Handstands: Flip Your Workout on its Head — Part 1

Summer Olympics are just around the corner, so why not add some gymnastics moves to your workout and challenge yourself?

In the next four blogs I will write about four moves from my “The Slimnastics Workout” book and DVD to get you holding your own weight, strengthening your upper back and arms, and improving your posture.  Today is forearm stand, next week will be the L stand, then handstand and flip dog/​rockstar to wheel. You get one new move to add to your workout every week this month!

Forearm Stand:

Move to a wall, turn to face it and get onto your hands and knees. Place your palms on the floor near the wall and line up your elbows on the floor as well, directly behind the hands.

Trainer’s Tip: The perfect distance for the hands is shoulder width. You can measure this by keeping your elbows on the floor and wrapping your hands around your triceps. If your fingers cannot curl around your arms, you should bring your elbows and hands in closer until they can.

After measuring, place the palms back on the floor with the fingertips pointing to the wall just a few inches away from the wall. Reaching the hips off the floor, your body can form an upside-​​down V—similar to down dog and dolphin poses. Walk your feet in as close as you can to your elbows.

It is critical to look at your fingertips, not your knees.

Kick one leg up and then the other in quick succession so they come directly over your elbows or into the wall behind you. Remember to tighten your core and keep looking at your fingertips for alignment and balance.

Forearm Stand Against the Wall

If your legs are against the wall, slowly bring them away from it and over you, focusing your mind and pushing your forearms and shoulders forcefully into the floor.

Forearm Stand

Hover in forearm stand for up to a minute, then lower the legs to your mat and recover in child’s pose.

Also, you can watch a sample of Slimnastics here:

Related:

- Flip  Your Workout on its Head Part 2
– Flip  Your Workout on its Head Part 3

Tags: back handstands posture workouts