Back in July last year, we went to see a performance called “Block” at Raglan Castle. The performance was a joint venture between NoFit State Circus and Motionhouse and was absolutely brilliant. It was at this point that I decided I was going to run away and join the circus…well not quite. NoFit State run a number of community classes that anyone can join, and they just so happened to have a Handbalancing class on a Monday night. This sounded like a great idea so after looking into it, I decided that it could be good fun but not until after Cardiff Half Marathon (I didn’t want it to affect my training).
On 03 September, NoFit State held an open day at their facilities at the Cardiff Central
Sports & Community Centre and that then sealed the deal. At my first opportunity after that,
I signed up to the October handbalancing classes starting the day after the Cardiff Half Marathon.
The plan was to do this for a month dropping one of my running sessions. However, I carried on to
the end of the year when we were given the bad news that our instructor was leaving for a warmer
climate 
. I think we were all a little bit disappointed, but I guess it means I can get back to
the running properly.
I knew the course would be fun, but I thought it would be of finite use, i.e. once I can do a proper handstand then it’s just practice…surely?!?! How wrong I was. Handbalancing is not simply getting the sense of balance for a handstand then trying variations. It is actually quite a complex and nuanced art form that is absolutely fascinating to discover. Over the 2½ months I was going to the classes I learnt all sorts of different drills for handstands, one arm handstands (OAHs), one and two arm elbow levers etc. I have learnt loads and I think I would keep learning new things if the class was still running. Below are a couple of pictures of my handstands from before doing the class, followed by a couple taken recently. This shows the huge improvements I have made in such a short time.
Before
After
Obviously, I still have a lot of work to do so I have now resolved to keep training my handbalancing
with the aim that I can get a comfortable OAHs in the not too distant future. Also, if they start
the class again, I will more than likely rejoin the circus 
.