Workout Description

Why This Workout Is Hard

Strict handstand push-ups are a high-skill movement requiring significant upper body strength, shoulder stability, and body awareness. For max reps, athletes must push to complete failure while maintaining proper form and balance. Most average CrossFitters can only perform 5-15 strict HSPU, making this a strength-limiting test. The skill demand combined with going to absolute failure creates a challenging workout that many will need to scale to pike push-ups or box HSPU.

Training Focus

This workout develops the following fitness attributes:

• Strength (9/10): Primary demand is maximal upper body pressing strength, requiring athletes to move their entire bodyweight overhead repeatedly.
• Flexibility (6/10): Significant shoulder and thoracic mobility required for proper handstand position and full range of motion overhead pressing.
• Stamina (4/10): Moderate muscular endurance component as athletes attempt multiple reps, testing shoulder and tricep stamina until failure.
• Power (2/10): Some explosive component in the pressing phase, but primarily a strength-endurance test rather than power output.
• Endurance (1/10): Minimal cardiovascular demand as this is a max effort strength test with natural rest periods between attempts.
• Speed (1/10): No time component or cycling demand; athletes work at their own pace to maximize total repetitions.

Movements

• Handstand Push-Up

Benchmark Notes

This workout is a max rep test of strict handstand push-ups, which is a high-skill, strength-intensive gymnastics movement. Unlike kipping handstand push-ups, strict HSPU require significant overhead pressing strength and shoulder stability. I referenced the Angie benchmark (100 pull-ups + 100 push-ups + 100 sit-ups + 100 air squats) as a gymnastics capacity anchor, but adjusted significantly downward due to the much higher difficulty of strict HSPU. Movement analysis: Strict HSPU are extremely demanding - they require athletes to press their full bodyweight overhead from an inverted position with no momentum assistance. Most CrossFit athletes can only perform single digits of strict HSPU, with even competitive athletes rarely exceeding 20-30 reps in a max effort test. The movement becomes exponentially harder as fatigue sets in, with shoulder endurance being the primary limiting factor. Performance distribution: L10 (elite): 35-40 reps - Only the strongest overhead pressers and gymnasts achieve this level. L5 (average): 12 reps - Represents a solid intermediate athlete who has developed the strength and skill for multiple strict reps. L1 (beginner): 1 rep - Many athletes struggle to achieve even one strict HSPU due to the strength and skill requirements. The progression is non-linear due to the high strength demands - there's a significant gap between achieving your first strict HSPU and building the endurance for higher rep counts. Unlike other max rep tests, the fatigue curve is steep, with most athletes hitting failure within 30-60 seconds. Final targets: L10: 38+ reps, L5: 12 reps, L1: 1 rep

Modality Profile

Handstand Push-Up is a bodyweight gymnastics movement, making this 100% Gymnastics