 Anyway, we're gonna have a good session. We're gonna get the wrists nice and warm to start with. We're gonna start working through the body. We're gonna start, the first phase is preparation. We're then gonna go into more static work and then from there, we're gonna start moving into a little bit of challenges and then basically test our visuals, test our kinesthetic awareness, start moving through different sort of problem solving, getting the brain going. So to start with, I know some of you have been doing it very well prepared. You're gonna get the wrists nice and warm. So what you're gonna be doing to start with, you're gonna take your wrists and you're gonna put them, fingertips facing backwards. So fingertips facing you and then from here, we're gonna do little circles to start with. Just moving around those positions. Then from here, get slowly bigger, slowly working larger and larger circles. Feel free to go back the other way, small circles, slightly bigger circles and finally larger circles. Good, now we're gonna flip it onto palms. So fingertips facing away. Same again, small circles, medium circles. Larger circles. Then from here, we're gonna reverse it. So small circles, slightly bigger and then get bigger again. Really working into this corners, being nice and kind to your body. You'll feel stretch coming through the forearms, into the fingertips. Now what we're gonna do, so what we're gonna do now, fingertips facing each other. So fingertips down, we're gonna go left to right. Just working through these positions again, initially quite small and then we're gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger. Nice guys, good. So final one of these, palms flat, fingertips facing you. We're gonna rock backwards, forwards, backwards, forwards, left to right, backwards, forwards. Again, we can throw little circles in. You'll feel a real stretch coming through the inside of the elbow. Anyone who struggles with tennis elbow or golfers elbow, really important to get into these positions to stretch all this fascia. Good, slowly getting bigger, bigger, good. Nice guys. So what we're gonna do now is start moving in and out more dynamically. So from here, we're gonna be able to drive away, keeping the arm nice and straight. So the point I made about elbows, if you get any sort of elbow problem, you'll find that elbows stay annoyed for a long time. Medial epicondylitis, tennis elbow. So from here, what we're gonna do is make sure we have a thorough warm up, moving the body through all different types of positions. And then from here, so this is the prep. We're then gonna go into more like static work. And then we're gonna go into more like challenge-based stuff. So make sure you've got a little bit of position. So we're gonna be on all fours here. So driving down and away. I'm gonna pivot the hips. So pushing down, leave my left foot here, tip my right foot through, and then push into the ground. So I'll feel nice stretch coming through the bicep. So my shoulder is now in shoulder extension. So we're gonna reverse that, come back. So starting that all fours position. Again, you know I like animal movements. So from here, leave that left arm down, and I'm gonna take my hips through. So pivot through, keeping the hips up, pushing the ground away. Open up to the sky, come back down. I could have gone back the other way. So pushing into the ground here. Pivot the hips, swivel through. Push it into the ground. If you want to open up in this position, extend that stretch. Good, coming back down. So I'm on this other side. So pivot through again. Push down into the ground, open, up. Glue it's on, going back down. Good, so this time what we're gonna do, we're gonna go all the way over the top. So from here, pushing into the ground. Boom, I'm gonna go drop the hips, swivel through, extend up, and then we're gonna come back down the other side. You see that? So I'm gonna start here, pushing the ground away. Pivot the hips through, extend, shoulder extension, up. Take this left arm over the top into this position here. If we can, keep those hips nice and high. If you want to, if you feel quite good in that position, you can pivot all the way over the top. Good, so and then reverse it. So we're gonna initiate the other way. So I went to my left hand side. I'm now gonna do it to that right hand side. So pushing down into the ground. Here, I'm gonna drop the hips the other way. Pushing down through that left arm, extend. So open, shoulder over the top, hips through. And then from here, I'm gonna go all the way over the top. That's a really nice little sequence. Gets your wrists nice and warm. You can feel it in your hips, shoulder extension, moving through these positions. So that's basically called around the world or tabletop. So we've warmed the wrists. We've got a little bit of shoulder opening through those positions, and then we've also done a full 360. So basically integrating the full chain all the way down. So from here, we're gonna start moving into more static work. We're here, we're gonna be pushing into the ground. So starting that frog stance. So with the frog stance, it's really important that the elbow rather than going to the side, boom, we drive that in. Again, I'm getting a reputation for saying boom a lot. Boom, my guy here. So yes. So rather than elbow here, boom, switch it in. So driving down into the ground, elbow is pointing backwards. So from here, frog stance. Elbows driving in into the ground. I'm gonna bring, so push up position. If you wanna know your frog position. So position here, bring the hips forwards, knees forward, and I'm gonna take