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So I had this plan to write about a different subject for my blog each month of 2021. They would be subjects that are near and dear to my heart. I accomplished my first on Jan 1 and posted it. Maybe you read it. It was about resolutions. The month of February was about myths I’ve encountered. But somehow I had it all written, and saved and instead of publishing it, I was copying it and moving it, because I had actually divided it into two blogs. And of course, somehow I carelessly deleted it. I was pissed for about 10 minutes. Then I realized, all the info had come from my head. Instead of this being a negative (I had accomplished my goal, it was done Feb 1) maybe I could turn it into a positive. Maybe I could churn out this post and another one for March (I have a lot to say), and maybe it can be even better. Either way, writing it the first time can’t be a bad thing. I mean deleting sucks, but maybe this is just an opportunity for me to write more.

I’ve sort of narrowed down my focus lately as well. What started as a chance for me to write stuff about my goals and journey has taken on a slightly different trajectory. After much discussion and deliberation, I decided that my most potent contribution to the kids I coach, or really anyone actually, is that what I’ve specialized in is what I call the psychology of improvement.

So here it goes. I think in any journey, you can let people’s opinions drag you down. Shoot, your own opinions are probably tough enough to overcome, never mind the real obstacles whether they be physical or mental that are in front of you too. Well there are all kinds of myths out there that I thought if I talked about they’re lack of truth, might help someone get a different perspective on whatever they’re trying to accomplish.

Basically a few years ago, I decided it would be cool to be a movement expert. To be able to do all the parkour and gymnastic stuff that looks impossible, and then share my experiences with others. It used to be that my size (being 6’4″ and weighing 230-270 at times) was an excuse to not try since being on the taller side would make the things that I want to do more difficult. But after some careful decision making, re-framing, and working on my mindset and beliefs, I decided that my size should be a reason TO try, rather than not to. After all, all the advertisements for anything athletic always show an unreasonable proportioned person performing crazy difficult moves. I wonder how many people see them, and think “I’m just not gonna ever be able to do that, or look like them.” Then what if regular guy does it – how many more people could be convinced that they could too. I’ve called this journey “the psychology of improvement.” Along any process of improvement there will be roadblocks. In your own head, or someone else’s, and real or perceived. There were a few one’s that I believed to be possibly true, but as it turned out believing them for too long, was costly to progress. Usually someone shares their experience, or is trying to sell you a quick fix. Therefore these myths keep popping up. But with a little practice, you can learn which ones are real, and which ones are nonsense. So here’s my list of the top myths that stood in my way, or I heard on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.

When you get to be XYZ age you won’t be able to do that

When someone says this they either mean that when THEY got to that age, THEY couldn’t do it. Then to make them feel better they blame it on something arbitrary rather than taking responsibility. It takes the responsibility off of them and puts it on Father Time. Well, most of the time people that say these types of things to me are either actually younger than me, or not too much older. They don’t realize that they are projecting a false reality on me. Just because something is true for you, don’t assume it’s true for me. And are you sure it’s age, or is it lack of effort. Don’t mistake the two. Finally, if I can’t, I can’t. That’s fine. But i’m definitely not going to NOT try because of some random persons opinion. The opposite happens all the time too, and that’s the “when I was young I could XYZ.” It’s usually “eat whatever I want.” Yea, I’m calling bullshit on that. Show me you’re performance. What were you accomplishing that you could eat whatever you wanted? Chances are these people have a distorted view of their own history. I personally performed sub-optimally in everything. A lot of it has to do with we just didn’t know what we know now about diet and exercise. And that’s ok. But I’m not going around lying to everyone that I could eat cinnamon toast crunch all day, and that I was a dominant athlete when I was younger.

I’m going to be in the best shape of my life at age _______

That’s cool if you have that goal, and a deadline. I just much prefer to think of much smaller chunks of time. And it seems like you’re setting up for failure after. If your goal is 40, then if you’re in even better shape at 41, did you fail? I personally choose to think of health or improvement in terms of “I’d like to be in the best shape of this week tomorrow.” That means whatever I’m doing today will result in me being better tomorrow. If I do this enough, there doesn’t need to be a built in stopping point to when I peak. Ok, this technically isn’t a “myth,” but it still is a mindset that a lot of people try to sell you on quick fixes, when being “healthy” is not a destination, but a long strange journey.

Do such and such HIIT workout to “burn fat”

If you love boot camp or running, then by all means do it. Do what you will continue to do, and makes you happy. I’ll just say that for me, my best results ever, aka I can do more with less pain, have skills that 99% of people don’t have, stay lean and light and muscular looking year round is when I ditched all cardio, all HIIT (by current definitions) and focused on intuitive movement only. That’s not to say that I don’t feel as though I worked out intensely when I’m finished. I usually feel very accomplished after I move. I just generally feel like I could keep going. I don’t look forward to the end. Which leads me to this next piece of garbage I’ve heard…

A great workout is one you hate starting but love finishing

Just NO. Recipe for disaster. Like 1% of people have the discipline to continuously start things they hate. This is such a horrible take. If you hate it, don’t lie about it. You have 2 choices. Find a way to like it because you know it’s good for you. Or find something that you like. There’s literally endless options. If you think doing a Spartan Race would be fun and you would LIKE to start, but you’re intimidated – then to me you’re now just making excuses. You actually have something you’d LIKE starting, but now just don’t. If you think you’d like something, then start working towards it. Five minutes a day, or ten. Consistently, every day find a way to start. Start because it’s where you want to go. Like step one to driving somewhere is “starting the car.” If it doesn’t start you ain’t going. I like when my car starts because even if I’m going to work, I’d rather go in my own car. So if you’re going somewhere, go on your terms. Find something that you LIKE when it starts.

You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with

So you want to improve at something, but your friends are losers? Just get new friends. Easy right? Wanna be good at basketball? Just be friends with Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis, and so on. That should bring your average up right? Yea it doesn’t exactly work that way. It actually works in reverse. The closer YOU get to being the best in your field, the more likely that the people you have access to will change. Why would anyone super impressive hang out with you? If you don’t have an idea, then working toward becoming an expert at anything will get you closer than you are now. That is to say, that while this statement may actually be a decent way to level up aka change your environment and you will change yourself, it probably works the other way. Change yourself, and you’ll change your environment. It is infinitely easier. Imaging trying to meet Lebron James, or becoming an expert on breathing techniques. I’d imagine the latter would be easier to get started on. Now say you can lower your heart rate, and calm your nerves through breathing and you can teach others. Now maybe you have a skill that Lebron James is interested in. Now you’re his and some other players’ breathing coach. Yea, maybe somewhat far fetched, but less far fetched than him responding to your email to him asking him to hang out. The point remains – Improve yourself and it will be infinitely easier to improve your circle.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

This tends to get people all riled up. To me this is such a first world problem. If you’re starving, every meal any day is the most important meal of your life. Because that’s what’s keeping you alive at the moment. In the world we live in, we probably don’t have to worry about starving. We used to though. And chances are that our bodies are reacting the same way they were designed to for millions of years, and not adapting to the fact that we never need to hunt or gather our food anymore. In fact, I think you could argue that hunger isn’t actually a signal to eat, but rather a signal to get moving. If I’m hungry and I work out, my hunger almost immediately goes away. Anyway, all food is important. I’m pretty sure a billion dollar food corporation came up with the idea that breakfast is so important to brainwash us into buying their “breakfast” food.

Train insane or remain the same

Soreness, lift weights, get your heart rate up, blah blah blah. I’m honestly kind of tired of it. It’s actually kind of reckless to me to continue to promote weight lifting, when we mostly sit all day and stare at a screen. Typical though. You do so much damage, that what’s the opposite? Must be adding weights to everything else I do to counter act all the sitting and hunching. Eh, doesn’t sound so smart to me when you actually think about it. And there in lies the problem. We typically don’t think, we copy. And often what we see, we copy. But we’re only shown the sexy stuff. The barbells, muscles, movements. We don’t see the “measuring food, passing on the night out with friends, or hour long flexibility or recovery session.” Further – there is tremendous value I’ve found in being able to move your body in a way that it has the potential to, and in a way that is not restricted by tight muscles and tendons or pain. Why isn’t flexibility taught or held in the same light as musculature. If your body approaches it’s optimal ranges, it will approach it’s optimal performance. This has somehow remained secretive? So has appropriate diet and exercise. Gotta wonder why? All I know is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

Well that’s all for now. I’m sure there’s 100 more that will come up for a part 2. Hope you can find this useful if you’re starting something, and possibly struggling with overcoming some negative beliefs that could be making your life more difficult.

With certainty 2020 has been different than years past. It’s probably safe to say that we’re all ready to move on from it, and return to something a little more “normal.”

Even in quarantine though, there is no shortage of wellness and movement options online. Every ex-gymnast or yogi seems to have their own program for purchase or on YouTube for free. So theoretically we should all be living our healthiest most optimized versions of ourselves right? Seems simple enough.

Furthermore, it seems as though every week (especially with Covid) we start hearing about “pre-existing conditions” being a factor in how well our body is able to fight off the virus. Well if we know diet and exercise can limit and even reverse pre-existing conditions, and there are cheap to free programs all over the internet, (nevermind pelotons, mirrors and all kinds of home workout equipment) then why so many pre-existing conditions when all the answers are right at our disposal?

Some reasons I hear quite a bit are – laziness, lack of time, money, or motivation. But there are many people who don’t exhibit these qualities in other parts of life, that seem to when it comes to a health strategy. I work with plenty of people that have these preexisting conditions, and believe me – they aren’t lazy or unmotivated at work. Of course that’s my own little sample size, but anyway it got me to thinking… the answer must be something different. I wanted to figure out the psychology behind what makes a person change from generally unhealthy to healthy. I can at minimum attest to what I’ve learned about myself with these challenges.

So here are some of the psychological factors that most served me in learning a little about training for life at a stage in life that might not be considered optimal for trying to learn to do the things that I want. I think they could apply to anything really whether it be running a marathon, reading more, meditating, or learning to play an instrument.

Practice starting This is by far the most important lesson I’ve learned. If I had known it earlier in life I cannot even imagine how much more I could have accomplished. However, I’m extremely happy that life didn’t pass my by without ever learning it and for that I’m grateful.

