“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” — AJC.com
According to Wikipedia, a New Year’s resolution is a tradition…in which a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal or otherwise improve their life. I’m all about goals and improvements and I make resolutions for various parts of my life — work, finances, fitness, family — and this year, I’m adding a few for my handstand practice. I’ve pretty well established that I’m not giving up on handstands, and I do at least 10 almost every day, but it won’t hurt to make a few changes. Here are my handstand resolutions for 2020:
- Be patient with my progress. I must confess that I occasionally feel discouraged that I can’t successfully kick up into a handstand in the middle of the room every time I try it. I want so bad to have the confidence that I can kick up without falling, or touching the wall, or landing on a dresser, but it simply isn’t there yet. However, I will now attempt it in an open space — something I wasn’t doing this time last year — and I do, more often than not, kick up after a few attempts and hold it for a few seconds. Progress!
- Attend at least one handstand workshop. Would you believe I can talk myself out of attending a handstand workshop because I feel like I should be further along in my handstand and won’t be as good as the other people attending? This is so dumb! Obviously the other people attending are needing help with their handstands or they wouldn’t be participating, so why in the world would I think I need to be better than I am now — before I go — when the idea is to attend in order to get better than I am now? It’s a workshop, not a competition, and I probably won’t be as good a some, but I might be better than others, and again, the goal is to better myself.
- Work on my banana back. It’s my stupid banana back (the big curve in my lower spine) that causes me to tip over when I kick up. A lot of this is because I’m naturally swayback, but if I record myself and watch, I can see when the banana starts to happen and use that to improve my practice. I truly believe that if I focus, focus, focus, I’ll be able to one day achieve that straight up and down line that handstanders covet. This brings me to number 4.
- Add more ab strengtheners to my routine. Strong abs are crucial to correcting the banana back (and some day working on a handstand press), and though I’m pretty diligent about incorporating some sort of abs into my routine every day, it wouldn’t hurt to step up my game and give them more attention. Today I signed up for the 6 Pack Promise app which includes daily workouts and the promise that I’ll have six-pack abs if I stick to it. I’m not so interested in the six-pack part (although that would be a fun bonus), but if it helps with my handstand, I’m willing to do it. Note: If you see me walking about holding my stomach, wincing in pain, assume that it’s from the workouts.
- Continue to enjoy the ride. I don’t really need to make a resolution for this. I just like the opportunity to say one more time how much I LOVE doing handstands and how happy I feel every single day as I work on them.
Me with my banana back doing a handstand away from the wall!
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