Never in my life have I been able to do a handstand. Never in my life have I wanted to do a handstand....
In fact I would look at people doing handstands and think, "WHY?" If we were meant to hang out upside down, our feet would be on our heads!
Then I started CrossFit. There is this thing we have to do called Handstand Push-ups. Yes, that is what it sounds like. You get yourself in to a handstand against a wall, and then go up and down with your hands to make push ups... CRAZY right???
Well, here is the deal.. if you can't do handstand push-ups, then you have to do WALL-WALKS... which means you walk up the wall with your feet while your hands stay on the ground and push you closer to the wall. This is a difficult task... I would do these wall walks, half kiltered because well, walking upside down is not really my strongest ability. And all the while watching these skinny whinnies, just go "FLIP" up against the wall. I walk for a long time, they just FLIP...
One day, I had it in my head that I have to learn that flippy thing. I HAVE TO GET A HANDSTAND!! But I couldn't get myself to do it. Something about the thought of my head crashing in to the wall and then landing and crushing my neck kept deterring me from trying. Not sure why.. but you know, it could happen!
I really really really wanted a handstand though. So I put it down as one of my goals for the CF challenge that I started the weekend before last.. My plan was to have a Handstand push-up in 8 weeks. But I couldn't even get a handstand!
So a lady stayed after class and gave me some pointers... I practiced, and practiced and practiced... Then I came home and practiced some more, each day!!
Oooooh Almost!
Ahhh, here is the start of a very funny fall...
And then:
I got one.. Again:
And AGAIN:
Now that I had a Handstand, I was told by my coach to practice the hold. By the end of 8 weeks I should be able to hold it for ONE MINUTE.... well each day I held it for 15, then 20, then 40 seconds, and by the end of the week, I was up to holding for one minute AND could do 4 handstand push-ups without a mat under my head.
Being only a week in to the challenge, I had to set some new goals. Coach now wants me to hold a handstand for 2 minutes.. you do this by building up strength with 45 second intervals several times a day.
He also has me doing "Negative hand stand push-ups" which means, I get up on the wall and come down as slow as possible with out falling until my head taps a mat. Well you start with three mats and remove them as your able.
Thing is, I have short arms, so I got down to one mat real quick. These pictures are me at home with no mat.. just my crazy hair! I have discovered there is a benefit to having short arms when doing handstand push-ups though, you don't have as far to go before you hit the ground. (and I don't mean that in a neck crushing kind of way)
Continuing to build my arm strength will get me to my June Pull-Up goal which is a whole other story. In the mean time, I can just FLIP!!
No more wall walks for me!!!