Most of the time fitness classes are an hour long. Personal training, a high school class, a session with a therapist, whatever. We’ve somehow determined that an hour once a week, twice a week or three times a week is the right dose of anything. (Except work of course that’s 8 freaking hours…but that’s a different subject).

But what I have found is that an hour of a fitness class is really like a 3 hour window. You have to get to the class, eat something before or after, warm up, rest, cool down eat something after, and socialize. All of a sudden your 6pm class is really lasting you from 5pm to 8pm. This is all well and good if it is already your routine. But if it isn’t…one day something will keep you longer at work or there will be traffic, or you won’t feel well etc etc. That’s why people suggest an accountability partner. But for me, if you can’t be accountable for yourself, why would another person make a difference? Cancelling is always just a text away. Then you cancel once, it becomes easier and easier to cancel. Next thing you know it’s next year already.

My solution- give yourself 5 minutes everyday in a space at home that you do something physical. At first I thought – you can’t get in shape with only 5 mins a day. You need weights, and programs personal trainers, and protein shakes and BCAAs. I suppose those things work to a degree, but to me the power isn’t in the amount of time, commitment, motivation, trainer, accountability partner or resolution at all. It’s in just starting. And then starting again. And making just starting so easy you have no excuse not to start.

That’s why I suggest using the timer on your phone and set it for 5 minutes. You just have to do 5 minutes. There should be no reason you cant fit that in no matter how busy you are. After you start 5 minutes day after day after day it starts to snowball. All of a sudden you look forward to it. It’s so easy you can’t miss a day. Then one day you do your 5 minutes and you decide to do it again 10 minutes. But don’t force it. That’s the key. Never plan on more than 5 minutes. Then when 10 is too easy and your family knows you need your 5 minutes you add another 5 when they’re not paying attention. Now you’re starting to get 15 minutes and you’re gaining momentum, rather than trying to figure out how you’re going to go to another boot camp class when you’re sore and tired and it’s easier to just go to tomorrow’s class. Before you know it you’ll have carved out so much training and grown accustomed to making it a part of your day. If it’s 5 by yourself and a 20 min walk later with a loved one or 30 minutes on the jungle gym with the kids-even better (yes you’re allowed to use the park while watching your kids – or at least I think you are). It’s all cumulative.

I use this for reading and for playing guitar too, and I’ve finished a book a month this year and can play many more difficult songs. It wasn’t an overnight thing. It just adds up over time. Why would I beat myself up about reading so few books, when 12 is probably 12 more than I’ve read in most of the other years of my life.

Being capable will equal looking capable, but not necessarily the other way around. Everyone is into health/fitness/wellness for a reason, but they’re not all the same reason. If your goal is only to look good on the beach, that’s a fine goal. But if you’ve found that difficult to maintain maybe consider trying to be as “capable” as possible and the beach part will follow as a side effect.

We live in a results based world. Measurables and metrics are used in every facet of life. But when I picture fit people – I picture people that can do stuff. Marathon runners look a certain way, NFL running backs look a certain way, and the world’s strongest man looks a certain way. These people didn’t set out with the goal to look like that. They set out with the goal of being capable in their field. Therefore, pick the genre of the thing you’d like to look like, and then do that protocol. If you can do the stuff or at least close you will look the part. Not (necessarily) the other way around. So it seems silly that generally do things in reverse. Doing funky things that those people NEVER do to look like them, when if we only tried to do what they do we’d actually get BOTH.

In these instances the looks are a side effect of the capability. Sure you could look like that and not be capable. That’s a possibility. But every ripped guy won’t be as fast as Usain Bolt. But every guy as fast (or close to) as Usain Bolt will be JACKED guaranteed. I personally chose gymnastics type stuff to focus on. Those gals and guys are buff and move with such ease. Plus it seemed like the most difficult thing for me since I’m tall and not flexible nor do I have good body weight strength by nature. So why not choose the hardest thing? Actually being a gymnast is probably not happening anyway, so no pressure.

Have a big goal, then forget it. Think of it like the show “Shark Tank.” An entrepreneur gets up in front of investors. They always have grand dreams (ie. the equivalent of getting in the best shape of your life) of changing the world with their product or idea. Usually one of the first questions the sharks ask is “what are your sales?” The answers always vary, but one thing never changes. The “sharks” want some proof. Aka they want there to be some sales at least before they invest. So in terms of fitness or whatever your goal is – what are your sales? Sure without the big goal you might not be clear on your course, but with no sales, you get no investment. Your sales in this instance are the number of consecutive days you start. On Jan 1 you might have no sales. But by Jan 31st if you needed an investment from a shark, would you be able to say you have 31 days of “sales?” For me I’d rather do this than buy a package of personal training or getting a new gym membership. It’s not a waste if you can only do 5-10 minutes It’s super important to break that myth that you are missing out if you don’t do the spin class or boot camp or run 5 miles. All of those things are great. But as I wrote before…if you’re not already doing those things, they seem like failure if you skip, and when life happens, missing class or the gym is inevitable.

We live in the world of instant gratification. But honestly if you had a goal of running a marathon in your lifetime, would it really matter if you ran it next month, in six months or next year? The point is, unless you put a little in everyday, you’re not going to get there anyway. Who really cares how long it takes as long as you are heading in that direction? Every day you don’t start, you’re staying the same.

