Today at my gym we had a coach who I have never worked with teach our class - He just returned from living out of state for a while so I am not at all familiar with him. The skill part of our wod was walking hand stands and hanging/sitting L-sits. I told him that aside from my not being able to do the handstands before pregnancy that I needed to find a different activity or find a way to scale not being upside down. He said I could just do my L-sits and wait for the rest of the group. I asked if there were other exercises I could do that would help build the same muscles and he said since it was a skill thing he didn't have anything for me to do and then went about helping the others.

Even though I did the wod following this activity I left feeling short changed. What can I do that is comparable to WHS?

Wow, first of all, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I would be very frustrated by that. Is there another coach at your gym you could discuss this with. CrossFit is for EVERYONE, no matter your skill level or disabilities. We pay our coaches to not only make sure our form is good but to also help us scale properly (regardless of it being a skill or a WOD). I do recommend you talk with one of your coaches about this... that way they can bite it in the butt before anyone else has this experience. As far as how to scale... when our gym does walking handstand skill work (they have done it a few times since I have stopped handstands) I have worked on seated dumbbell presses (that way I'm not tempted to use my knees) or I put a band under each foot and do upward presses with the band. Neither of these are necessarily skills but I have found they both really help me with my shoulder strength, which is always a good thing! Possibly treat them like a dynamic effort? Good luck!

I am sorry that happened. Some male coaches are unfamiliar and/or uncomfortable with training pregnant women. If WHS come up again, I would suggest grabbing a pair of dumbbells and doing alternating shoulder presses. That will simulate the movement and work similar muscle groups.

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Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. -Helen Keller

Thank you ladies,

I will definitely try these. I have always had to scale WHS so it seemed odd that I wasn't given any scaling options. I will write these options in my WOD book and I will just do my own thing next time.

Most of the coaches I train with are really aware of scaling options so I will chalk this experience up to new coaching and if something like this happens again (I hope not!) I'll be a bit more intent on not just sitting around on the side lines.

At my gym, when the group is doing handstand work, the scaled version is to do an overhead press with an appropriate amount of weight, but to hold the weight at the top of the press (above your head, arms straight) for a certain amount of time (I can't remember how long - maybe 20 - 30 seconds). Hope this helps.