Handstand equipment

Handstands are a foundational skill in gymnastics, calisthenics, and bodyweight training, combining strength, balance, mobility, and coordination into a single, elegant movement. Whether used for developing overhead pressing strength, improving body awareness, or building toward advanced skills, handstands can be trained in many ways and environments. The type of equipment you use—ranging from the floor, to parallettes, blocks, or wall supports—can significantly influence comfort, wrist load, balance mechanics, and progression, making it an important consideration for both beginners and advanced practitioners.

Floor

The floor is where most handstand journeys begin. Early exercises that help build into the handstand are usually centered around developing strength and capacity in the wrists to handle supporting your entire bodyweight. Traditionally the fingers are pointed forward, the elbows and shoulders are stacked over the wrists loading them into passive extension and the fingers are either flat against the floor or slightly tented. With the assistance of a box or a wall all beginner handstand drills can be completed with ease. The main benefit of using the floor is that it can be done anywhere space permits. Using the floor builds foundational wrist strength but if you have limitations in wrist extension or are experiencing wrist pain after extended handstand training, blocks and parallettes come to the rescue.

Floor handstand with the wrist passively extended and the finger flexors at maximum length

Handstand Blocks

Much like the floor, the handstand blocks place the wrist joint into passive wrist extension. The main difference between the blocks and the floor is that the fingers can curl around the edge of the block which allows for some slack in the flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus muscles. This creates more wrist comfort and allows the muscles of the forearm to exert the required force to prevent falling into overbalance when inverted. Blocks are also the entry point into more advanced hand balancing equipment such as canes that increase in height while decreasing in stability and are more commonly found in circus training.

Blocks allow the fingers to curl, creating a more relaxed wrist position

Parallettes

Finally, we have the parallettes. Parallettes stand out for two main reasons, the first is that the grip position stacks the wrist in a more neutral position which allows hand balancers to take greater advantage of the wrist flexor group of muscles which are significantly less active on the floor or on blocks. The second is having the ability to control the handstand through radial and ulnar deviation as opposed to wrist flexion and extension alone. The recruitment of these muscles allows for a greater output from the forearms which in turn allows for a greater level of control of the handstand through strength output. Don’t be fooled though, an efficient handstand still requires all the same level of body awareness, control, and technique for it to progress to longer hold times, different shapes, or serve as the base for inverted pushing skills like handstand push up, 90-degree handstand push up, and press to handstand variations. Strength alone will only get you so far.

Parallettes stack the wrist in neutral and increase the forearm recruitment.

Conclusion

Overall, the equipment for handstands varies widely. My personal recommendation is to select the equipment most aligned with your goals. If you are looking to build beginner handstand strength start with the floor, it will always support you in your journey and will give you the opportunity to build solid fundamentals that rely on body awareness and proper technique. If you are dealing with wrist issues or if you feel like you have a limited capacity to train handstands for an extended period or extended number of days, then I recommend handstand blocks to allow you to load your wrists more comfortably without massively changing the context in which you have learned to balance. Finally, if you are looking to progress your handstand into more advanced calisthenics skills, I recommend adding in the Paralettes once you have gained control over your floor handstand. The Paralettes will provide a solid base of support for the wrist as you move through skills that demand higher levels of strength output from the wrists, shoulders, and forearms in skills like planche, handstand push up, and 90-degree handstand push up.

Handstands can be intimidating at first and knowing where to start on your own is usually the hardest part. If you are looking for some guidance and want to try learning in a safe and friendly environment, check out the free handstand classes taught by yours truly. Come ask your questions, learn progressions, and try something new!