Amanda Wood With the state of the world right now, we recognize that you might not have the energy to crush HIIT workouts as much as usual. When life gets crazy, movement is more important than ever – and there are so many options to stay active and support your mental health. Our Community Manager Amanda is …
You’ve made it to the last week of the Beginner Handstand Challenge!
This week we’re focusing on putting all the skills from weeks one through three together and working to stay consistent in your handstand practice.
Even though the challenge is ending, your handstand journey doesn’t have to.
We’re more than halfway through our Beginner Handstand Challenge!
This week we’re focusing on the next step in the handstand journey: handstand wall scissors.
One of the hardest parts of learning to do a handstand is getting over the fear of falling over and learning to balance in a handstand.
When the wall is there to support you, you can build up your strength and confidence being upside-down.
But when the wall is no longer there…
…it’s SO easy to lose confidence and forget all the skills you’ve gained until now.
You’ve built the strength.
You’ve put in the time.
You CAN take this next step.
Don’t give up now!
Follow along with the 12 Minute Athlete community by posting pictures of your progress on our Facebook group, and tag us at @12minuteathlete and #12MAhandstands.
Remember, one lucky challenge participant will win a copy of my NEW book!
It’s week two of the Beginner Handstand Challenge, and this week we’ve got two new essential handstand skills to share: wrist warm up exercises and chest to wall handstand holds. We’ll also look at how to build confidence falling out of a handstand.
(Missed week 1 of the challenge? Find it here.)
While a freestanding handstand might seem far away right now, if you keep practicing the skills we’re focusing on in the 12 Minute Athlete Beginner Handstand Challenge, you’ll be working your freestanding handstands before you know it.
Follow along with the 12 Minute Athlete community by posting pictures of your progress on our Facebook group, and tag us at @12minuteathlete and #12MAhandstands.
Remember, one lucky challenge participant will win a copy of my NEW book!
Welcome to week 1 of the Beginner Handstand Challenge!
We’re kicking off the challenge by focusing on two essential exercises that will help you build the strength, endurance, and positioning you’ll need to be able to eventually hold a freestanding handstand: hollow body holds and half handstand holds.
Why aren’t we starting our handstand challenge with a freestanding handstand?
When you’re learning a new skill, it’s important to break it down into small, manageable steps.
It can be tempting to start with the end goal, especially when it’s something as cool as a handstand. But this approach can actually get in the way of your progress and lead to discouragement, quitting, and worst of all, injury.
Learning a challenging new skill like handstands will take time and hard work. It’s not going to happen overnight, but working hard on it over the long run is SO worth it.
Learning a new skill like handstands takes time and hard work. It’s not going to happen overnight, but working hard on it over the long term is SO worth it.
Follow along with the 12 Minute Athlete community by posting pictures of your progress on our Facebook group, and tag us at @12minuteathlete and #12MAHandstands.
Remember, one lucky challenge participant will win a copy of my NEW book!
The 12 Minute Athlete team is so excited to share our latest community challenge: the 2020 Beginner Handstand Challenge!
We’ve heard from many of you that one of your long-term goals is to crush a freestanding handstand. So we’re dedicating our next month-long community challenge to helping EVERYONE get their handstand practice on.
We’ll break down the steps necessary to work up to a solid handstand, send handstand-themed exercises and tips to help you build up your strength and endurance, and share our favorite ways to add extra challenges to handstand work.
Handstands are one of our favorite skills for so many reasons. Once you get hooked on them, handstands can become part of a lifelong journey.
Let’s get to it!
(Looking for the Week 1 exercises? Click here to visit the Week 1 challenge page. Then download the challenge overview here.)
Here at 12 Minute Athlete HQ, we are SO excited to announce that the newest community challenge is here! This month we’re focusing on accountability to close out 2019 by crushing some fitness goals. December is a busy time of year for so many of us, so this challenge is designed to help you stay …
It’s the last week of the 12 Minute Athlete June Flexibility Challenge!
For our final week, we’re focusing on some often-forgotten areas to stretch: the chest, back, and core.
You’ve probably heard of these muscle groups being paired up in strengthening workouts…
…but stretching?
Most of us don’t dedicate these kinds of stretches into our regular fitness routine.
But we should! Because the chest, back, and core are all MUSCLES.
That means that when we strengthen them, we shorten them. And it’s important to lengthen them back out if we want to keep using them to their full capacity.
So let’s give these muscle groups some TLC with the following exercises; do this routine at least three times per week in addition to your regular workouts to build a more flexible chest, back, and core.
It’s the last week – let’s see those progress posts! Use the tags @12minuteathlete and #12MAflexibility on our Facebook Group and Instagram for a chance to win my favorite foam roller and a signed copy of the 12 Minute Athlete book!
Looking for the full Flexibility Challenge calendar? Go here.
We know you’re going to love Week 3 of the June Flexibility Challenge, because this week we’re focusing on a spot that’s tight for many of us…the hips and glutes!
Because 12 Minute Athlete workouts are HIIT and circuit-based and mainly focus on total-body strength, you’re using your hips and glutes in just about every exercise. Add that to walking around on your legs every day, and it’s no wonder that so many athletes have constant tightness in these areas.
Flexibility in the hips and glutes can benefit athletes in tons of exercises such as squats, side lunges, and step ups.
Plus, staying flexible in those areas will help you with mobility in non-athletic movements like picking up something off the floor, sitting comfortably in a chair, walking up the stairs, going for a stroll…
…you get the idea. These areas are involved in so many movements, so working on getting more flexible hips and glutes is a great goal for any athlete.
Aim to do this exercise routine at least three times per week in addition to your regular workouts.
Have you been posting pictures of your progress to the 12 Minute Athlete Facebook Group and on Instagram?
Use the tags @12minuteathlete and #12MAflexibility, and you might be selected as the winner of my favorite foam roller and a signed copy of the 12 Minute Athlete book!
If you’re just starting the challenge, click here to get the full challenge calendar!
Looking for the weekly exercise posts? Find them here:
