Handstand Friday

Happy Friday!  Each Friday in 2013 I have challenged myself (and my readers – YOU!) to attempt and take a photo of yourself doing a handstand.  Challenge yourself and engage your core and upper body.  At the end of the year we can all look back on our handstand journey and see how much stronger we all are!

Two things that I have been adding to my strength routine this week have been planks and pushups.  I really would love to accomplish the following things that I believe handstands are helping me with:  an unassisted pull up, a handstand push up, or a one arm/hand handstand!  I believe that through strength training my upper body and core, I will be able to reach one of those goals!

For planks, I hold the plank position for as long as I can (which is usually a little over a minute)… rest… then repeat one more time.  I learned that I need to do planks first … before pushups.  Otherwise my core is just done and can barely hold itself up after my pushups!

For my push-ups, I started following the 100 Pushup challenge that I shared earlier this week.  However, I decided that I am going to work on endurance and strength.  I am doing 50 push-ups each day this week.  I start out on my toes (man pushups).  When I am fatigued, I do level 2 pushups.  I will try to remember to take a video of my level 2 pushup when I get a chance.  And if my upper body and core are so taxed from my pushups and planks, I resume girl pushups for the remainder of my set.

I still have a super long way to go to reach the goals I shared above.  But I wanted to let you know my goals and what I am doing to hopefully reach those goals!  For now, I am focused on continued healing, training for my next half marathon, and just enjoying the journey that I am on!

I would LOVE for YOU to join ME for handstand Friday!  Are you just starting out on how to do a handstand!?  Start small… challenge yourself!  Be sure to come back here and leave me a comment below letting me know you played along!!