Gravity-Defying Workouts Offer More Than A Head Rush
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A new workout is exploring the benefits of headstands and handstands. NY1 Health and Fitness reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report on these gravity-defying classes. If you pop into Michael McCardle's "Off the Wall" yoga at New York Health & Racquet Club, chances are you'll often find his students upside down.
McCardle calls the class "Off the Wall" because inversions, headstands, and handstands are done away from the wall, forcing participants to challenge themselves.
Often done with partnering, McCardle says there's a real fitness benefit, other than simple feeling blood rush to your head.
"In forearm balance, where your arms are parallel and your head's off the floor, it's a great strengthener for your shoulder girdle, especially your rotator cuffs, which people tend to under use," explains McCardle. "And then, the traps at the base of the neck are overused. So it strengthens between your shoulder blades quite a bit. Headstand are the same thing."
With this approach to taking things "off the wall", the workout can literally feel like a game of trust.
"Of course there's a fear threshold. So just like you keep riding a bike and eventually it's like, 'oh,'" McCardle says. "That's how it always happens with inversions. You just keep doing it, and one day you're like 'Oh wow, I'm up.'"
Going upside down can also be a big help when you're right-side-up. McCardle says it literally give you a new perspective on your alignment and help act as a major stabilizer for your core.
"I think it's very challenging," says participant Jessica Mizrachi. "The first time I left here, I mean, next day my abs were in absolute pain. So it was awesome, but it was also very fun."
"I used to be a gymnast. But I haven't been as flexible as when I was when I was young, a child," says Sekita Ekrek, another participant. "So it's definitely sort of brought back the flexibility that I used to have. But it's also challenged other areas I didn't use much."
These moves aren't necessarily made to try on your own. Before deciding to go "Off the Wall" on your own, you may want the supervision of an instructor.