This Workout Wednesday, I want to talk about the concept of failure.  I’ve heard it put it this way: “If someone told you that 9 out of 10 times you would fail at something, how motivated would you be to try?  How fast would you go about trying to master the task with enthusiasm?  Probably not too quickly.  What if instead, they said that you would fail the first 9 times and succeed the 10th…then how fast would you start trying? Probably right away: heck, the sooner you start, the faster you’ll get to succeed!”  Lots of people don’t try new things because they’re afraid to fail, but the road to success isn’t paved with success: it’s littered with all the times you got it wrong, and then moved on with what you learned.

Enter the challenge of the day – arm balances.  I took a quick trip home today to see my sister before she goes away to Germany for a study abroad month, and we decided to try some things we’ve been seeing on Instagram.

First up: hollow back.  
Looks pretty good, right?  Maybe you’re even thinking it’s easy since you don’t have to balance as much as a regular handstand?  Well I’m going to post what most of the “lookatme” Instagrammers don’t:  the difficulty of getting in and out of the pose when you’re learning it, which IS the hard part…and trust me, your arms get tired pretty quickly once you get there, too!

For your entertainment:
First the dog was in the way.

We realize you can use the pole…
This is where you need a hand to get your other leg up.
Good thing we’re about the same height
Getting your hips to the wall is tough.  And scary.
 And makes you feel like you’re falling…
on your head.
(Post-fall.)

Then we tried to do a double crow pose:
and nailed it, at the same time!(on the 14th try.  And then fell over.)

Lesson: keep practicing.  There isn’t much worth doing that you’ll do well the first time, and I’m lucky to have someone who’s willing to fail with me.  Try something new, challenge yourself (preferably with a spotter, please do not hurt yourself)!  A new goal I’ve added now is to be able to get into the hollow back pose without an assist.

Redefine “fail” – it’s a step closer to success than you were before!