How to Learn Handstands or Anything

"There is no spoon" -The Matrix

The truth that there is no spoon (from The Matrix) becomes clearer and more relevant with each passing day. This simple phrase illuminates how humans are constantly trying to control their environment instead of letting their environment change them. Nowhere else is this more apparent than in the gym.

The common misperception of lifting weights is that we have to move the weights in accordance with what we want our body to do and what we want to look like. Not considering at all that we were born with a certain set of genetics and our body will move how it was designed to do. So, we manipulate our weight room (with very simple machines and treadmills (to walk backwards on)) in order to fit our broken-down posture or movement. Our posture is broken down because of our sedentary lifestyle and injury, we then modify our weightlifting environment to fit our broken-down movement, which leads to further descent into injury and broken movement.

Once you realize the truth, it is not the environment that changes, only yourself, then you'll begin to modify YOUR body to the environment (exercise) and not look for exercises to compensate for broken form. This difference is not trivial. In fact, it's everything. Lifting barbell free weights is easy. The bar follows a direct perpendicular path to the ground (via gravity). All the lifter is required to do is control the decent, reach a peak flexion, and then extend the weight back up. The hard part is leveraging your muscular system and not your bones/joint system. We make lifting way harder on ourselves by catering to our weaknesses. The only way I've found to successfully engage my muscles over time is understanding how our muscular structure creates the counter force to gravity.

Learning the Handstand

"Only different in your mind." – Yoda

This concept of changing one's perception is exactly how I learned to do handstands. One day, after months of working on my Z-plane idea, I was waking up in the morning. After standing out of bed, I had this thought, "Why don't handstands require the same (little) amount of mental and physical effort as standing up on one's feet?" Why can't handstands be just as fluid as regular standing?

My thesis was that handstands were only harder because of our perception, the way we viewed the world. Much like Luke Skywalker complaining that he couldn't lift an x-wing because it was much bigger and different than lifting stones. "Master Yoda, moving stones around is one thing, but this is completely different." Yoda fires back, "No, no different. Only different in your mind." With that challenge, I leveraged my idea of the Z-plane and counteracting gravity and taught myself handstands. Not the handstands where one's legs are flailing, and the back is hyperextended. No, I am standing at attention (in reverse) with my handstands.

Movement is Mostly about Balance

Handstands (and standing up on two legs) is all about balance.

Whenever you're trying something new, (whether it be lifting, running, handstands, or getting out of bed properly) try to focus more on balance then being fixated on flexing muscles. Handstands became simple when I focused on my forearms staying perpendicular to the floor while I searched for the correct sensation of balancing my body over my arms. At first, I would violently kick up (or use the wall) and every handstand attempt was a surprise. Yet, after some time, this surprise became less and less while I learned to lean my upper body over my arms and let the weight of my own body tip me right up into a handstand.

This concept dramatically helped my bench and shoulder pressing. I no longer had joint pain because I focused on my forearms (the bone) supporting the bar and remaining perpendicular into the descent of the movement while the elevation concept created slight upward movement in my shoulders (muscles system not joint system) from slight elevation in muscles attached to the sternum and scapula. All exercises should feel like one large chain of movement, forget isolating muscles. (Even bicep curls require hips/sternum/scapula) Shoulder, chest, or arm exercises should feel like the deltoids and hands are moving together and all the weight bearing (stability) is on the sternum. During extension that compression releases and the sternum (chest) and upper back bears the weight.

Summary

Your body knows how to move. We are all born with an innate ability to move our body. Overtime, poor movement patterns and the informational noise from our environment causes us to forget how to move. Learning good movement is more about forgetting a lot of the poor patterns that were taught to you and focusing on letting the environment (gym/walking/running) change you into a better version of yourself. "The truth is there is no spoon. It is not the spoon that bends, only yourself." -The Matrix