When I was a kid, I knew kids who could walk on their hands. I figured it was the kind of thing almost anybody can do if they bother to try to learn, like cartwheels or riding a bike. I couldn’t, but, well, I just didn’t want to. I’d practise someday and then I’d be a master of walking on my hands.
(This is probably the same age I thought being on ice skates gave you magical jumping and spinning powers. Then one day I saw a figure skater on TV land a jump in her socks in some kind of training gym, and my brain exploded.)
But let’s just say you were willing to put in the time and practise. What could you accomplish?
This video claims to teach you how to walk on your hands, and then skip on your hands, in five minutes. I’m not sure I buy the timeline, but there are a couple of good tips in here:
- It’s easier to walk on your hands than to stand on your hands. I think I kind of believe it: You don’t have to be perfectly balanced, you just have to catch yourself from falling with every step.
- You’re constantly leaning from one side to the other, to shift your weight from hand to hand.
- Another tip, from this video of two Crossfit athletes doing laps around a running track: Wear gloves. They’re like shoes for your hands.
Once all of that is too easy for you, try walking up or down a slope, or even steps.
And on that note, here is your final inspiration for the upside-down challenge: Dream of the day you can race somebody down a set of stone steps, upside down, for international glory:
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