the knee into the crook of the elbow. So here, driving into the ground. Again, that position again. So push up like top plank, elbow screwed in. Bring those knees in. From here, I'm gonna take the elbow, drive it into the crook of the knee, lean forwards. From here, can I start to load to the wrist? So really drive through the anterior delt. Boom, pushing in, lean forwards. Now if that feels good, I'm just gonna sort of see so forwards. Just rocking forwards. And then from here, if that feels good, I can start to take one foot off, maybe the other foot off, and then come back down. Again, we're looking to build up slowly, so don't feel like you need to do that straight away. If you want a little bit more confidence, put a cushion in front of you. So you'll be here, elbows screwed in, lean forwards. Again, taking that load. And then can I take one foot off, take the other foot off? Oh, that feels good. Again, we're just exploring. So having like a cushion, or maybe like a yoga block in front of you, that might give you a little bit of confidence just to lean forward. So the main theory with this is if we only ever do a handstand in a specific set of criteria on a certain surface, in a certain corner of the gym, in a certain parameter, then we don't get better overall. So there's a guy I've seen in the comments, Jamie. He's been learning to frog stand on a boat, okay? So I understand that's not everyone's base where they're learning, but what we're trying to do is create a wider base, therefore, higher peak. So if you get really good at handstands but only in a very narrow channel, not giving the brain a lot more ammunition or a lot of more tools to throw at it, it will actually, so by bringing in variability, by we're gonna start playing with a few little different tools in a minute, but by bringing that variability in, when we come back to doing a handstand, everything will be better. Right, so from here, what we're gonna do is start bringing in some of these things. So those of you who've already got a cushion, you're gonna use that, or you can use a yoga block, but what I want you to think about is being safe all the time. What I don't want you to do is have a bad experience during this and then be put off handstands, okay? So work to your ability, work to how brave you are, but try and keep it safe, everyone. Cool, all right, so your choice, whether you use a cushion, you can keep that cushion for safety, or now, what I want you to do, use another implement, like a yoga block, or a cushion, or some of you might have a parallette. We'll start low. So I'm gonna leave this cushion here just to show you, but I'm gonna take the yoga block and put that under my left hand. So feel free to just continue doing the frog stand, but what I'm gonna be doing here is pushing into the ground. So under my left hand, I've got this yoga block, cushion in front of me, I'm gonna do the same thing. So knees into the crook of the elbow, and then from here, can I keep pushing the ground? The elbow's pointing back, and can I explore this position? How does that feel? So your brain's having to do a lot more, you have to bring a lot more awareness, what's called kinesthetic awareness, into these positions. So make sure you try both sides. I'm gonna try the right hand side now. I'll show you, so right hand on the yoga block. Now this could be, you could even use like a rolled up towel, you can use a cushion. So I've now got the cushion under my right hand side, hands flat to the ground, leaning forwards, exploring these positions, left, right, forwards, back. Again, I'm having to be really crucial, really keeping nice and strong at the elbow. So just keeping your brain thinking. And again, rather than just going up in that narrow channel, we're trying to go sideways. So, right, so there's a question here, come from Tief-Elepele, okay? As you get more confident, you can use both, because even going higher, that means that your vestibular system, your eyes, are having to do the maths. You're having to counteract the fear components as well. So, those of you who wanna try something like a parallette, and maybe a yoga block, this could be two yoga blocks, okay? I'm not expecting you to do this, but the same principle every time. Elbow switched in, driving it into the crook of the knee. So from here, I'm gonna load. So this is nice because it's a slightly different grip. It's like a joystick grip, straight down. So those of you who have elbow pain when they're doing handstands, what that means is, you might have issue with the flexor, flexors or extensors. Whereas this is a different grip, so you keep your grip neutral. So, I've got one hand on here. I haven't tried this, by the way. Caviar, I have not tried this. So, you're about to see something for the first time. So, let's all look. One hand on the parallette, one hand on the yoga block. So I'm having to really think now about technique. Here, here, we're gonna lean forwards. And if that feels good, going back down. Woo! I was actually surprised that worked. So, again, I'm thinking about the same thing. Push in into the ground. And then push in, so, two different grips. One's flat, one's gripped like this. So, yeah, so there's a really good point there. Up to train. This is fun, right? When your brain is given a fun stimulus, you enjoy the process. You're here and you're thinking about other things rather than sets and reps. You're not getting bogged down. You're really having fun. Therefore, it's an optimum environment to learn. When the brain is happy and it wants to learn, everything comes really nice and smoothly. Whereas when we're having