Outsmart Your Fear in 3 Seconds

"Brainy What-Why-How"

Your weekly nibble of science-backed goodness to help you move better and feel unstoppable.

🧠

What:

I have a vivid memory of 10-year-old me, standing on top of a balance beam in my gymnastics leotard, petrified.

I’d practised the back flip a hundred times on the low beam with mats stacked like marshmallows on either side. I knew I could do it.

But once the mats were gone? Suddenly my brain was a chaotic back-flip-sabotaging mess firing off 1,000 “what ifs.” 

My body knew exactly what to do, but my brain? Nope. Hard pass.

Then my coach said, “You’re gonna go in 3… 2… 1.”

Instant clarity.

My brain shut up, my body took over, and the flip happened. Smooth. Done.

After that, whenever I caught myself spiralling about something I knew I could already do, I’d give myself the same cue: 3, 2, 1 — go.

Handstand Club is here!

The ​6-Week Handstand Kick-Up (the-butt) Course​

A structured, science-backed, community-fuelled boost to finally get your handstand practice moving forward (and upward).

We start in January!

Details ​HERE​ — or just hit reply and ask your questions. I love hearing from you.

Why:

The brain treats anything that feels like a fall as a potential emergency 🆘 Even a hint of instability can set off the threat circuits.

Here’s the short-and-sweet version:

🧠 The amygdala freaks out → 
🧠 It tells the motor cortex to hit the brakes → 
🧠 It overrides the smooth, well-mapped movement in the cerebellum and basal ganglia →
🧠 Meanwhile the prefrontal cortex piles on the overthinking

…and suddenly you’re stuck in an endless freeze → analyse → freeze loop.

A countdown disrupts that pattern.

It snaps your brain out of the fear loop, gives you a simple, rhythmic task, and hands you a clear “go” signal. 

That tiny moment is enough space for your body’s already-trained motor pattern to slip past the "panic and run" feeling.

How:

Use your own countdown for anything you know you can do but find yourself overthinking to death. 

It doesn’t have to be dramatic — just a quiet “3, 2, 1” (in your head or out loud) creates a time boundary so your brain can’t wander into the “what if” abyss.

When fear ramps up, the brain tries to micromanage everything. So pair the countdown with one simple cue or a tiny progression:

  • 3, 2, 1 — get out of bed

  • 3, 2, 1 — handstand

Or for a nice add-on, countdown and level up:

  • 3, 2, 1 — get out of bed before I hit snooze

  • 3, 2, 1 — kick to handstand 5% higher

Then finish the job with a seal of safety approval: after every attempt — even the sloppy, wobbly, barely-counts ones — mentally tag the outcome. My coach’s favourite (and now mine):

  • “Did you die?!”

Other options:

  • “That was easier than I thought.”

  • “I handled that like a boss.”

  • “Aaaaaand I’m still safe!”

Your nervous system learns from the evidence you give it — so give it evidence that you survived, handled it, and lived to flip another day.

Let me take care of the thinking about how you're get consistent with your handstand training: join the ​Handstand Club here! ​

Less over-thinking, more doing,

💋 Adell

Adell Bridges