I was conditioning handsprings at the end of my home pole practice yesterday and this exciting thing happened! I really couldn’t believe it – this was a back bendy variation that I had seen in the past on Instagram videos, but put aside as something not within reach (I didn't even put it on my pole goal list!). I guess for some strange reason, I was feeling brave! In this variation of the handspring, you arch your back and bend backwards while maintaining balance similar to the scorpion back bend in yoga. This is not usually a variation of handspring that I work on because the back bending in the air with no support kind of scares me and both your back and arm/shoulder muscles have to be actively engaged to balance at this angle. I’ve tried it once about a month ago with my friend Krista spotting me.

Once I realized that this scorpion handspring was within reach, I went for it and did it a bunch of times! Practice makes progress, right? For today’s video – NO, that is not the same video a bunch of times, it shows me drilling this move over and over. If you watch carefully, you will see the progression – first my hair up, then my hair down, and then being able to get a slightly deeper backbend and a longer scorpion hold. After I finished, I thought of popping the scorpion back into the regular straddle and trying to iron x down, but I was too tired to do anymore – maybe next time!

I’m wondering if all the iron x conditioning and back exercises I’ve been adding into my weekly pole life helped me with this move, or if it was the sudden gust of courage I gathered up. I guess there’s no way to tell.

One thing for sure though is that pole and progress makes you feel like super woman! :D

Thanks for watching and sharing this notable moment in my pole journey my lovely steemians! I'm definitely celebrating tonight with a glass of wine!