Handstand practice

Missed my workout at the gym today, so I had to improvise.

25 minutes on the exercise bike—with weights
Assisted pull-ups
Russian twists, crunches, scissor switches and flutter kicks
Handstands

Handstands turned into a selfie party. It started because I wanted to see my form, but then I kept playing. I ended up using a shoe as a camera holder and setting the iPhone timer for 10 seconds. I got some awful shots (below).

The top one is a shameless but I like it. My arms look a little too open (see how my forearms aren't in line with my arms. Weird). L handstands are a good strength exercise.

L handstands
• Sit on the floor, with your back against the wall. With your legs straight, see where your feet are. That's where you want to put your hands.
• Stand up and turn around and put your back towards the wall. Put your hands down in that spot you just measured and walk your feet up the wall.
• You want your body at 90 degrees. You want your legs to be a straight line. You want your back to be a straight line, with the bend at your waist (opposite of sitting down on the floor when you were figuring our where you hands go.)
• Try and hold it.
• It gets easier with practice, but it's killer on my arms.

 #stronggirls.

Adventures in Flying Trapeze: Split Catch

Oh how I love flying trapeze. I took a Friday night class with my friend Martha. And we happened to pick a very fun night when all of my favorite people were there.

We started reviewing whip. After a month, I mostly remembered it. I went to final too soon and opened with my legs, not arms. Oh well.

On to split catch. It took me a few times to understand the body position, but once I did I felt pretty confident in this one.

For split catch, you bring your legs up almost like a flamingo—but upside-down, since you're hanging on to the bar. One leg goes straight up to the sky with your toes pointed and with the bar on your thigh. The other leg is bent at the knee, with the foot pressing the bar into your thigh. This is tricky on the low practice trapeze. (And the next day I have bruises on my thigh where the bar goes.) And your hands have a pretty tight grip on the bar on the outside of your thighs, holding you in, but not so tight, it restricts your movement.

After a few seconds in the flamingo pose, you go to your split. This was the tricky part for me. You bring your bent knee down and kind of arch your back into a split. The key is how far you bring your butt through. It's further than you'd think and really close to the bar. You could hang upside down in a split, but the key is to bring your butt through so that the bar is on your thigh. For me, it was my left thigh.

We reviewed this really fast and then it was my turn. I figured I'd try it. I did. It was clear I needed more time on the practice bar. I did. And it clicked what I was supposed to do. From then on it was mostly smooth sailing. I felt like I got it.

On my first run through on catches, I totally had it.

Kaz said hep, and it took me a second to realize that meant go, so I missed the catch. Oh for my brain. I got it the second time.

I've watched the video too many time. My split looks good. It looks easy. It's not wonky like my off-balance whip catch.  (I totally need white tights to wear for my next class.)

The class was just a great way to spend a Friday night. A lot of my favorite people were there: my gymnastics coach, her boyfriend (who caught me at  my first class), Juli who teaches handstands, Laura from Aerofit. I knew just about everyone there: Julie who used to come to tumbling, Dave and his fun dog Huck. It was an awesome Friday night.

Be back soon, Leap!

Calluses and blisters.

Bruises.