Tarifa「タリファ」: Acroyoga「アクロヨガ」

The problem with kite surf is that you have to wait sometimes. For the wind. To come.

Taking a long walk along the coastline is one option to relax, but those searching for a bit harder stuff may find a sweet spot on doing hand stands. I have never had such strong abs as when I was doing Capoeira - IMO look at me in the good'ol days.


Tras muchos años al sol, el significado de vacaciones se acerca más a gymkana que a shopping & food. Supongo que me compensa física y mentalmente usar los días libres para moverme todo lo posible, que viene siendo lo que no me permite mi trabajo de oficina. Los que nos seguís en instagram sabéis que hemos pasado unos días en la playa, haciendo un curso de Kite en Tarifa, aprovechando que estamos tan cerca. Es gracioso, porque entre rítmica, baile, capoeira, yoga y hasta pole, aunque acabe de empezar - pensaba que esto de hacer el pino era algo de lo más normal. 

Olvidadas quedan ya aquellas semanas de practicar en casa, para conseguir aguantar lo suficiente y aprobar educación física (soy pésima en cualquier deporte que tenga una pelota, de cualquier tamaño, así que había que compensar con algo). El caso es que os animo a probar este verano, en casa, en el parque o con una colchoneta ahora que el gimnasio está más vacío. Vuestros abdominales lo notarán :) Podéis empezar con el pino a tres apoyos. A medida que vayáis cogiendo confianza, pasad al de dos. Otra forma es apoyar las dos manos y caminar por una pared/columna hasta la vertical (este ejercicio lo hacía cuando entrenaba con Sam en Tokyo, era una machacada total) o probar al estilo yoga.

Find below 5 reasons to try via:

1. Strong upper body.

In order to stay upside down for any length of time, you'll need a massive amount of shoulder, arm, and upper back strength. In fact, it's not uncommon for beginners to start shaking after just a few seconds of holding a handstand.

To build up strength, start by holding a handstand against a wall for three sets of 5-10 seconds. Work up to holding them for a minute or two at a time. Practice often, and watch as your upper body strength skyrockets.

2. Balance

If you've ever tried a handstand, you know that besides needing to be strong to do them, you'll also need to have substantial balancing skills as well in order to be able to hold yourself up. Freestanding handstands, especially, require you to be able to have full control over your muscles and to constantly make small adjustments to avoid falling.

Practicing freestanding handstands or doing handstands against a wall and trying to take your feet off the wall for as long as possible will help increase your balancing abilities like no other exercise can.

3. Boost your mood.

Not only will handstands make you strong and help improve your balancing abilities, handstands can also make you feel happier, since the blood flow to your brain has an energizing and calming effect, especially when you're feeling really stressed out.

Another way handstands can help your mood is by reducing the production of the stress hormone, cortisol, which can not only de-stress you in the short-term but could also help relieve minor depression and anxiety.

4. Core strength.

There's no need to spend hours focusing just on your abs — you can have fun doing handstands and build core strength as well. Since staying upside down forces you to stabilize your muscles, you're constantly working your abs, as well as other key muscle groups such as your hip flexors, hamstrings, inner thigh muscles, obliques and lower back while in a handstand. Training handstands every day will get you a well balanced, super strong core.



5. Bone health, circulation and breathing.

Since handstands are technically a weight-bearing exercise, they can help strengthen your bones, making you less prone to osteoporosis. Handstands are also beneficial for your spine, and help aid bone health in your shoulders, arms and wrists. Not only that, the upside-down nature of a handstand can increase circulation to your upper body, while relieving pressure on your feet and legs and stretching your diaphragm at the same time, which in turn can increase blood flow to your lungs.