Unfortunately, some calisthenic exercises are very skills (a general term) focused.
I tried before, gave up, could not master. Since for me i just going for more strength based, i am happy with dips and just progress with weight. Good enough. For me if i handstand and then i fall, my flexibility and mobility is not there (i cannot bend forward "sit n reach" and my fingers cant even touch my ankles), and kena some disc herniation, serious muscle pull or something.......terok liao. I not young also.
Handstand is "unfortunately" one of those. Is it an intermediate grade calisthenic exercise, yes.....in terms of pushing strength it seems not that dissimilar to pull ups (pull), but then we must also see the muscle size that you need to train. The muscles involved in pull ups are generally stronger/can get stronger than overhead pushing that HS uses. However, for HS no range of motion is involved.......it's just a HS and then lock out with some isometric strength. A good fair amount of skills is need. With skills meaning balance, coodination and esp proprioception.
So HSPU is considered to be even harder to train for than pull ups or dips requiring more time/effort even if thinking about core strength + push strength and assuming you are gifted with balance. coordination and especially propioception which HSPU relies heavily on......proprioception i mentioned quite a few times before - it's how your body perceives itself in space without looking, based on inputs from sensor receptors in muscles. Nice to train that for middle aged folks, eg do a blindfolded single leg squat and see if can do 1 rep or not, or just try to one leg stand blindfolded and see how many seconds can hold.....or similarly i believe got blindfolded cross legged sit down and then stand up tests. Got longevity tests based on this kind of proprioception also......anyway i digress lah.
Or put it this way, one might not be able to do 1 pull up. But i think even those never really train folks can do a chin up isometric hold at the top of the bar or even 90 deg elbow bent part where the eyes or forehead is at the bar.
But handstand push up (HSPU) is not, that one need a lot of strength (and sufficient skills). There are also different patterns of HSPU, some significantly more difficult than others. HSPU is 100% considered a high -intermediate or advanced calisthenic exercise generally, but if you check youtube vids, the calisthenic influencers (expert ones, some are damn pro like Andry Strong) they grade them into 5-6 different categories.
Or maybe view it like this, got novice (noob), beginner, intermediate, high-intermediate, advanced, elite or full pro. And possible "God" level.......
The same goes for running/cycling, got simi S tier, god tier.
I know and have seen 1 lady at my area's fitness corner a few times. HS no issue, do like pro....... But her push ups, barely 30, albeit not knee ones and decent form. Still rather strong for a lady of coz, but 30 push ups for a guy, even elderly guy who trains, not really anything special. That means she quite possibly cant even do more than 1 or 2 full ROM elbows 90 deg dips, to be honest. Of coz, technically there is a diff between push forward (push ups) and overhead push (HS), but still......both are push exercises
Sorry, type too much again. But hope you get the drift.
