by

Joseph

Welcome to the latest installment of my weekly handstands personal challenge ! When I closed last week's post I promised to maintain a fifty-five second handstand. Well, I had a very interesting week to say the least. I learned a great deal and applied it to my handstands practice. I know that you're all eager to read all about what happened so I'm not going to keep you in suspense. Let's get right to it.

Monday's Handstands 

I started the workout by doing a minicircuit of flat bench barbell press (six sets at 80.3 % of 1 RM), basic lunges (six sets), and pullups/chinups (six sets at body weight) with ten seconds rest between sets.

For every bench press set I used wide grip, thereby making my shoulders do most of the work (about five months ago I switched from close grip benches because it was time to give my triceps a much needed rest).

I alternated between close, shoulder width, wide and neutral grip for the pull ups/chin ups doing a minimum of ten reps for each set. Each grip put the focus on a different muscle group, making pull ups and chin ups much better for strength training than isolation exercises which I never waste my time with. 

I've rotated out the leg press in favor of lunges, this is rounded out the circuit with some lower body exercise. I'll be doing them for the foreseeable future.

After I finished up my circuit I started handstands. My overall form was good but my forearms were actually tired after doing close grip chins affecting my performance. I practiced several handstands, maintaining for an average of twenty-five seconds.

Wednesday's Handstands

I got to thinking that I could improve my time if I practiced handstands during the first half of my routine. When I got to the gym, that's exactly what I did. I was well rested and did much better this time. I maintained my balance for an average of thirty-seven seconds. My hand placement and finger spacing were good, I kept my abs tight and breathed steadily. It was all spot on. 

Because I was pushed for time, I had a shortened deadlift session; I got in two sets of deadlifts at 31.7 % of my 1 RM and three sets at 52.9 % of 1 RM, allowing sixty seconds between sets. This was much lighter than last week's deadlifting workout, but changing the order helped my handstands.

Friday's Handstands

Experience is the name of the game. I learn something from each practice session. I know that I'll have more focus and have much better results if I do handstands prior to my other exercises. the first handstand of the afternoon I balanced myself for sixty seconds thus beating the challenge that I set for myself in week 3 (and which I was unable to do in week 4's update), taken altogether, my average was forty-four seconds making Friday a very good day.

After doing handstands I devoted the rest of the workout to whole body circuit training. I completed four sets of floor wipes (19 reps per set holding 135 pounds), four sets of pull ups/chin ups (10 reps per set at body weight), four sets of chest/tricep dips (10 reps per set at body weight), four sets of basic push ups (10 reps per set at body weight), four sets of explosive lunges (10 lunges per set), and four dumbbell snatch sets (10 reps left hand using a 30 pound dumbbell then immediately 10 reps right hand with the same dumbbell) allowing only ten seconds rest between each exercise. (In other words floor wipes [10s rest], pull ups [10 s rest], chest dips [10 s rest], push ups [10 s rest], etc. then repeat after dumbbell snatch.) I had fun doing that circuit, it was a good way to round out the week. Next Friday I'll be extending the reps per set, I've got to keep things interesting.

Lessons Learned and the Personal Challenge for this Week 

I was pleased with Wednesday's and Friday's handstands practice. From now on I'll practice handstands before I do anything else in the gym. I spent more time thinking about how to improve my balance than actually doing them, this unnecessary distraction stayed with me during other parts of my workout. Flexibility is another thing that I have to be mindful of. It's not pleasant or wise to put weight on stiff wrists, so I'm flexing them before and after each handstand. 

I did such a good that I'm going to ratchet things up a notch. I want my handstands to be as exciting as possible. This week my personal challenge is to do five handstand push ups, this combines elements of the clean and press and push up (two of my favorite exercises). I'll uppdate you on my progress next week.

"Handstands - A Personal Challenge Week 5" copyright 2011 Living Fit, Healthy and Happy_(SM). All Rights Reserved.