Change your identity big, and your routine little. These are all variations of the same theme, and are really all tied together by Number 1 in the list. But they all vary slightly, and might shed a different light on how to approach the big audacious goals. When I started, I actually decided that I wanted to be an entirely different person. And the simplest explanation I can give was that I decided to go from a person that couldn’t do —- insert skill here—, to a person that couldn’t do that skill YET. That’s a very important distinction. Like I’m not a millionaire doesn’t really tell me anything about your goals. But saying to yourself “I’m not a millionaire YET” means to me that you are taking steps and anticipate accumulating a million dollars. This kind of ties into Number 2. As soon as I added the “yet” to the end of all the things I could’t do, I actually started accomplishing them one by one. And as I got more capable, I started to be more fit.

More skills=more play If you’re gonna start something new and have it stick, that thing either needs to “light you on fire,” or you need giant sized discipline to work through the times you don’t want to do the thing. So if whatever training or movement or boot camp you choose doesn’t light you on fire, consider making your training playful. Imagine the kids at the park. They are actually training running jumping climbing and sliding right? But they don’t realize it. They’re just having fun. So how do you make your training playful?

For me it was realizing that skills stack, but reps don’t. It’s that simple. 10 reps of anything equals just that. But having a one arm chin up would almost certainly have a ton of carryover to a muscle up. A back handspring is a walk over with a jump. The more stuff I can do, the more stuff I want to do. You will see that there is something new that you can do everyday that you work on skills you can’t do, rather than extra reps of stuff you can. Those extra reps might make you functional when your tired. But skills make you capable daily, and you will see more carryover to stamina, than you will see carryover from stamina to skills.

So if you’ve ever done a month of “classes” that repeat the same movements over and over and weren’t able to stick with it, or yoga and you didn’t progress to different poses, consider really tackling the skills over the repetitions. Might be a way to enjoy rather than grind.

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Thanks for reading.

Training guide – A different take

Caveat: My personal goals for anything I write or do is to convince as many people as possible that the best movement is the one you actually look forward to doing. With Netflix, and Postmates handcuffing a generation to the couch, the primary battle can no longer be with “finding motivation,” it needs to be with “being passionate” or “a deep sense of purpose.” So the following are the building blocks to any movement practice.

1. You look forward to your practice
2. You progress in skill
3. You can build your own workout

Also, keep in mind I started this process at age 43, at a height of 6’4″ and at my most 270lbs. Now around 192lbs. Many of the the movements I can do now, not only could I never dream of them before, I was told by many that they’d be impossible for me, or someone my size or age. My shift came mostly from establishing the mindset that my obstacles were more of a reason to try, rather than more of a reason to quit.

First and most importantly – Why the handstand?  Simply, I’ve found diminishing returns in fitness and movement when I can perform around 5 of anything.  And by diminishing returns, I mean in progress, but also in happiness.  When I go from being able to do 0 of something to 1 of that thing, I have found utter joy, and fulfillment.  If finishing a 5k or a “Murph” (for Crossfitters) is like eating your favorite flavor of ice cream, then holding a 30 second handstand is like hiking the grand canyon.  In other words, finishing a workout tastes good, and is readily available (you could do murph every day because they’re not high skill movements) and you’re happy in that moment.  But doing something for the first time is memorable, life altering, and amazing.  It’s an essential to experience in my humble opinion.  It’s what separates gym goers from athletes – in a word SKILL!

Furthermore, I get endless social media advertisements about calisthenics, learn to handstand in 30 days, zoom workouts, personal training, yoga at home, lose x amount of pounds in x amount of days.  The ads seem endless.  I  tried one course and although I saw the value, I didn’t like it because it was too difficult to follow, needed to watch endless long videos, it didn”t start at my level, and I couldn’t see tangible progress.  Higher repetitions are so arbitrary, and difficult to know where you made gains.  After all, we’re not trying to handstand for 30 minutes straight, so why practice workouts that take 30 minutes?  Feel free to love burpees, pushups and squats in multiples as conditioning, but they don’t transfer at all to doing one of something else more challenging.   And when you can do something tomorrow that you couldn’t do today, that sense of pride also leads to stickiness – and that’s really powerful  So I set out to create something that was:

1. Free
2. Fun
3. Progressive
4. Measurable
5. Bodyweight only
6. Different
7. For any level
8. Not scary
9. Leads to increased capabilities rather than increased repetitions or time
10. Intuitive-short idea based videos intended for you to watch once then practice Here’s one

Especially since quarantine is keeping us inside quite a bit, there are few things you can do to get a good home workout that are better than handstands.

First, my definition of handstand might differ from many.  I’m not worrying about shapes, perfectly aligned, stacked or whatever.  Those things are nice and efficient.  I personally like fun, and progressive over efficient and virtuous.  I’d say if you don’t like my definition, then I’ll save you some time – stop right here and don’t go any further and search out a professional balancer or circus performer.  My definition is any time your hands are the only thing in contact with the ground and your knees and feet are unsupported for 10 seconds.  That’s it.

I contend that you actually don’t need millions of hours of practice upsidedown to learn a handstand, tht you can learn it from the ground up, and for me, doing the chest to wall version and long handstand holds against a wall were just brutally boring.  I actually resisted learning because they were so boring, it didn’t seem like they progressed.  They may have been, but it’s difficult to actually see the difference between holding against a wall for 1 minute vs 2 minutes even though you may have more capabilities at the 2 minute mark, all you actually see is an increase in time rather than capability.

