learn to do a handstand

At the gym I go to they have a 1-2” thick 4’ by 8’ mat. I am comfortable enough now that I can go into a handstand but the problem is that I can’t maintain balance yet. This is a great (realistic) way to practice.

I don’t like to do this when there is a big crowd so Sunday afternoons are good for this.

After a head cold and a break from this goal I am back to it! Trying to do pushups everyday. I do a handstand at the wall and can do one very slow pushup vertically. (No one handers yet ;-)

It is probably going to be a while before I have the strength and balance to do arbitrary handstands. Slowly getting both by daily practice.

What I am doing now is learning how to go over backwards gracefully. I do a handstand fully upright for a split second and then roll forward (sommersault). This is so I can ween my way from the wall and still have confidence.

I am still hitting pretty hard on the ground (thin carpet over concrete) so I might go and look for a pad.

The other day I was outside (playing ultimate frisbee) and decided to try with no wall. I was able to stand straight for a couple of seconds!! Then I got a bit too bold and ended up landing flat on my back. All was okay… just got the wind knocked of me.

In order to stay up for an arbitrary period of time, it requires a combination of balance, flexibilty and power. Unfortunately I am lacking in all three of these areas.

I am working on the power problem by touching my feet on the wall and just holding the position with my arms slightly bent for as long as I can (about a minute).

I am increasing flexibility with Yoga.

Balance is just a matter of doing it enough times that my brain adapts to it.

At least that is my current theory on it.

I am now doing 1-3 second handstands! I am doing them on carpet near a wall (but trying not to touch). Wow… maybe I can do this?!

After doing 10 to 20 reps my wrists are the first thing that get tired. I think that doing Yoga (esp, downward dog) has helped me a lot.

The other thing that I have been doing is spreading my fingers apart as far as possible to distribute the weight.

Just doing head stands near a wall. For whatever reason I never did that as a kid so it feels pretty weird and sort of exciting. I know it is a long way from doing a freestanding handstand but you got to start somewhere.

I want to do this for the same reasons that Clairest articulated. Not sure if I can do this one but if I succeed it will be like reinventing myself.

While over at the laundry room, I bumped into one of the fitness instructors over at the gym that I go to occasionally. When I told her about my new plan, she immediately reccommended trying out Capoeira.