Want to set your sights on one of the most difficult exercises and perhaps best party trick, ever? Introducing the human flag.

Each Tuesday night, I attend an adult group gymnastics class. The participants represent a wide variety of ability levels, but one of the more advanced students recently challenged me to do a human flag. Truth be told, I didn’t even realize it was even possible.

As the picture demonstrates, the human flag involves holding onto a vertical pole and fully extending your body parallel to the ground. To do it properly, your arms should be fully extended. Obviously, it requires a tremendous amount of upper body and core strength.

If you’d like to do the human flag, use these training tips:

1. Get really good at tension exercises like planks and side planks. Also try planks and side planks with just one foot and one arm on the ground.
2. Since the human flag involves both pulling (with the upper hand) and pushing (with the lower hand), you need to get comfortable with those types of exercises. Lots of pull-ups and push-ups are in order.
3. 

   The human flag with straddled or split legs is slightly easier.

   Do handstands. They’re not easy, but handstands help improve your stability and core strength. To start, do handstands against the wall. As you become more comfortable, do freestanding handstands.

4. The exercise called hollow rocks is also great training; it puts your abdominal muscles under pressure while the body is in movement.

Here’s how to do the flag:

1. When holding a pole, switch your grip so that one palm faces forward and one palm faces back.
2. Maintain a wide grip; if your grip is too narrow, stability is difficult.
3. Pull in with the top hand and push out with the bottom hand; this will keep your body supported.
4. When starting out, try doing a flag with your legs straddled (see picture). This brings some of the weight closer to the pole and is easier to support.
5. Know that it takes time! Don’t expect to hold your first flag for more than a split second. It takes time to build up to it.
6. When you do a full flag with straight legs, you need to tense your entire body – all the way down through your butt, legs and toes.

It’s a super difficult and intense exercise – so it will take a while to get it perfectly. I’m still not there yet – but once I am, I’ll be sure to make a video to show you! And enjoy it – it’s a lot of fun.

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