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Technique

  1. Start in a bridge with your feet on an elevated surface.
  2. Push your chest toward your shoulders until your shoulders are as close as possible to being above your wrists.
  3. Swing your lead leg straight up with speed and control while keeping the supporting leg active.
  4. As the lead leg rises, push firmly through the supporting foot to lift your hips and shift your weight over your shoulders and hands.
  5. Keep your arms straight, actively push through your shoulders, and avoid letting your head drop back excessively.
  6. As your hips pass over your hands, your body should briefly move through a split handstand position.
  7. From there, continue the motion by bringing the trailing leg over and lower into a controlled standing position. More advanced practitioners can pause briefly in the split handstand before completing the movement.

Form tips

  • Focus on driving your shoulders over your wrists before attempting to kick over.
  • Generate lift by pushing through the supporting leg, not just by swinging the lead leg.
  • Keep both legs straight and pointed throughout the movement whenever possible.
  • If you’re practicing the downhill variation shown in the video, gradually reduce the height of the elevation until you can perform the skill from the floor.
Logging: Repetitions done on one side.

Muscles

Strength

Primary

  • Neck

Secondary

  • Back
  • Shoulders
  • Spine
  • Serratus anterior
  • Glutes
  • Hamstrings
  • Hip adductors
Flexibility

Primary

  • Abs
  • Obliques
  • Chest
  • Back

Secondary

  • Pelvis
  • Spinalis thoracis
  • Longissimus thoracis
  • Iliocostalis
  • Lower trapezius
  • Serratus anterior
  • Posterior deltoid
  • Gluteus maximus
  • Semitendinosus
  • Semimembranosus
  • Biceps femoris (long)
  • Upper trapezius
  • Levator scapulae

Equipment

Appears in

e0sc

One-arm bridge

Advanced
e0sa

Head tap bridge

Advanced
e0qv

Straddle handstand shoulder taps

Advanced
e0sd

One-leg bridge

Intermediate
e0i0

Bridge pushup

Intermediate
Want to log this exercise? Open it in Calistree. Text and images are used under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; the video plays from the original source.