This Workout Trend Helped Me Reconnect With My Inner Child

Like most people, working out has always been essential to my mental and physical health. I’ve written some of my best articles in my head on long runs through Hampstead Heath (and have been known to get lost in a thicket in the process). I sweat out my stress at Barry’s Bootcamp and reconnect with religion when praying I’ll make it through Pilates. Lately, though, I’ve found myself putting off workouts, blaming long days and bad weather. But honestly? I think I’d just got a bit bored with the same old routes, the same old classes.

That is, until I stopped by Eyeam World, London’s new wellness wonderland, and heard about its handstand class. Me, doing handstands? An activity reserved for Olympians and tots too young to have known a pulled muscle? It was an outlandish proposition that sent my heart racing – a feeling I suddenly realised I’d missed. Naturally, I signed up for the soonest class. A quick Google search that night – to answer burning questions such as whether turning up in a Jane Fonda-style leotard would be fabulous or wildly inappropriate – revealed I wasn’t the only one intrigued by calisthenics. According to the BBC, Sport England reported a 12 per cent increase in women taking part over the past year, while Google Trends data suggested interest was booming.

Before I knew it, I was back at Eyeam World’s workout studio, sans leotard – a bit too cheeky for a first impression, I’d decided – where instructor Issi Daniella, who has more than 10 years’s experience teaching everything from calisthenics to yoga and meditation, guided us through a warm-up combining stretches and cardio, putting our hamstrings, shoulders, backs and arms to work. We hadn’t even attempted a handstand and I was already sweating. Had I really lost that much strength? “A lot of other types of exercises work muscles in isolation, like a bicep curl,” explains Daniella. “With gymnastic and handstand conditioning exercises, you’re learning how to switch on multiple muscle groups at the same time.”

Cue the most bizarre plank I’d ever done, with Daniella instructing me to tuck my tailbone and draw in my ribcage. Thankfully, it wasn’t that I’d been planking wrong my entire life; these small adjustments were simply challenging my deep core muscles, including the transverse abdominis, in ways I wasn’t used to. This, I was beginning to learn, was the real appeal of calisthenics – and handstands. “Practising handstands – not just the actual position, but all of the conditioning exercises that go with it – helps your core function more efficiently,” says Daniella, as I try not to shake like a leaf. “It can help bring your posture back into neutral, because a lot of people have a bit of lordosis in their lower back and rounding of the upper back. And, of course, it’s a challenging exercise for your whole body, so it helps to tone.”

At last, we were onto handstands. But before I could start flinging my legs into the air willy-nilly, Daniella explained that I’d kick up into her arms so she could steady me while I adjusted my form. With a whoosh, I was upside down, laughing maniacally in disbelief. It was definitely a workout – my shoulders were quivering and my stomach was cramping – but there was something joyously childlike about the whole thing that made it not only bearable, but enjoyable. We practised a few more times before cooling down with pigeon poses and hamstring stretches. By then, I could already feel a new fixation taking hold. How could I keep this up? “It depends on what your goals are, but I would recommend practising once a week to start,” Daniella says. “In between, you can do supplementary gym exercises like a seated low row, lat pulldowns and hamstring stretches.”

In the days since, I’ve been imagining my future with handstands as though basking in the afterglow of a truly fantastic first date. I’d introduce myself at parties as “Violet Hayward, Handstander”. I could whip one out at work to earn the respect and admiration of my colleagues. I’d swap my daily cardigans for leotards and wear them around town tucked into pencil skirts – perhaps I’d even invest in a Velcro one from Prada’s spring/summer 2027 collection, so I could tear it off and handstand at will. I’ve already told all my friends about my new obsession, then watched as they attempted handstands against walls. Which might be the point: we’re all looking for a little childlike joy to rekindle our love of exercise, and handstands might just be the perfect way to find it.