to, everyone remembers being at school and that subject you didn't like. And it was hard work because you weren't engaged. When your brain's engaged and excited, you enjoyed it. So, a little drink of water. Cool. So, we did a frog stand to start with. So, that's basically just setting up technique. So, when we go from frog stand, yes, so there's a really good point. Lolli, JP, in frog stand, do you need to claw your fingers the same way as you do in a handstand? Yes. So, what we're gonna do now is play. We're gonna go back to the handstand. Because again, we've almost got the brain excited. So, now we can go back, take some of that excitement back into our technique. Okay, does that make sense? So, say for example, when you've heard about going really heavy on deadlift, some people will overreach and then come back down to a working set. Anyway, that's a separate topic. But, the idea is we're fun and engaged. So, we did our frog stand. We went to try to cushion. We tried a yoga block. So, now we're gonna go back to the frog stand and work on a bit more dedicated frog stand work. And then I'm gonna show you a fun side crow. So, we did movement prep. We're now into more like static. We've got a couple more bits to do on static and then I'm gonna go into a challenge at the end. So, so, Lolli, JP. So, hands screwing those into the ground. So, I'm gripping the ground. Like I'm playing the piano. I'm really trying to grip the ground. So, here. Knees, I'm gonna take them higher this time. So, rather than being down here, quite low. What I'm gonna do is take my knee and try and put it into my armpit. Can you see that? So, rather than being here, I'm gonna take the knee higher up here. Again, this is the height components. Grip the ground using those fingers. So, I'm gonna lean forwards again. I'm only taking a foot off when I feel confident and I'm gonna try and balance. If that feels good, I'm gonna explore these different positions. Okay? Does that make sense? So, that first position we did was a frog stand and a frog stand might be where you're at. You might be having fun with a frog stand. That is cool beans. We also added a few dynamic, not dynamic, sorry, a different test like variability. And then from there, we went into more of like a crow stand. So, taking the knee higher into the armpit. So, I'll show you again. So, when we're in a frog stand, we've only got one option. We can either come forwards, we can rock and roll around, explore, but then we can only really come back down. Whereas with a crow stand, anyone who's seen the Stevenson chair, take the knee higher, coming into this position, we've got more options. So, the main thing I'm thinking about is not dropping down. So, what we're gonna look to do now is do that crow stand. Take the bum higher, so there's that, the mental component, the vestibular system is higher, the head is higher off the ground, trying to think more, but still build confidence the whole time. So, this is where if you wanna bring that cushion back in, we're gonna have a go at that. So, cushion, taking the knees higher, so a little bit more mobility. Take the knee higher, here. Screwing into the ground, knee forwards, just find that balance, that tipping point, pushing the ground all the time, take one foot off, take two feet off, and then just rock and roll, play in this position. Good, you'll find there's a lot more physical inputs coming through the shoulder in that position, and the tricep, you're having to drive more, but it's a better position because your bum is higher in the air. Just have a quick look at these questions. Balance is an issue. Okay, so it may be balance. So balance is a key component, but also a little bit of strength. We need to make sure we're strong enough, coming through the shoulders to push into the ground because what I'm not trying to do is collapse back down. So this is where we can build applied strength in this position. I'll show you a little technique for this now. So, if you're finding that you're coming back down, if you find that you're here and coming back down, we need to build dedicated strength through the shoulders and then hit triceps. So, what we can do is come forwards and take one knee off, put it back. Notice how I don't collapse at the shoulders. What I'm not doing is coming forwards, take one knee off and coming down. One knee off, coming down. What I'm trying to do is maintain the angle at the shoulder. So I'm here pushing the ground really hard, clawing the ground, one knee off, put it back. Try the other one, put it back. Coming all the way down. You'll have one side that you prefer to do it on. You'll almost certainly have a stronger side than the other, which you prefer pushing into the ground with. Okay, I'm warm, I don't know about you guys. So we're gonna go into a side crow now. So hopefully that makes sense with the progressions with frog stand. So frog stand, we got the shoulders nice and warm. We then started turning that technique, frog stand low. Then we got the brain excited by trying different things and then we came back to a little bit more like dedicated strength. Cool, because when we're trying to do like a skill, it's good when the brain is fresher and we're not fatigued. So I would go movement prep, then get like warm applied strength, try a little skill and then get back into more like dedicated strength. Cool, so side crow, this will be an interesting one for some of you. So those who've done a bit of yoga before, so palms go straight down as we did before, but now we're taking the knees off to one side. So my arms are still shoulder-width apart, but the knees