Day Two was even more fun!

This is my 'before' handstand picture

Great day yesterday. Engrossed by all the practical knowledge Sara and Shawn have to share, the day flew by. In the morning, we worked on the squat, starting with bodyweight. Then we did some adaptive bodywork (which is basically working with a partner, you work out their adhesions in the myofascial layer that surrounds the muscles – the more adhesions, the more it hurts!) and then we compared our squat afterwards. It made a difference. My calves were really tight! It might not have helped that I ran from my hotel to the training academy that morning. Then we moved on to squatting under sub-maximal load. Then to one-arm overhead, to two arms overhead. Trust me, the two-arm overhead deep squat est très difficile!

We worked on foot mobility quite a bit, to help stabilize the foundation, not something most of us think about working on, me included. My foot muscles are sore today.

If you have ever done animal flow workouts, I have a new animal to add to the arsenal: the lizard crawl! It is by far the most challenging animal movement I have seen and it is awesome because it prepares the hips and shoulders so well for squatting (not to mention being a great exercise in coordination!).

After lunch, we did some more shoulder mobility work using Indian clubs and rubber bands (not together). This prepared us to work on the kettlebell snatch. This is another review exercise for me but I am still working on improving it, so this practice time was well spent.

We finished the day with a timed speed and endurance workout involving two exercises: alternating jump tuck burpees and high volume swings in ascending and descending sets. The burpee repetitions started high and decreased as the swing count which started low and increased. I was pleased to finish first, over 3 minutes ahead of second place. As I write this, I can feel the tightness in my quadriceps from all the burpees. I am glad to they told us that today will be a lot of stretching and mobility work. Thankfully! 

I am also looking forward to learning about bent arm versus straight arm strength. And doing more handstands. How is your practice going?