is
that you're really only adding a few inches to the range of
motion...it's still not as complete as it could be. You'll still get
results, absolutely, but it could be better.

The major downside to the parallettes is this...actually having
some to use (they're really not common in most gyms).

---

I've got ANOTHER solution for you here that I
find works EXTREMELY well...using the safety
rails of the Power Rack.

I find it works much better than dumbbell or push-ups handles
due to the greater possible range of motion. A rack is also
much more available than parallettes in most gym settings.

In addition, there's a great "bracing" trick for increasing side
delt involvement that I discovered that is simply NOT possible
with any other piece of equipment...just the rack!

Set the safety rails in the rack to two different heights...one
rail should be fairly low...I set mine to the lowest it could go
and that was perfect (about a foot off the ground). The other
rail should be about 2 feet or so off the ground. You can
experiment with height to see what works best for you.

Set your hands hands on the low rail, out to the sides at a
comfortable distance. I have mine basically as wide as I can
set them in the rack.

One of the key things to be aware of here, is that you want to
keep your forearms outside the frame of the rack, so they're
not bracing against the vertical posts. When you bend your
arms, your elbows will need to go wider than the rack frame.

Set your feet up on the higher rail.



Then get into the Pike position. You'll find with this one that
you're not 100% vertical because of the distance between
the two rails, especially as you come down to the bottom.



This will actually involve the upper pecs to some degree in
the movement as well. Because of the rail acting like a "bar",
the movement itself is fairly similar in pattern to a barbell press.

As you come down to the bottom, you have to move your head
a bit forward of the rail, lower yourself until the rail touches your
upper chest/clavicle. THIS is full range of motion.



Then push back up to the top position. Once your head clears
the rail, move your head over top of the rail to involve the
lateral and rear delts more effectively. The bottom portion is
going to hit the anterior delts strongly, similar to a barbell press.

In order to get a more vertical torso position and pattern of
movement, I like to move a bench into the rack (you can also
set it outside the rack) and set my feet on that so they're a bit
closer.



You can see the difference in torso angle and position, especially
at the bottom.



Now, the bracing trick I was telling you about actually happens
as you're pushing back up. By keeping your forearms outside
the frame of the rack, you'll find the forward part of your forearm
braces against the upright post of the rack.

As you're pushing up, you can take advantage of this by actively
pushing your forearm against that post. This actually puts direct
and relatively continuous tension on the lateral head of the delt
as you're doing the push-up (at least up until the point where
your body position moves your forearms away from the rack posts.

This is a VERY challenging shoulder exercise...I would actually
rate it fairly similar in terms of loading to a regular Handstand
Push-Up with hands flat on the ground (and much shorter range
of motion, obviously).

The advantage this one has is the increased range and it's
greater accessibility to people who aren't fully comfortable getting
into position and holding a handstand.

I don't have evidence to back it up, but I also think that this version
will have greater strength carry-over to free weight barbell press
strength, simply because the movement pattern is almost
identical...just inverted!

---

No Rack? Other Options

Now, if you don't have a power rack to do this one, all is not lost!
You can actually do this one very effectively using a barbell
braced against something solid to set your hands on as well!
Ironically enough, I've got it braced against my rack... ;). Just
make sure it won't roll and you should be good to go.

This barbell version gives you greater range of motion than the
db or push-up handles but it WILL still be a bit short of being to
able to touch your upper chest to the bar, like with the power
rack version.

A Smith machine bar will work perfectly here, too, being
adjustable in height and very stable.

I've actually got this version of the exercise in my book "The
Best Shoulder Exercises You've Never Heard Of"




---

Bottom line is this...if you're serious about building
shoulder muscle mass and strength, I would HIGHLY
recommend working at building strength in this "handstand"
family of push-ups. It will carry over to your free weight
strength very well and, in my experience, nothing has
built my shoulders better than these exercises.

If you'd like to see video of this exercise in action, definitely
check it out on my YouTube Channel now!



And yeah, don't forget, if you want more shoulder exercises
like this... "The Best Shoulder Exercises You've Never
Heard Of"

Nick Nilsson
The "Mad Scientist of Muscle"