A few things to keep in mind with my method especially if you’ve tried other methods.  I try to eliminate the “kick up” all together.  The negative, and holds are so valuable that kicking into the handstand aka using momentum rather than strength doesn’t seem like the best approach.  To this end, I approach the handstand through plank, and what’s described as “crow pose’ in yoga.  At least that’s what I think I’m doing.  It’s really just stacking your support closer to your body.  Balancing becomes more possible the more you stack.  Plus mostly what I practice was from seeing guys in the gym do these incredible looking things (the L-sit to shoulder stand and the knees on elbows press up).  I could balance long before I could do them, so I figured why not go straight to those things, and the balance will be a secondary benefit.

To this end, you have to be able to assess yourself a little bit.  I think the candlestick roll for general strength was a good indicator for me.  Holding a minute handstand against a wall for support.  Holding a 20 second crow pose, a 2 minute plank and touching toes to the floor behind head with straight legs are all valuable things to work on.  If they are things that come easy to you, then time to move forward.

Watch this for a good laugh. Video of my beginning fitness standards: That’s ok – I’m super goofy. Nevertheless, this is how I started progressing. If you can’t laugh at yourself…

When I couldn’t balance even a little, I often wondered if it was a matter of general fitness or practice. Truth be told it was probably a little of both. When my fitness was increasing, so was my potential to handstand. I used these movements to determine my “fitness”

Burpees: No equipment, uses whole body, need flexibility, hips, and is the only real metabolic movement in standards

Roll up to squat: Being active in squat has given me gains in squat mobility=better prepared for all leg movements. Helps achieve a better tuck. Rolling is good for you.

Pull up: Relative bodyweight strength

Bridge: Shoulder mobility, hip flexibility shoulder and wrist strength, being almost upside down but not scary. Also if you fell over from hs and landed would you land here? It seems like you should be training opposites.

It might help to consider each position.  In the beginning of the handstand you’re actuall in a type of plank or downward dog.  Then there is some activity where your feet need to leave the ground, then there is achieving balance.  I really feel like breaking these down to super basic options could replace your typical hours of upside down to  build foundational skill.

(Side note for beginners– if you’re thinking – I’ll get in shape first then bodyweight exercises will be easier – I’m begging you – don’t get in shape first!  Aka, don’t run 5 miles a day or do boot camp class to lose 10lbs to make you lighter first.  First, because it will take you that much longer to progress to an actual handstand, second the weight you have naturally is an advantage, because it can help you build strength as extra training weight. Of course you’ll need a little more patience and maybe some dietary adjustments to see optimal progress, but chances are that will benefit you anyway.  I really progressed when I thought of myself as becoming more optimal, rather than just “losing weight.”  If you want to lose weight, great, but if you’re not building the strength you need coincidentally then you’re not optimizing, just losing.  Seems like there’s a better way.   It’ll seem just as hard no matter what your weight is when you start.  Lastly you might find that  you will get in good cardio shape from putting in the work to handstand.  Trust me, you can eventually speed up your workouts so that you have less chance to breathe and get more cardio benefit.)

I don’t believe there are” prerequisites” to the handstand, but it sure seems to me that increasing relative bodyweight strength and control over many movements only increases your chances of achieving the 10 second balance.  So my “system” has some focus on general strength and mobility as well.

Pressing into a handstand vs. kicking up and using the headstand leg raise

I’m tall, and kicking up is scary.  And when people first start out, the “kick up” is by far the least comfortable thing to practice, so I thought – how do we just eliminate it? –  I think it boils down to these factors.

1. Being generally strong enough.  You could have the strength to hold a handstand against a wall.   And sure the wall is helping with balance, but it is absorbing your bodyweight, making you lighter.  I personally used the wall until I could hold a 2 minute handstand, but 1 minute is plenty.  I did this at the beginning of each workout.  It gives you some straight arm strength work, and warms up the wrists.  If you are not up to kicking up to a wall, I’d regress to headstand plank, and then headstand plank facing wall and pick up one foot, then pick up both feet to wall.  I can explain this more later.
2. Everyone has heard of a plank right?  Well a plank is just the most assisted of all handstands.  Then as your torso gets more vertical and you start removing toes from the floor, you get closer to unassisted.
3. Bringing your knees up to your elbows – aka mountain climbers – but aim to go slow – like a handstand isn’t for reps, it’s slow and for time – progressing this to crow pose.
4. Make the “kickup” a press as possible right from the beginning.  Many courses teach the handstand as a “kickup,” a “catch” and a “balance.”  The reason being is that you need so much more strength to “press into a handstand.”  But why not work on the strength at the same time?  Most coaches probably want 1. Your money, but after that, they just want you to achieve balance so it looks like they succeeded.  But I’m not sure getting the balance without the strength is all that much faster, and it’s definitely not as optimal or fun to just race to balance.

Ok what I’m going to say might seem a little counterintuitive, but I truly believe that you need to be balanced throughout your whole body ro achieve a handstand for a decent duration.  So not only do your legs and “core” need to be strong, but they need to be equally strong.  Or at least it will make the balance that much easier.

