3/13 Technique Tuesday

Handstand walking is more than just a cool party trick. It requires skills like balance and  coordination and develops core strength, flexibility, and mental toughness. 
One of the things I love about CrossFit is that no matter how long you've been doing it, there's always a higher level skill towards which you can practice and train. You can finally hold downward facing dog for a minute? Terrific! Now it's time to lean off a box and hold yourself in a supported handstand. You can do that? Awesome, now it's time to develop your kick-up skills. You can kick up and hold against the wall? Fantastic! Now, it's time to develop your free handstand and handstand walking skills. 
No matter where you are in your CrossFit journey, you can find new challenges once you master the basics. If you rush forward into a skill for which you have not progressed through the basics, you will certainly walk out the door frustrated and perhaps injured. 
I have played many sports in my life gymnastics, soccer, softball, rowing, springboard diving, and now the sport of fitness: CrossFit. Each sport has taught me the importance of progressions and drills for skill development. You wouldn't think a sport like rowing has drills and progressions, but it does! I learned to row in a huge barge that was super stable. My rowing coach could walk down the middle and correct our technique. Once we mastered rowing the barge then we started rowing a heavy wide shell. Once we could row in that, then we moved into a sleek and fast fiberglass shell. But, if we had tried rowing in the racing shell first we certainly would have flipped. Flipping over in the recently thawed Potomac River is not recommended!
Today's workout is chock full of the movements we have been focusing on in our gymnastics progressions. For over a year we have been working on these skills in a slow and deliberate progression. Today you get to test your skill development and see how much you have improved! It's so exciting! Good luck! 

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Coach James is starting his 6 week training program for the Spartan Race on March 21. 

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