Everyone was impressed by the two-time Games champion Katrin Davidsdottir of first phase of the CrossFit Games 2020. The precision with which the athlete faced the WOD of theHandstand Hold she left everyone stunned, because she managed to stay for 2 minutes and 54 seconds in place.
By remaining completely still most of the time, she managed to beat even the power of men. Noah Ohlsen finished first in the event with a time of 1'37 ".
Another thing that got a lot of attention was the position taken by Katrin in doing the handstand: with his legs open, one forward and one backward, managing to balance his body more than anyone else.
To better understand the technique and why Davidsdottir chose it to face the event, we at CrossMag we asked ours expert coaches what are their impressions.
Index
KATRIN DAVIDSDOTTIR'S HANDSTAND TECHNIQUE
Analyzing the athlete's video we concluded that it was one strategy. When you compete in a race like the Games there is no specific technique to do.
The order is: stand on your hands. Since you are free to choose the methodology, you just need to keep the balance upside down!
The most common movement is to do the handstand and stay up with the whole body aligned. But in the case of a WOD where you have to stay in position as long as possible, this would not have been a good choice.
When we are perfectly aligned we occupy a much smaller area and the imbalance can be greater. In addition to having the need to keep the whole body contracted longer to maintain this posture.
HANDSTAND: LIGHTENING AND BALANCING
The strategy adopted by Katrin Davidsdottir and by his team was that of divide the weight. This relieves the pressure and balances the body.
“In addition to having her hands centered, she can use her legs to counterbalance the weight by helping balance. He can move his leg forward or backward to keep the axis immobile " explain our coaches.
Another important aspect noted is that the position adopted may have served as compensation for a certain deficit in the body
“In this way she was able to alleviate a certain deficit in her body, such as a lack of stretching on the shoulder, the force in the abdomen and so on. So, if she has a tendency to fall forward, she can bend her front leg more or extend her back leg more or vice versa."
I CrossMag coach they explain that, in this way, the muscles that must necessarily be contracted when performing a handstand, such as glutes and legs, do not have to be so contracted.
Therefore, his idea goes far beyond just maintaining balance, it is also a way to save energy and hold the position longer.
NEGATIVE POINTS OF THE POSITION
This choice is not without risk. To get the record, the athlete overloaded his fists and forearm more, due to the pressure and weight of the body, but what we can say is that Katrin Davidsdottir has found the perfect technique for this event of the Games.