So with that said, the first movement I would have someone practice if they wanted to achieve the handstand, is the candlestick roll to stand, and toes to behind to pancake.  

Candlestick roll

Shoulderstand

Plank with weight shift:

Headstand:

Crow to one leg off:

Handstand book drill

Negatives from crow to wall

Using the hands into the floor:

Feet floating in press:

Alt exercises to mix: 

Shrimp

Jumping lunge

Runner’s Lunge:

Feet behind head to forward fold:

Then how do you work on all of these things everyday, or more often than not (aka designing your workout)

1. Pick a time domain, for the sake of this example let’s choose 12 minutes:
2. Pick 2 exercises from above and one extra- maybe in a shoulders/legs/mobility/you pick -order
3. Warm up, then do 3 rounds every minute on the minute
4. Then the next day, pick 4 new and so on.  As you progress change the difficulty and reps

Sample workout:

So here’s the thing.  You don’t need a ton of strength to hold a handstand.  But the best way in my opinion to make it exponentially easier to press into a handstand is to have an abundance of shoulder strength.  And for me, I prefer to do a little everyday.  In group classes like yoga, or Crossfit or even a boot camp, you will probably do so many reps that handstanding might not be possible for a few days after for recovery.  If hand balancing is on your radar, I highly recommend tailoring your “workouts” away from high rep volume on the shoulders.  Just see if you can substitute endless burpees, kipping hspu, presses, wallballs and thrusters, to extra light, or just the squatting motion or less repetitions.  From there you want to work on your handstand a little everyday.  Like 10 minutes of light work everyday is way better than going all out 3x a week.  Think of a baby trying to learn to walk.  They try and try every moment they have.  I personally like to try first thing when I get home.  You’re sort of naturally warmed up from your day, and you can maybe find a spot in the garage to practice before you even walk in the house.  Obviously when you practice is up to you, but I personally need a ton of warm up in the am, and conversely at night I can almost get right to them.

Finally, worry about your wrists a lot.  A wrist injury is pretty much the end of your practice.  I’ve hurt my back, knees, ankles, neck and still was able to handstand at least.  But you hurt your wrist (and they tend to be fragile) and you are out for the count.

If you need more modifications, I’m willing to help.  Everything can be scaled way way back.  I just figured my scales would fit many of those who are at the level where they might be considering handbalancing as a fun activity.  Of course if you’re just beginning your journey from couch to active, there are many options to simplify.

As my one person wellness collective is steamrolling along, I’m ever confronted with and continuously battling both my own and others’ limiting beliefs.  In fact tackling limiting beliefs is a YUGE obstacle to success in so many of life’s endeavors. One of the greatest tools we have in our own personal journeys whether they be athletic, academic, spiritual or otherwise is the shift in focus from specific goals, to enjoyment of process.  This has been critical in finding breakthroughs that are beyond limits. So I share new things because these are things that weren’t on my radar as things I wanted to do, but rather things I noticed that other people could do easily (they must just be more talented) and now I’m noticing I can do them as well.  Most of the time it’s not through practicing the individual skill or movement, but by being more balanced overall, and finding and training weaknesses, in the rep ranges of difficult to easy and few reps to more reps.

If you think about it a goal is really a limit.  It’s a place to stop. You hit your goal…now what?  But goal setting is a valuable tool in business, athletic, and social spheres?  I suppose I’m not saying never have goals then. But for me, having a goal of “practicing one extra day this week” is more valuable than saying “achieve a skill by the end of the week” or make “X amount of dollars by the end of the week.”  Suppose I achieve the skill on day 1, I may be satisfied and not keep going for more. If I don’t achieve it in the allotted time then I’ve failed. Therefore, putting too specific or time sensitive goals doesn’t make as much sense as just trying to stay on track.  If you’re making sales and making money, don’t stop when you’ve hit your quota. You’re on a roll. Keep going as there may be times where you’re stuck, and could use the extra money. If you’re dominating your sport and at the top, keep going to see how far you can go.  Play as well as you can, rather than just better than your opponent. If you stop growing because the opponent is not challenging enough, someone is bound to catch you. You go until you maximize you, rather than just win the game.

I’ve specifically done this so many times to my detriment.  I can trace a period of stagnation to an achievement that should have been a springboard to more rather than what it turned out to be-a finish line.

I put my eggs in one basket so to speak.  I set a time for myself in a workout that I had never been able to hit.  Once I hit that, I would be in the “best shape of my life” or so I thought.  I put the dedicated work in, dialed in nutrition and at long last, I had done it!  I had achieved my goal through hard work, patience and all out effort. I had hit the top of the figurative mountain. And that was the beginning of my problems, and the end of growth.  From there, there was nothing left but down. And that’s what happened. My training slipped. I got complacent. I had a limiting view of what “best shape of my life” meant. Aquiring more skills, or strength no longer mattered.  I had reached the top once, I could do it again. The problem is where is the next top? Some random workout or skill that I choose?

The truth is, the climb up the mountain IS THE TOP.  Each step moving forward is the goal, and you never reach the top, because the “top” isn’t real.  It’s a limit from which the only way back is down. If you set your goals on moving forward with each step then you never actually have to go back down.  And that’s the goal. There’s always another skill, another rep, another inch another second to being the best that YOU can, rather than a self created goal or limit, or comparison to someone else.