are coming over to one side. So from here, pushing into the ground and then I'm gonna leave forwards, same technique. Coming back, I was trying to show you one from the side. So arms shoulder-width apart, I'm then gonna take my knees to one side. So it doesn't matter which side, but make sure you do both. So from here, driving into the ground, load, and I'm gonna tip forwards. So the majority of my weight is on this left hand side. My knees to the left, elbow on the left, knees to the left. I'm gonna lean forwards, trying to use my arm as a shelf. And then from here, gonna hold that position, keep pushing the ground, do something funky with your feet. Ooh! Again, I've got no socks on today. I don't wanna see any white socks up in here. So you'll find that requires a little bit more strength, so unilateral strength, because you're pushing the majority through one side, the side that your legs are going. So make sure you try both sides. I'm gonna do a right side and then a left side again. So I'll talk you through what I'm thinking about when I'm doing it. So I'll show you from this side. So arms shoulder width apart. Same as how I'm doing in a frog stand. But instead of coming forwards, my knees are coming to the side. So my legs are now facing you guys. I'm gonna dig elbow into the side of my leg here, and then I'm going to the outside. Outside of this left leg, driving into that knee, lean forwards from here. Can you split the legs? Do some funky shapes. Come back down under control. So even just by creating the demand for the brain to think about what the feet are doing, it means that we're still building awareness, that kinesthetic awareness in these different positions. So I'll do one more on that left hand side, then we've got a challenge for you. Cool. So from here, I'm gonna go to the left this time. So hands come down, boom, here, boom. So from here, again, we're asking, we're asking for a bit more force development and neural adaptation. So not only like a frog stand might be quite easy for you now, but this is a new thing, so the brain gets excited again. So hands last to the ground. Lean forwards, taking that weight, split the legs, do a little like scissor kick, hey-ya, hey-ya. And then when you're ready, come back down. Good. So that's a nice little variation. That's something that appears in yoga, like a psychro, but yoga, calisthenics, gymnastics, they all exist in the same universe. And ultimately calisthenics is beauty and strength. So you could say calisthenics is lots of different things. So we're just trying to bring this awareness and strength. And ultimately it's fun, right? Fun Friday, you're stuck at home, you just wanna have a play with things. Maybe you don't wanna do a dedicated strength session, but it's fun to learn. Right, so what we're gonna do now, we're gonna take this idea of moving laterally, i.e. to the side, and then we're gonna start having a bit of fun with it. So I'll just make a bit of space, move the parallettes. So from here, what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna bring my arms to the side, I'm gonna do a little bunny hop. So I'm gonna arms to the side, pop up, moving over. Move to the side, pop up, move over. And then I'm gonna go back. So I'm trying to do, it depends on which space you've got. So this time I'm gonna go right-hand side, so arms to the side, pop up, come back over, to the side, pop up, moving over. Now it might not be that high, it might be just a little one, like a baby chimpanzee, and that's fine. Those of you who are getting quite good at that, quite comfortable with that, what we're gonna do now is try and bring the hip higher. So we're gonna spend a little bit more time, again, pushing the ground really hard, bring the hip up, and just try and stall it a little bit. Just a little fraction more each time. Build confidence, build that awareness. So here, arms to the side, pop up, moving over. Side, up, eventually you get to a point where you feel confident to get a bit more hang time. So here, again, trying to come down with grace, a bit of elegance. Side, pop up, moving over. I really like these, these are super fun. But anyone who wants to get into cartwheels or anything like that, that's a really good progression. So bear in mind, if you've got a bit more space or a garden that you can play in, that's a really nice place to do it. So a couple more of these. But this time, what I want you to think about, again, we're not trying to WWE body slam over the top, we're trying to take our time, pop up, like stall in the middle, move over. So I'm really gonna try now, use those fingers. So obviously there was a time when you couldn't walk and you struggled with that balance, but now you don't even think about it. You go to the fridge 20 times a day, especially on lockdown and we don't think about that balance system. And if we want to get good at handstands, we need to give ourselves lots of different stimulus. So we're gonna do a couple more. So hands to the side, again, we're gonna pop, moving over to the side, over the top. I'll show you one going this way, I've got a bit more space. So here, lay the hand, so I'm really pushing the ground, using this, probably my furthest arm, to really push back. So pushing the ground, loading forwards, and I'm gonna take the hips up, over the top. And I'm definitely better going to the right than I am to the left. So push into the ground, lean forwards, hop. Woo, that one's tough. I have to work hard on that. So, quick recap. We went through wrist prep to start with, getting everything nice and warm. We then turned that into table tops, or I think