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Exercises I am newly in love with
Jan. 7th, 2007 08:43 pm1) Do a handstand against the wall, then walk sideways on your hands for a few feet. Walk back to where you started. Since the wall helps you balance, this is primarily a strength move, but also teaches you how to shift weight sideways into one hand. At least, that's what I hope it's teaching me.
2) The stability ball pike. The woman I first saw doing this at the gym was going even farther than the guy in that video, getting her hips all the way over her shoulders to turn the position into a half-handstand at the end. This move is evil: abs, balance, and shoulder/chest strength in one. I tried that variation today after already working on handstands for a while, so my shoulders gave out and I ended up dropping myself on my head, but I could feel the burn in my abs starting well before that happened.
3) Single leg stiff-legged deadlift:
This requires flexibility, strength in the standing leg, strength in the back of the lifted leg, exquisite balance, and a sense of humor. I'm definitely adding it to my lower-body workout -- I really like the way it makes the hamstring work when it's extended. Cruelly, if you look at how the balance works, it's clear that the more weight you want to lift here, the more flexibility you'll need in the standing leg.
2) The stability ball pike. The woman I first saw doing this at the gym was going even farther than the guy in that video, getting her hips all the way over her shoulders to turn the position into a half-handstand at the end. This move is evil: abs, balance, and shoulder/chest strength in one. I tried that variation today after already working on handstands for a while, so my shoulders gave out and I ended up dropping myself on my head, but I could feel the burn in my abs starting well before that happened.
3) Single leg stiff-legged deadlift:
This requires flexibility, strength in the standing leg, strength in the back of the lifted leg, exquisite balance, and a sense of humor. I'm definitely adding it to my lower-body workout -- I really like the way it makes the hamstring work when it's extended. Cruelly, if you look at how the balance works, it's clear that the more weight you want to lift here, the more flexibility you'll need in the standing leg.
