I have never run away from a daily grind, which I find more enjoyable when I am passionate about the subject. My journey to one arm handstand (OAHS) reminds me a lot of my professional career in many aspects (I have been running my software business for the past 30 years – www.odysseyinc.com). Even though I had just graduated with a master’s degree in computer science, I had to learn Windows C++ programming on my own (both were just too new to be taught in school). There was no internet back then, so it was all from books and trial and error! Right out of college, I started my own business thinking I knew enough to create my own apps (1990)! In parallel, I was lucky enough to find a job where I had the chance to build a solid foundation in software development working with/for some very talented people (I was coding at night for my business – so very long days to say the least!). Three years later, I was running my company full time and developed my first real product (On-Schedule) which won several awards against giants like Microsoft. Each new version we released had many enhancements I felt were needed to take it to the next level. Just like most software, there were bugs that either were easily reproducible (those are the easy ones to fix) or random bugs that required debugging and some “extra digging.” Community forums are still very popular today and the best place to find answers. Any of this sound familiar?
You need a solid 2 arm handstand before even thinking about
the oahs (I am guilty of this one too!). As you evolve as a practitioner, you
make changes to your handstand because you have a better understanding of the
skill, you react to some feedback from the community or a teacher, you work on
new drills, your body adapts to the skill, you realize there is a more
efficient way to balance, etc. In the early days of your practice, you might
experience certain things that you might not realize at first or may not
understand even after you notice them. You then end up “debugging” them for a
while before (hopefully) it clicks – i.e. twisting, shoulder collapsing,
underbalance/overbalance during shift, etc. It’s amazing how much the oahs
community has grown since I started playing with handstands.
I have always enjoyed listening to @mikaelbalancing talk about the technical details of handstands. He was kind enough to reply to my question on his Q&A story and provide me with enough details to keep me busy for a week. The message was simple – push more with the supporting shoulder and drop the leg more for a deeper shift on the right side (which has always been a struggle for me).
Click on the image below to walk through some of my practice videos!
- First video is the end result (from the weekend). It actually took me couple of days to get used to it. Then a few more to refine it. What I really love about this is now I find it easier to add micro shifts to reduce the weight on the assisted hand.
- Second video are side bends during my warm-up. I didn’t care much about the number of reps and instead focused more on going as deep as I could and just holding it there. These used to be part of my regular oahs warm-up, but lately I’ve been obsessed with keeping the trunk straight while shifting (i.e. to not go into a flag) and “downgraded” them to conditioning only.
- Third video are side shifts v2 using the new method.
- Fourth video are wall side shifts to keep my twisting in check. My straddle is not square (right leg is behind the left). So a deeper shift on the right side means the right leg may travel more towards the inside (which sometimes leads to underbalance). What I am doing here is shift with the feet touching the wall lightly and then getting them off the wall to feel the final position. This practice is all about repetition. Unfortunately, practice doesn’t make it perfect in this scenario, but instead makes it permanent. You basically get used to “you” and “you” becomes normal.
- Fifth video is the trial and error I mentioned earlier. The wall is nice but it’s too “perfect” because the feet are touching, etc. I originally asked my wife to move my right foot forward after the shift, but that messes up the balance and doesn’t allow me to go deeper, so I came up with this drill. I first shift without thinking – i.e. take a couple tries to find the right hands position. Then I crawl my right foot around the post so that my leg is more forward. Finally, I go deeper and then go back to center.
- Last video – a lot of fails!
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