Learning = same circumstances, different response
I heard that definition yesterday and I believe it is exquisitely apropos for handstands.
One of the challenges with handbalancing is its progress tracking.
The journey between 0 and 60 seconds is a long, very individual one, paved with ups, downs, lightbulb moments and frustration.
But the landmarks leading you to your final goal can be a bit blurry.
There is no weight on the plate that you can keep track of.
It’s not about adding more reps, sets, weight on the plate, stripes to your belt.
The seconds on your timer you may say… don’t even count that much.
You want to think of them as one of the four legs that supports the chair of your progress. Yes, holding a longer a handstand is definitely a goal. But there are certain ceilings that you will only break when you cater to the other three legs of the chair.a
You can not only obsess on the number of seconds on the timer.
There are two critical phases of your handstand journey where you should pay no attention to it:
The 2-second freestanding threshold, and
the 10-second freestanding threshold
When you reach those points, you should hide that damn timer, and start improving the three other legs of the chair:
The ⚙️Set-up: How cleanly and promptly can you get into a position from which you can take-off?
The 🎯Accuracy: How many sets did it take to achieve one successful rep? How many reps within one set does it take to get one successful rep? How many warm-up sets are required before you’re ready?
The 🗿Stillness: How clean is your take-off? How clean is your hold? Is there any parasite movement happening between the take-off and the holding phases?
⚙️ + 🎯 + 🗿 = ⏱⏱⏱
Those are vastly underrated.
Focus on taking-off cleanly, with a body well positioned, driving the take-off with the chosen body parts and nothing else, with full body silence, in one-go… and the seconds on the timer will start flying up.