The concept of one is a training concept which I’m sure that I didn’t invent but that I feel like I did. It’s that our work on our movement can be traced back to only one repetition, one routine, one movement.

If you slip and fall, you just need to get up once to get up. If your going on a bike ride and your bike is hanging up, you just need to get it down once, and maybe back up once when you return. These are everyday applications of the concept of one, but it relates to fitness in that recommendations are always to perform many repetitions of component movements. I’d contend that isn’t the most efficient strategy.

If you want to do a muscle up, in order to do it you need to do just one. Practicing the components, positions, and framework may take isometric moves, negatives and partial repetitions, but theoretically they’re all in pursuit of the one. I started getting vastly improved results when trying to do less repetitions but things that were more like the one movement that I wanted.

Additionally, if I completely taxed a muscle group and had to wait multiple days to recover, I also notice slowed progress. So for me, less is more. I’m talking like I may do only two sets of 3 reps of a movement. The following day I might try a bigger set of 4, and a smaller set of 2 equaling the same amount of work but just seeing if I can add the next rep. Then on to trying 5 the following day. If I can do 5 reps then I think it might be time to make the movement more difficult rather than adding more reps. After all your going for 1 of the most difficult. It would only make sense that fewer repetitions that more resemble the 1 would be better than 100 repetitions that don’t resemble anything.

The workout might be as a group, but its about you. At no time are you obligated to do a dangerous movement or exercise because an instructor told you to. The group classes I see are highly attended, but are misleading. My hope is to educate myself by learning as much as I can about the psychology and physiology behind fitness and movement, so that I can help others avoid the pitfalls of group training.

Most of what I see in my fitness center is coaches/trainers/whatever coming up with linear solutions to non-linear problems.

Compare to learning in our formal education. There’s learning, and there’s testing. If you test before you learn typically you’re results won’t be as good. Likewise you won’t be as successful if you have a test everyday. You have different ways of learning. You learn by listening, seeing, trying and doing. You need to learn first and test second. Restructure the learning so that you get the most benefit, then retest.

Group conditioning class is a just a test of your capacity. So if we’re comparing to school or life, you’re grade could be an amount of repetitions, a time that you were able to continue, or your feeling when class was over. The group class offers you an opportunity to test. But it also offers you an opportunity to practice.

But it’s up to you to know the difference. While small improvements may be seen by continuously testing, the big gains, and a-ha moments come in practice.

When I started lifting weights, I bench pressed 3x per week. Obviously to get a big chest this was the best way right? Reflecting now, that sure seems like putting 1000 dollar rims on a car that doesn’t start. That’s all well and good, if you want a nice looking ride in your driveway. I’d rather be able to drive it. Maybe learning how to squat correctly could’ve paid some dividends.

In summary, I dislike the Boot Camp classes that I witness. I think they could be way better with a little nudge. Something that might be fun and different and not simply moving because the instructor said so might look like this.

Boot Camp comes from the conditioning in the military, right?

But even those in the military, before they do boot camp they have PT tests. They then have their conditioning (aka a real boot camp), and then they test again. So they have a actual test. But the boot camp class is a test every day, that never give you the practice to get stronger, or get flexible – the studying. There’s a better way. You just gotta Move, Play, and Learn. See what I did there.

At the end of the day, if you’re not willing to give up boot camp class, and it makes you happy then at least don’t be dangerous, and don’t cheat.

An idea might be to sometimes don’t actually go as fast as you can. Instead make sure to do all clean reps. Use full range of motion. Go heavy and slower some days, or body weight and faster others always going through a full range of motion. Acknowledge your limitations. Scale yourself back. Don’t be too cool for school. You don’t have to be the strongest guy or girl in the class. Don’t wait for the negligent coach to help you or call you out. Take some ownership. Count your reps on at least one movement and see if you can get more the next time with the same conditions, aka same range of motion and same weight. Do 3 burpees where you go all the way down rather than 10 where you don’t. Next time try to get 4 in the same time limit. Last of all – Don’t cheat!! Use your time wisely, because it’s about you.

What do you do if you’re motivated to start working out but find yourself too intimidated to walk through the doors of your gym. In this day and age the personal trainers are just waiting to spot the newest people so they can pounce and sell their questionable services. Some might say going to they gym is intimidating at first.

