Before you try a handstand… Before you pick up the phone…

You all know that I like to draw life lessons from the things I observe day to day, often from my own learnings or mistakes.

The gym I go to is in a complex with a swimming pool that caters to not only children learning to swim, but also is home for a national competitive swim team. The gym is often filled with young chiseled competitive swimmers doing all kinds of intense workouts.

A year or two back there was a very athletic swimmer who used to train at the gym, he would be in there in the mornings at the same time I was there, and part of his routine was doing handstands. Handstands on the floor, handstands on boxes, handstands on dumbbells. He was tall, very fit, and when he stood on his hands up on a box in the middle of the gym, completely unsupported, it would be fair to say that it was an impressive sight.

So, me being me, I decided that handstands would be fun to try.

Being much LESS young, tall, chiseled, and athletic I tried this at home with nobody looking.

One day the timing was right. The house was quiet, and the mood seized me to try a handstand up against a wall. After a couple of attempts I managed to get upside down in position, with my feet on the wall keeping me balanced. But I didn’t last very long at all. The reason was not lack of balance or any failure of arm, shoulder or core strength. My problem was that it felt like my head was about to explode due to gravity and the increased blood pressure. I tried it again and…….same outcome.

My first assumption is that this was some failure in my system, some lack of circulatory valve, maybe my cardiovascular fitness was not adequate, or maybe an exploding head feeling is something that you just get used to.

Neither of these reasons are the case. It IS a circulation issue, but not something unsolvable. What is required to avoid pressure building in your head while completing a handstand is fast moving circulation. You need to get your heart rate up first so that instead of pressure building up in your head, your blood just keeps on moving.

Thank you google.

Back to business. One of my challenges, and this is one that I know that I share with many of my colleagues, is making those prospecting phone calls. I have heard from an AREC attendee that the one thing all the Aussie top performers do is make 40-odd calls a day. I will bet that these girls and guys don’t go into their calls ‘cold’.

Picking up the phone and making a call, especially the first couple, will go better if you are not only mentally warmed up, but physically warmed up as well. I was recommended to jump up and down a few times prior to making calls. Maybe a bit of shadow boxing if you are so inclined. A brisk walk prior would be beneficial. I was over at a friend’s house recently and noticed a rebounder in the corner, there to raise energy levels during the work day at home. I know Tony Robbins fires himself up on a rebounder before going on stage.

With listing numbers dropping, and ‘green shoots’ emerging, it would be a great time to dig deep and start making those calls. I don’t think standing upside down to make phone calls is the way forward, I do think that having a brain full of oxygenated blood is going to help in a big way though, as well as a mental warm up and preparation with script outlines and a sharp focus on the outcomes you want to achieve.

And you may be wondering, where am I at with handstands… I have recently integrated a bit of hand-standing (still very much up against the wall) into my gym routine, once I am well warmed up of course…