admin It’s not as complicated as you think!
You need to be aware of some basic facts about your anatomical structure, physical strength, and other aspects. You’ll find it easier to start one day, and you can choose which arm balances suit your body structure.
Keep in mind these three basic tips when practicing arm balances.
It would be best if you cared about your wrists.
To defy gravity when performing an arm balance, you must understand the concept of pivot point.
You’ll understand if you imagine a teeter-totter. You would never be able to get off the floor if you sat on a teeter-totter by yourself because there is no counterweight on the other side of the pivot.
Your hands and wrists will be the pivot in an arm balance. It would be best if you had some of your mass at the tip of the fingers. Some people can bend their wrists beyond 90 degrees because they have a lot more mobility, while others have wrists that are rigid and won’t bend past 90 degrees.
You can bend your elbows to 90 degrees to compensate for wrists that are not flexible enough. However, this will make the arm balances much harder.
A yoga wedge can help you with this problem. You can think of it as a cake that has been flipped on its side. The heel of your hand is placed on the thicker side, and the rest of your hand falls to the thinner side. The wrists are supposed to be more flexible.
This will work wonders for your wrists.
Your hips decide a lot.
Everybody’s hips are set up differently, and arm balances can be challenging because they require a lot of forward folding.
Some people’s hips will fold more than others. Some people’s legs rotate a great deal at the hips, while others don’t. Some hips allow legs to be spread out a lot. Others don’t. Some of it can be due to muscle length. However, the main culprits tend to be ligament length and skeletal position and range.
There’s no place to swap your skeleton, and I wouldn’t suggest stretching your ligaments. There is always at least one arm balance that every student can play with (so long as their spine, wrists, and shoulders are in good condition). Once you master one arm balance, all the others are mild variations of that same thing.
If your hips are comfortable with a pose such as Malasana or yogic Squat, you can try Crow, Crane, or Lolasana. Try Bhujipidasana if your hips like Baddha konasana. Try Vashistasana A and Titibhasana if your hip likes Seated/Wide-Legged/Wide-Angle Seated-Forward Bend.
You can find a workout that suits you without putting yourself at risk.
The Way Up is More Important than the Way Down…
Chaturanga can be a great way to build the arm and shoulder strength you need to do arm balances.
It’s not about the shape or the effort you put into the last Chaturanga, nor the effort you put in on the way down. Chaturanga is all about how you get back to Plank. You fight your elbows, bending all the time, even as you turn them on the way down.
You can do this by getting into Plank and recognizing that you won’t change the position of your spine or hips. Instead, you’ll only bend your elbows a few degrees at a given time. You think that you can move your elbows and shoulders, and the rest will stay in place.
As you bend your elbows, resist it. As you bend your elbows, fight it. The more you turn, the harder it is to get up again without wobbling your hips, shoulders, and spine. Stop when you feel you can stand up steadily and consistently with the rest of your body.
This is the best way to build the strength you need in your arms and shoulders for arm balance. You will gain the strength that you need if you are patient.
