Parallettes: Building Pressing Strength and Balance Close to the Ground
Updated: Oct 15
A lot of athletes buy a pair of parallettes, try an L-sit once, and then use them as a place to rest their water bottle. I get it. They look simple, and it isn't always obvious what to do with them. But parallettes are one of the most useful pieces of gymnastics equipment you can own, and they take up almost no space.
Because you're only a few inches off the ground, you can practice pressing, support and balance with a lot less fear than on the rings or upside down against a wall. You can bail easily, and you can spend more time in positions that are hard to hold anywhere else.
Below, I'll walk through what parallettes are good for, the key positions to learn, how to progress them safely, and a short plan you can add to your week.
IN THIS ARTICLE
What Parallettes Do That the Floor Can't
Parallettes give you two things the floor doesn't: extra range of motion and a neutral grip. The extra height lets your chest or shoulders drop below your hands, which means more work through the bottom of a push-up or a pike press. The neutral grip is also easier on many athletes' wrists than pressing with flat palms.
They also let you lift your whole body off the ground. Support holds, L-sits and tuck holds all require you to push down hard through straight arms while your trunk and hip flexors keep you in shape. That's the same pressing and compression strength that shows up in handstand push-ups, toes-to-bar and dips.
The Four Positions to Learn First
Before you chase anything fancy, get comfortable in these four positions:
Support hold. Arms straight, shoulders pushed down away from your ears, feet off the ground with legs tucked or straight behind you. Aim for 30 seconds.
Deep push-up. A push-up with your chest dropping below the level of your hands. Keep your elbows at roughly 45 degrees and your body in a straight line.
Tuck hold. From a support, lift your knees toward your chest and hold. This is the start of L-sit and press work.
Pike push-up. Feet on the floor or a box, hips high, lowering your head between the parallettes. This is a key building block for handstand push-ups.
Most athletes find one of these much harder than the others. That's normal, and it tells you where to spend your time.
A quick note on setup. Place the parallettes on a flat, non-slip surface and check that they don't rock before you load them. Grip them firmly with your whole hand, not just your fingers, and keep your wrists stacked under your shoulders for support work. If you're using homemade or lightweight parallettes, test them with a few easy push-ups first. Equipment that slides or tips is the fastest way to turn a good session into a bad one.
Pressing Strength: Push-Ups to Pike Push-Ups
The deep push-up is where I start most athletes. Put the parallettes about shoulder width apart, grip them in the middle, and lower slowly until your shoulders pass the level of your hands. Only go as deep as you can control without your shoulders rolling forward. For many people, that's a few inches past the floor at first, and that's fine.
Once you can do 3 sets of 10 deep push-ups with control, move to pike push-ups. Start with your feet on the floor and your hips high. Lower your head forward of your hands so you make a tripod shape, then press back up. When that feels solid for sets of 8, put your feet on a box and repeat. The more vertical your body, the closer it gets to a handstand push-up.
Coach's cue: Push the parallettes into the floor and keep your shoulders away from your ears.
That cue applies to every parallette movement. Most shoulder discomfort I see on parallettes comes from athletes sinking into their shoulders instead of actively pushing away.
Balance and Compression: Tuck Holds and L-Sits
Support and compression work is where parallettes shine. Start with a support hold with your feet lightly touching the ground, then lift one foot, then both. Once you can hold 30 seconds with active shoulders, move to a tuck hold.
For the tuck hold, press down, round your upper back slightly, and pull your knees up toward your chest. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds at a time. From there, you can extend one leg at a time, and eventually both legs, into an L-sit. Don't rush it. Research on isometric training generally finds that strength gains are specific to the positions you train, so short, frequent holds in good positions tend to pay off better than long, ugly ones.
Keep your elbows locked in all of these. If your elbows start to bend, the hold is over. End the set, rest, and try again.
What an Athlete I Coach Taught Me About Patience
An athlete I coach online trains mostly at home, with a pair of parallettes, a pull-up bar and a few dumbbells. When we started, she could barely hold a support for 10 seconds. We did short sessions, four days a week, for about 10 minutes at a time. Nothing felt dramatic from week to week. But after a few months, she was doing box pike push-ups, holding a tuck for 20 seconds, and her first strict handstand push-up against the wall came not long after. It reminded me, as a newer coach still learning, that small, boring sessions done often can beat big sessions done occasionally. I try to program that way now for almost everyone.
Your Parallette Checklist
Test your setup first. Before every session, press down on each parallette and make sure nothing rocks or slides. Five easy push-ups are enough to know the equipment is ready.
Own the support hold. Build to 30 seconds with straight elbows and shoulders pushed away from your ears. Until that feels calm, the harder positions will keep feeling shaky.
Go deep only as far as you control. On deep push-ups, stop where your shoulders start to roll forward. A few extra inches of range each month is plenty.
Earn the box. Move from floor pike push-ups to feet on a box only once sets of 8 feel solid. The more vertical you get, the closer you are to a handstand push-up.
Keep holds short and clean. Tuck holds of 5 to 10 seconds with locked elbows beat one long, sagging attempt. When the elbows bend, the set is over.
Add a little each week. One more rep or two more seconds per week is the pace I aim for with most athletes. Write it down so you can see the trend over a month.
Respect lingering pain. Wrist, elbow or shoulder pain that doesn't ease with lighter work is a reason to see a physical therapist before you push further.
Start Small and Stay Consistent
Here's a sample 10 to 12 minute parallette session you can do three times per week, after class or at home:
Part 1. 3 sets of 20 to 30 second support holds, resting 45 seconds.
Part 2. 3 sets of 6 to 10 deep push-ups or pike push-ups, depending on your level. Use a three-second lowering phase.
Part 3. 5 sets of 5 to 10 second tuck holds or L-sit attempts, resting 30 seconds.
If you have any wrist, elbow or shoulder pain that doesn't go away with lighter work, check in with a physical therapist before pushing further. Otherwise, add a few seconds or one rep each week, and keep a simple log so you can see the trend.
If you'd like a plan built around your own equipment, schedule and goals, Sphere Individual coaching gives you a personal program that fits the life you actually have.
Your turn. Tried this? Tell me how it went in the comments below. I read every one, and your questions help shape what I write next. If it helped, tap the heart so it reaches more athletes.
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Further reading: USA Gymnastics
Coach Fritz Bautista · Head Coach, ATHLETESPHERE
CrossFit Level 2 Trainer (CF-L2) ✓ · CrossFit Programming Certificate · MBA Graduate · Digital Marketing Certified · Coaching athletes from all walks of life online
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