Haley had a different name for them. I can't remember what she said. Up and down, unders or something. So preparation, we then did static work. So we did the frog, we added variability. So bringing more normal information, like tsunami of information, boom, boom, boom. So we're having to deal with that. From there, we tried, yeah, so using the cushion or using a yoga block. From here, we went into the side crow. So try and either side, and then we did that lateral chimp. Okay, so now we're just gonna have a couple of minutes. If you've got any questions, fire them through, and then I'll try and talk you through anything. But feel free to have another go at those things. So the frog, variability, side crow, or even that lateral hop as well with the stall. So if you've got any questions, chuck them in. Should my legs be on the outside of my arms? My knees are digging into the back of my arms. In a frog stand, yes. So in a frog stand, you'll be here. So taking elbow into the knee, and then you're leaning forward. See how my knee is on the outside of my arm. So I'm driving into the ground, leaning forwards. Whereas when we went higher, I'm thinking about putting my knee onto the back of my tricep. So I'm here, pushing into the ground. So rather than being here, I'm up here, pushing into the ground. And then from there, it gives us more options. Because your hip is already stacked higher. So it means that if you then wanted to go into like a frog to handstand, your bum is already halfway between the two positions. In a frog stand, you can only go really go backwards. Unless you're super strong. Or when we bring the hip higher, we've then got more options to go. Stack the hip above the shoulder, drive it up and overhead. Hopefully that makes sense. Working on frog stand to handstand, I find it difficult to throw my weight forward. I stuck any hips over my shoulders. Working on frog stand to handstand. Head forward. So think about your base of support. So your base of support is basically your hands. And then your center of mass is your bum and your legs. So if you're having difficulty getting your bum over your base of support, it could be strength. So the ability to, you're thinking about pulling, you're pushing the ground, but you're also pulling through this rear shoulder to pull you through into that position, okay? So if I'm here and I'm in this position, and I find that as soon as my knees come off, I come back down. That means that my base of support is going backwards. My center of mass is going backwards. Whereas what I want to be doing is meeting my base of support with strength. So I'm here, loading forwards, so that I'm trying to counteract, like almost like a seesaw, but I'm sending that momentum. My head comes down, my bum goes up at the same time. Hopefully that makes sense. Say, any questions firing through? Yeah, so if you're struggling with that for now, don't worry about that. Again, you've got to remember, I've spent quite a bit of time in these positions working through, having to play, and that's fine. So you're just trying to build that time on task. However you do it, keep it fun. The main thing with handstands is as soon as you start getting frustrated, step away. Because it can be really, really annoying. And you're not in that position to learn. When you're frustrated and you're angry and start swearing at things, kicking the coffee table, it's not the time to be learning. It's very difficult to come back from that. So when you're fresh, always try and finish on a good rep and then step away. There is a lot of core, so Amex, Ohio. There is core engagement. Remembering calisthenics, our body works cohesively. So if there is a link in the chain, you'll find it very quickly. Yeah, psycho's good, right, James? Yeah, kind of like a babyfree. So again, going back to the point I made, like calisthenics and b-boying, like breakdowns in, there's a lot of overlap. So as long as you've got good positions and you can feel and you've got that awareness, then you don't need to pigeonhole things. We don't need to get blinkered into one paradigm. We can take little bits from all of these things. Again, I used something from like yoga today, but doesn't mean we can't explore these different positions. So yeah, great point, well made, Cali steps. Psycho is solid. With regard to psychro, if you find it hard, it would be a potentially a strength thing. So I like it, I quite like it because it's not like a classic bridging move between taking one knee off, but it is still loading unilaterally. Like I'm loading more one side than the other. So when I'm going over to here, I can definitely feel it more in that right arm than I can in my left. I can almost, I can almost take that left arm off. But again, it's this cross body bracing. We're having to push into the ground, brace our core. Again, going back to the core comment. If we've got like a weak link in the chain somewhere, you'll very quickly find it, especially with a lot of calisthenics stuff. For frog style, do you have to round your back and pull belly to spine? Yes, so. Anelie, Anelia, Anelie, Leia, Leia, Leia, Leia, Leia. Apologies. Yeah, so when I'm in, especially crow stand, I'm having to think about my core. So when I'm here pushing into the ground, knees high, when I pop off, when I do that controlled descent, I can definitely feel that in my core. I can really feel that as well as shoulders and triceps as well. Case-case, don't worry about, you might not feel like you're particularly strong in these positions, but don't worry about that. You will build strength by doing it. So the cats are having to scrap.