How many wall walks should you do when you are new to the exercise?

Start with 3 to 4 sets of 2 to 3 walks, resting a full minute between sets, and count a walk as one trip up and back down. If you cannot get near vertical yet, do partial walks to roughly half height for the same numbers. As conditioning, one walk every minute for eight minutes is a common format, but only once the descent is under control.

How do I make the wall walk easier or harder?

Easier: walk only halfway up and back, hold an incline plank with your feet on a low box, or build shoulder tolerance with pike push-ups first. Harder: pause for five seconds with your chest close to the wall, add a shoulder tap at the top, slow every hand step, or add walks to a timed circuit. Progress the height you can control before you progress the number of reps.

What is the wall walk good for, and who should avoid it?

It builds overhead pressing endurance, shoulder confidence upside down and the trunk control that keeps the back from arching, which makes it a good step toward handstand work and a hard conditioning finisher. It is a poor choice if your shoulders are sore or if you cannot hold a plank with a neutral spine, because it is your full bodyweight overhead. Skip it if being inverted makes you dizzy.

Intermediate

Wall Walk

The wall walk bridges the gap between a plank and a full handstand by loading the shoulders more with every step your feet climb. As you inch your hands closer to the wall, the deltoids and triceps take on a growing share of bodyweight while the core fights to keep the spine neutral instead of sagging. It builds the pressing endurance and shoulder confidence you need before free-standing inverted work, and it doubles as a great conditioning finisher.

Equipment: Body Weight
Body part: Abs, Shoulder
Type: Balance, Strength
Browse by muscle: Deltoid Anterior
Browse by movement: Core Brace

How to do it

1
Begin in a push-up plank with your feet at the base of a wall and hands under your shoulders.
2
Plant one foot on the wall, then the other, so you are propped like an incline plank.
3
Walk your hands backward toward the wall as your feet climb higher, step for step.
4
Continue until your chest is near the wall and your body is close to vertical, shoulders stacked.
5
Reverse the sequence, walking hands out and feet down until you return to the plank.

Tips

Move your hands and feet in small, matched steps so you never lose the straight-line tension through your midsection.
Keep pushing the floor away and avoid letting your lower back arch as you approach vertical.
Only walk as high as you can control; back off a step the moment your shoulders start to shake.

Variations

Common mistakes

The way down is where people get hurt: the hands get walked out quickly while the feet stay high, the hips sag, and the lower back takes the landing. Come down at the pace you went up.
The wall gets used as a foothold rather than a support, with the toes pushing hard enough to drive the hips into an arch, when the feet should only rest there while the hands do the walking.
The wrists carry most of your bodyweight at a sharp angle near the top, and the set often ends in wrist pain rather than tired shoulders; spread the fingers and grip the floor, or raise the heels of your hands on two low plates.
The head drops to look for the wall as you climb, which unstacks the shoulders and makes the position feel far heavier than it is.
Socks or slick soles slide without warning on a painted wall halfway up; do this barefoot or in grippy shoes, and test the surface with a low step before you commit to a full walk.

Frequently asked

How many wall walks should you do when you are new to the exercise?: Start with 3 to 4 sets of 2 to 3 walks, resting a full minute between sets, and count a walk as one trip up and back down. If you cannot get near vertical yet, do partial walks to roughly half height for the same numbers. As conditioning, one walk every minute for eight minutes is a common format, but only once the descent is under control.
How do I make the wall walk easier or harder?: Easier: walk only halfway up and back, hold an incline plank with your feet on a low box, or build shoulder tolerance with pike push-ups first. Harder: pause for five seconds with your chest close to the wall, add a shoulder tap at the top, slow every hand step, or add walks to a timed circuit. Progress the height you can control before you progress the number of reps.
What is the wall walk good for, and who should avoid it?: It builds overhead pressing endurance, shoulder confidence upside down and the trunk control that keeps the back from arching, which makes it a good step toward handstand work and a hard conditioning finisher. It is a poor choice if your shoulders are sore or if you cannot hold a plank with a neutral spine, because it is your full bodyweight overhead. Skip it if being inverted makes you dizzy.

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