A handstand is learned in a fairly predictable order: tissue that tolerates weight, a shape you own on the floor, comfort upside down, a straight line at the wall, a safe way in and out, and only then balance. This guide walks that path using the same curriculum and drills Nstand coaches with, and says what to practise at each stage before moving on. It will not tell you how many days it takes — nobody honestly can.
Where should I start?
Optional. Pick what describes you to jump to that stage. Your answer is not saved and does not change your level in the app.
Clear space: nothing hard or sharp where you could fall, room past your hands and your feet, and a floor that does not slide. When you film, only try movements you already know — the camera is there to measure a hold, not to talk you into a new one.
Learn how to come down — walking out, turning out, the cartwheel bail — before you need it, and learn it with a qualified coach or gymnastics class if you can. Getting out of a handstand safely is the one part of this guide that is worth having somebody watch in person.
A camera score cannot tell you that you are ready for the next stage, or that it is safe to try. It measures the line and the hold it saw. Readiness is about your body, your space and your exits, and those are yours to judge.
1. Prepare the wrists and shoulders
Build tissue that tolerates being stood on before asking it to balance.
Wrist prep circuit
Wrists are the first thing to quit and the easiest thing to fix.
2–3 minutes before every session, every session.
On all fours: fingers forward, fingers back, palms up, fists. Rock gently into each for 20–30s, never into sharp pain.
What to practise
A few minutes of wrist circles, rocking over the hands and opening the shoulders overhead, before every session. It is not glamorous, and it is the part that decides whether you are still training in three months.
Before moving on
Move on when putting weight through straight arms feels routine rather than sore, and you can reach both arms overhead by your ears without the ribs flaring. Keep the prep as your warm-up for good.
In the Nstand app
Nstand cannot measure this stage from a camera. In the app you decide when you have done it — there is no score to chase here.
Own the shape on the floor, where nothing can fall, so it is available upside down.
Hollow body hold
The handstand shape, learned where falling is impossible.
4 × 20–40s, rest 60s.
On your back, lower back pressed flat into the floor, ribs down, arms by your ears. Lower legs only as far as the back stays flat.
What to practise
Hollow body holds and hollow rocks. Lower back flat, ribs down, arms by the ears, legs together. This is the handstand line lying down, where nothing can fall.
Before moving on
Move on when you can hold the hollow for around half a minute with the lower back staying flat, and rock without the shape breaking. If the back peels off the floor, shorten the lever instead of pushing on.
Get used to weight on your hands and to being upside down at all.
Wall walk
Getting used to weight on the hands, with a way out at every point.
5 × 3 walks, resting as needed.
Feet on the wall, hands walking in as the feet walk up. Stop where it gets hard, walk back down under control.
What to practise
From a push-up position with your feet at the wall, walk the feet up and the hands in, only as far as feels controlled, then walk back down. Being upside down at all is the skill here.
Before moving on
Move on when you can walk in close to the wall and back out under control, several times, with straight arms and no rush on the way down.
In the Nstand app
Nstand cannot measure this stage from a camera. In the app you decide when you have done it — there is no score to chase here.
A straight line held for a minute. This is where the handstand is actually built.
Chest-to-wall hold
The straight-line handstand, with the wall doing the balancing.
5 × 30–60s. Film one set from the side.
Belly and toes to the wall, hands 10–15cm out, ribs down, push tall through the shoulders. Only your toes touch.
What to practise
Walk up facing the wall until the nose and toes are close to it, then hold: push the floor away, shoulders by the ears, ribs in, glutes and legs squeezed. This is where the handstand is actually built.
Before moving on
Move on when the line stays straight for the whole hold, not just the first seconds, and you can come down by walking out or turning out of it calmly.
Nstand's app moves you on after a hold chest to the wall for at least 45 seconds with a line score of 70 or more, twice. That is this app's own threshold for pacing its curriculum, not a validated training standard, and a score is never a sign that you are ready or safe to go further.
If you are already doing this stage, Nstand can read the line and the length of a hold from the side — filmed now, or from a video already on your phone. No account is needed and the video stays on your device. It will tell you what it measured, not whether you are ready.
5. Find vertical and come down safely: kick-up and bail
Find vertical on your own, and know how to come down before you need to.
Bailing out
Nobody balances while afraid of the fall. Remove the fear first.
10 bails each way before your first freestanding session.
From a wall handstand, take one hand off and pirouette down onto your feet. Practise both directions until it is boring.
What to practise
Before chasing balance, learn the way out: the cartwheel bail, stepping a hand forward and turning out sideways. Then kick up softly towards vertical, away from the wall or next to it, and practise arriving rather than holding.
Before moving on
Move on when bailing is automatic in both directions and your kicks arrive near vertical more often than not, without over-shooting.
In the Nstand app
Nstand's app moves you on after a hold for at least 2 seconds, 3 times. That is this app's own threshold for pacing its curriculum, not a validated training standard, and a score is never a sign that you are ready or safe to go further.
If you are already doing this stage, Nstand can read the line and the length of a hold from the side — filmed now, or from a video already on your phone. No account is needed and the video stays on your device. It will tell you what it measured, not whether you are ready.
The first real hold. Balance from the fingers, not the hips.
Fingertip balance drill
Balance lives in the hands. Every correction made with the hips is a correction made too late.
5 × 20s of deliberate small drifts.
In a hold, deliberately let yourself drift forward and stop it by pressing the fingertips. Then drift back and stop it with the heel of the hand.
What to practise
Short attempts, many of them. Balance with the fingers and the heel of the hand, not by bending at the hips. Toe pulls off the wall and kick-to-balance attempts are the bridge between wall work and a free hold.
Before moving on
There is no single moment you are ready: the holds get a little longer and a little calmer. Keep the line from the wall stage, and keep the bail ready on every attempt.
Nstand's app moves you on after a hold away from the wall for at least 5 seconds with a line score of 60 or more, twice. That is this app's own threshold for pacing its curriculum, not a validated training standard, and a score is never a sign that you are ready or safe to go further.
If you are already doing this stage, Nstand can read the line and the length of a hold from the side — filmed now, or from a video already on your phone. No account is needed and the video stays on your device. It will tell you what it measured, not whether you are ready.
The beginner path ends at a short freestanding hold. Nstand's curriculum keeps going, and the order is the same idea again: quality first, then time, then movement.
Fifteen seconds free → Thirty seconds free
Longer holds: fifteen, then thirty seconds, where steadiness starts to count as much as shape. Timed freestanding holds become the main work.
First steps → Ten steps → Walking on your hands
Walking: falling forward on purpose and catching it with the hands, then steps you chose to take, then distance, direction and stopping when you decide to.
It is a camera and some geometry. It does not replace a coach, a gym or an academy, it cannot see your wrists, your history or what you are about to land on, and it is wrong sometimes. Handstands can injure you. What you do on your hands is your decision and your risk: warm up, train where a fall is safe, and stop when something hurts.