November Challenge- Tripod Headstand

It's hump day again! Wednesday really is my best and worst day of the week you know... I have CDS which means I don't have to go to work, but I have CDS which means I have NYSC stress. I don't really mind CDS and actually I look forward to it a lot of the time. After Batch C 2013 passed out, I took over from the president of the Education CDS Group and it's going okay so far. I myself only have a few more months anyway and I hope I can get something tangible done in this short time left!

Anyways hump day also means it's work out Wednesdays! Today I want to share with you guys this challenge I took up at the beginning of the month, I was going to share before but then I thought, well why not? The challenge is to conquer the Forearm Headstand aka Tripod Headstead. Before we get into pictures, some background and a disclaimer. I am NOT a fitness expert, please check with a doctor or health physician before trying new exercises.

I am THE most inflexible person you will ever meet. Or I was anyways, I can't touch my toes for the life of me, my hands barely go past my knees, but some time ago while I was in Manchester I took pole dancing classes for fun and more or less became obsessed with core balance, strength and flexibility. People always look at pole as something sexy strippers do in seedy night clubs but until you've tried it you really can't understand the coordination and control it takes to be able to gracefully execute some moves. I love seeing dancers like the ones at "Fight" being able to contort their bodies into beautiful shapes and make it look effortless. I stopped going to pole after I moved away from Manchester and I lost my obsession a bit, I no longer spent hours on youtube watching MissDirdyBirdy or Jenyne Butterfly. However, one day when I was driving home, I started noticing pain in my right hip and literally just thought to myself, "Girl, you are too young for this!" and so I incorporated stretching as a major part of my exercise routine.

In pole one of the exciting things we did was headstands and I remember feeling so nervous the first time I ever kicked up into one. I decided that this month I wanted to be able to achieve a headstand with no kicking up, just like the way Maria my former pole instructor used to and thus started the challenge. I already knew the basics of the headstand but used PopSugar Fitness to further break it down. For reference, this is what it should look like.

The first step is getting into Tripod Balance but to get there you have to extend your legs out then walk your feet towards your face while transferring more of your weight to your head and arms before carefully lifting one leg and then the other. No hopping allowed. 

For this you actually need some flexibility in the hamstrings of which I have been building slowly.It probably took me about a week to be able to hold this pose for more than 5 seconds, now I'm super comfortable here and get into it every single time. 

Then you need to try and lift your knees off your triceps and then back down with control. This is a serious core killer! After many days I finally got the courage to lift my knees off my arms, it's all about going slow, breathing and feeling your body. Of course I fell backwards and hit the wall many times, haha. But that's why the wall is there in the first place! 

A few nights ago through sheer determination, after hitting the wall yet again, I pushed off gently from it and voila! I'm holding the tripod headstand with my knees at sort of a 90 degree angle, I managed to count to 5 before falling out of the pose but now I know my body can get there, I can't wait to push just a little longer next time. Can you tell how excited I am?? 

I'm feeling really hopeful that I can nail this with my legs extended by the time the month ends in the next 10 days! Practice, practice practice.

I realised that my hamstrings are holding me back also if I ever want to be able to go straight into a headstand they need to be a bit more flexible and so I've been working on loosening those too and maybe one day I will be able to touch my toes also! December challenge maybe? My ultimate stretching goal of life is to be able to do the front splits. Haha. Ambitious? Maybe. But what's life without a little challenge?

How's your hump day going? What fitness challenges have you set for yourself in the short and long term? Share with me! Also, am I like, the only one who can't touch their toes? *embarassed face*

P.S. Apologies for the atrocious picture quality, it was pretty dark when I did this and it also took a lot of experimenting, these were the best ones!