AHA Moments

Bad time to start my hand balance everyday challenge. I go to gymnastics and end up sore for 4 or 5 days afterwards. Then off a whim I end up in a 6 mile road race. This too leaves me sore.

And it’s not like I can’t hold a handstand. It’s just that right now getting up into the handstand is a problem. While the majority of my training does not cause soreness this past week has been in stark contrast to that.

That left me with one move I’ve been working on regularly, a one arm half planche or lever. No kick-up required, in fact you start off right there on the ground.

I think with any move you need to spend enough time doing it, sometimes getting it right, sometimes failing to do anything right. After you’ve done this for awhile you gain two things.

1. The ability to discern your proper position that works for you to make the move successful.

For this move, this starts with where to position your elbow in your abdomen. While I’ve experimented with moving it around, at this point I can feel when I have it in the right place.

2. The ability to make small changes that make a big difference.

After having the arm position right I then would start balancing. After a couple go’s at it I realized that by shifting the same leg as the arm I’m on (left leg for left arm) slightly more out to the side I could balance better.

As was stated previously this in in a straddled version on the one arm half planche. Its working well for that but when I move onto legs together I’ll need to find a new way to shift that weight.

These are the ‘AHA’ moments that only come through practice. When something clicks and you are suddenly better able to do these moves. In many cases you can only discover these for yourself through regular practice.

So far so good in this challenge.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher