Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Box…

To avoid the quiet comments section I often find on Rest Days, I’m laying out a Discussion Topic (via Plinky.com) right now:
List 5 things to do before you die.

1) the laundry
2) my taxes
3) get a better cell phone
4) do three immediately consecutive, unspotted back tucks
5) Eat emu

1) Deadlift 500 lbs
2) Have kids
3) travel to a lot more places
4) Run a 6-minute mile
5) Get paid well to do a job I love

Since most of today’s articles are on foods, I’ll add the following:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/nyregion/24candy.html?hp
Basically it says in today’s hard economic times, people are increasing their consumption of candy. Yet the idea of sugar as a drug is incomprehensible to the general public.
and 5 things I want to do before I die:
1) spend and entire year skiing
2) climb an 8,000 meter peak
3) get into the Guinness Book of World Records
4) get my own show on the Travel Channel
5) buy a motorcycle

Wanted to get some different opinions on this. I wanted to improve on my handstand pushup. Right now I can do a pretty good job of holding the handstand and can push out about 1 of the pushups before my arms let go. Does anyone have any advise on how to improve this? I have been trying to work in some handstand practice a few times a week but anyone’s advise would be great! Guess my one goal would be to do a handstand pushup without the help of a wall.

I’m looking forward to CFE tonight. For those who don’t know, CrossFit Endurance is an opportunity to work on your running and endurance skills (good training for both long and short distances especially those pesky 400m runs that come up on the WODs).
My list:
1. Do a muscle-up.
2. Run the Marathon Des Sables – 140-150 mile (depending on the year) race over six days in the Sahara desert.
3. Write a cookbook.
4. Finish reading this book on World War II which has been sitting on my bookshelf for years. The book is staring at me right now waiting for me to understand the mindset and dilemmas of Tojo, Stalin, Hitler, Churchill and FDR.
5. Eat a Rocky Mountain Oyster.

Erik – can you balance in a handstand away from the wall?
I am happy to help you – or anyone – with that enterprise. I am of the opinion that it is not particularly constructive to attempt to work handstand pushups away from the wall before you can balance solidly in a WELL ALIGNED handstand. You might be able to balance, but you also might reinforce some upside-down postural habits that will come back to haunt you.
well aligned means, in my book: hands in line with the outer shoulders, fingers spread and finger pads and knuckles firmly pressing into the ground (aids with balance and, more importantly, helps to prevent too much weight from resting on the wrists), arms straight
I recommend playing with where you place your gaze/the curve of your cervical spine —> generally, it’s much easier to balance if you look between your hands, though for some people that will induce a bigger banana effect
tailbone long towards your feet, back body (especially lower back) full, not collapsed/banana-style
legs straight and hugging together at the body’s midline
if you point or flex your feet, that’s entirely up to you
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I support Jeff’s recommendation of working on the negatives. Work on them away from the wall.
I do this and I find that the more tired I get, the harder it is to stay engaged in the core as well and I begin to flop over into a backbend instead of lowering myself slowly to a headstand with control and balance. Also, I bonk my head on the floor. That’s always a good clue that I’m not really controlling the movement.
I enjoy playing with handstand pushup variations…
And for those who are interested in the yogic/asana context – I am trying to learn to push up from bakasana (crow pose) into handstand (sort of like tucking up into a handstand, but your feet are not on the ground and your legs are balanced/hugging against your upper arms).
although it is possible and, indeed, desirable to balance in handstand in a way that preserves the natural curvature of the spine, there is a point in the handstand pushup where, for most people, it has to become more of a backbend —> it’s interesting to see the variations, watching people do them…how backbendy, where the legs go, straddling, not, etc…
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TOTALLY UNRELATED, look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqYPrAvGDUU&feature=channel
(astonishing power tumbler)

Thanks so much for all your input. Hopefully soon I will be doing actual HSPU’s during the WODS instead of just the pike ones. And I would very much like to avoid as many gnarly accidents as humanly possible.