1. Help yourself. Like the Seinfeld episode – I’m intimidated at the mechanic. I have no idea what’s going on. Oh you need a new Johnson rod? Ok, put it in I guess. When you need help, you need someone of integrity rather than someone out to make a buck. But the gym is a different animal. People at the gym operate under the guise of “helpful” but usually offering opinions is just from the need to feel better about themselves or turn a buck. You have the “personal trainer” (aka salesman) that will comment on your form, the gym goer who knows to keep your chest up or heels down, or the steroid guy come over and spot you even though you’re using dumbbells specifically so that you can drop them if you can’t complete the rep (thus causing injury). All of which have happened to me. Really, there is no replacement for experience, but nowadays there are a myriad of online resources including YouTube videos etc. that can speed up your learning curve. At the end of the day, you’re going to the gym to better yourself. You should be encouraged rather than discouraged. Keep it up.
2. Try the Crossfit onramp class. This is actually in essence the beauty of Crossfit. With a community feel to working out, and an experienced “coach” you can actually get a great workout, on your own, and at your own level without the threat of another person offering their help that isn’t really help. Most likely we don’t all move optimally, or bite off more than we can chew from time to time, but your typical globo gym doesn’t have any real interest in your improvement. A specific trainer might, but as long as you’re paying, the entity doesn’t care.
3. Change your perspective and just don’t be intimidated. This is part of having a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. Go in there knowing that you don’t know. Know that with the right attitude you will gain the skills and strength you want. Pretending you know whats good for everyone else is not the way. Have an open mind.
4. Just go to watch. Seriously just go to watch. I encourage everyone to go watch a class they’re thinking about. You’ve been putting off the class for so long. Think about it. If you go to watch, you’ve done a couple of the steps you need to actually do the class. You carved out time for yourself, you got off the couch, you met the teacher, and you got a feel for if you’d like it. Nothing wrong with scoping it out. Every good teacher would encourage this. Working out with a friend is a great way to get over the nerves of going to the gym. Finding someone with your schedule or your skill strength level could be tricky. If your friend is super experienced and you’re intimidated by that, see if you can just follow along too.
5. Give someone a compliment I’ve found out more stuff than I thought possible by starting with a compliment. Wow, I wish I could do pull-ups like you. How did you get to be able to do that? You will find out. They’ll tell you. This might be opening up a can of worms to a conversation you don’t want, but at this point in your life you already know how to get out of conversations. Just get back to your workout. But using people that are good at things to give you hints is worthwhile.
6. Sign up for a competition There are all kinds of competitions out there. Spartan Race, mud run, beach volleyball tournament, 5k, whatever. Sign up and hold yourself accountable. Many an achievement started with this idea. But you have to sign up, and pay the entry, and have a plan. Break it up into small sections. Ask for help. But don’t pick something you want to do. That’s a dream. Add that deadline by actually paying the entry fee and clearing your calendar. That’s a goal.

7. Email Moveplaylearnnow@gmail.com

Nowadays you can learn a lot about many subjects by watching YouTube videos, and even following Instagram pages. I personally follow this one particular girl who claims to be fit, have mental health issues, and has a cult like following with 183,000 followers. She gets sent free stuff from companies to review their products. She talks about nutrition. Most of what she says is misinformed. She’s doing what she knows, and thinks she’s helping. Maybe she is to some. I honestly don’t believe there’s anything devious about her. But the status and attention we’re now giving to “fit looking” people is concerning.

I can only imaging how many more examples of this malpractice is going on, with people following other people to get “their workout.”

Truth is there isn’t a magic workout. A neat name like HIIT doesn’t “melt fat.” You melt fat with nutrition, strength and mobility, sleep, reducing stress, and yes some relative intensity probably helps.

Anyway there are more than a few pictures of herself eating chick-fil-a and diet coke, and Starbucks with the sugar free syrup blah blah blah. I’m all for having a tasty meal, don’t get me wrong. But anyone with a quarter of a million people watching their every move should probably at least attempt to understand that fake food with the absence of calories has little to do with nutrition. I guess if we’re saying “everything in moderation” or “you gotta live a little” that’s fine. But man oh man, it’s misinformation like this that got me stuck in a terrible place, and I wouldn’t want the same for anyone else.

She also talks about being in a caloric deficit to lose weight. Anyone with this much influence should be required to know that while paying attention to the amounts we eat is important that 1. it isn’t the most important factor in health 2. the scale or how much you weigh probably isn’t the best measure of “health” or “fitness.” 3. weight loss itself is not congruent with health. The obvious example is if we lose 5lbs of fat but gain 10lbs of muscle we’ve gained weight, but it’d be difficult to argue that we haven’t become healthier.

With that said, as a culture we eat too much. We say “I’m starving” to mean “I’m hungry.” There’s actually a term called comfort food. When you’re really hungry, everything is a comfort food. When what you eat is clean, you don’t need as much. Enough to sustain energy but minimize body fat is the goal.

And what exactly wrong with being hungry? We commend the young entrepreneur when they say I’ve made it in life because I was hungry. So this suggests a positive light for the word hungry. You work hard when your hungry. Hunger is a good state to be in. It’s not just an analogy, it’s real.

When you’re hungry, food tastes amazing. You don’t need all kinds of sauce and flavor. I personally like how I feel when getting to that place a little more, and just eating because it’s time to eat a lot less.

Be wary of who you’re getting your info from. So called experts who seem to know everything, or finding the next new quick fix are out there in droves. Find someone who doesn’t know everything but might be where you want to go. Better yet, learn to self assess. Can you get up from the ground? Can you do a pullup, burpee, pistol, muscle-up? Don’t say you can’t or don’t care to, unless you mean it. If deep down inside you’re saying, “man I wish I could do that,” then man up and start. Own it. Get motivated, then get driven, then get obsessed, then get connected. There are actually steps to follow. Start on step one. What’s holding you back? Weight, strength, mobility, flexibility, practice, technique. In general, work on your weaknesses more than your strengths. They all need to be worked on in concert for you to function optimally anyway. If you find yourself wanting to get on the path, check out some of the YouTube videos on moveplaylearnnow.com.