I’m turning 56 in a couple of weeks and I have a goal by 60. It is to do a “floating handstand” away from the wall. I am able to get on my hands and flip myself upside down (see photos) and get some “hang time.” Note the wall behind me in two photos, in case I fall back (I sometimes do). My goal is to get up there mostly with my core strength and hold it for a while and be able to play around with the position of my legs.
After a lifetime of challenging myself, I truly thought I was done with physical goals. So, how did I get into wanting this?
I was already pretty strong from daily yoga and doing a lot of arm balances, and a few months ago I started going to HIIT and boxing classes with my kids. I really enjoyed bringing mindfulness, strength and flexibility to the workout.
The combination of yoga and workouts made me even stronger in my arms, core and legs, and one day in a class I did like 25 regular push-ups in a minute, when I used to not be able to do more than 5 and with poor form.
That feeling got me all excited, and then I realized, hey, maybe I can train for something again. So here I am, super motivated and enjoying every second of daily drills (in addition to my yoga practice), to build the strength, technique and focus to handstand with ease and grace.
Challenges keep me interested, joyful and feeling free. I can tell you that for me, the challenge used to be NOT to challenge myself. And I did that for a bit and that was also great.
How do you challenge yourself? Or maybe you prefer not to, which is fine too!
