CrossFit T-Town

Forearm Stand w/ Snowboard

The benefit of Forearm Stand is that it offers more stability than Handstand due to the larger foundation of the forearms as opposed to the hands. However, finding the strength and openness in the shoulders can be challenging. Take your time playing with this one, and remember turning your world upside down can simply begin with flipping your ideas about what your body can or cannot do.

Forearm Stand

 

Beginner's Tip

Many beginners find it difficult to prevent their elbows from sliding away from each other in this pose. Buckle a strap and loop it over your upper arms, just above your elbows. Extend your arms straight out in front of you at shoulder width and adjust the strap so that it hugs your outer arms. Then use the strap in the pose, but think of pushing the arms slightly in, away from the strap, rather than letting them bulge out into the strap.

 

 

SUP Inversions

Why I LOVE Being upside down!

I love inversions. I love the challenge of trying to stay balanced. Headstands, forearm stands, and handstands are all kinds of balancing inversions. Headstands are the easiest inversion since your head and your forearms are planted on the ground. Handstands are the hardest (I think), because only your hands are holding your body up. So that leaves forearm stands right in the middle with a moderate level of difficulty. You may find them easier than handstands, since both your forearms are helping you to stay balanced. Plus, you are lower to the ground, so you may find this easier to get into. This pose has a lot to do with shoulder and upper back strength, but it's also about engaging your core muscles.

SUP Forearm Stand

You Know I had to do it!

Self-mastery

Yoga is all about self-mastery, that is being better than you were the session before, the week before, more connected to oneself than when you first walked into the class. It is not about competing with others in the class, with your prior accomplishments, or a preordained goal but rather being inside yourself and becoming more entranced in your own self-discipline and practice.

Inversion

Forearm Stand

To get started, familiarize yourself with dolphin pose (downward dog but with forearms on the ground). Then, set up against a wall (finger tips can just barely touch the baseboard of the wall). Be vigilant about the shoulder-width of your arms (do not let your forearms creep inward!). Kick your legs up to the wall; be gentle. Don't kick like a donkey. Activate your core, and wrap your shoulders away from your ears. If you want to attempt to balance, draw your gaze between your hands. 

Forearm Stand Beginner’s Tip

The most common mistake when learning how to move into this pose is to let the elbows come out to the sides. When this happens you lose the strong frame of the upper body and the chest will collapse, straining the neck and making it very hard to balance. A great way to learn how to keep the elbows in and find more support is to use a strap! The strap needs to be tight enough to keep your elbows shoulder width.

Pincha Mayurasana

 From dolphin, walk your feet toward your elbows and lift your right leg toward the ceiling. Come onto the ball of your left foot and start to rock forward and eventually lift both legs off the ground. (You can also do this against a wall.) Try to stay here for 5 deep breaths. And remember to have

fun—you are upside down!

Focus

Yoga focuses on the mind by teaching you to concentrate on specific parts of the body. It teaches you how to quiet the mind so you can focus your energy. It also encourages positive thoughts and self-acceptance.

“It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.”

Sunset

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mountain High

Push The Limits

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.

It never changes

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” — Albert Einstein

Kettlebell Forearm Stand

In all arm balances, the true flight comes when you use very little effort. Try not to muscle into it.

The Forearm Keg Stand

“Concentration is the secret of strength”

Go UpSide Down

Inversions

Having a strong back is imperative for executing arm balances and inversions. A common mistake among beginners is to try to rely on shoulder and arm strength in these types of poses, but those smaller muscles will fatigue quickly!