My new article on Return of Kings is about the seemingly impossible exercise known as the human flag, and how you can obtain it fairly easily.

The human flag is likely an exercise that you have seen in some pop culture creation, but can scarcely believe is an exercise that people actually do. Considering that the vast majority of this exercise’s pop culture appearances are in superhero comics, action movies, and other fantastical forms of media, I wouldn’t blame the average fitness enthusiast for assuming that this isn’t an exercise that people can actually do. Indeed, I certainly thought when I was younger that this was a “fake exercise” that had somehow become a meme amongst the dyspeptic nerds that draw superhero comic books.

As it turns out, however, the human flag is, in fact, a real exercise that you can accomplish with enough time and effort.

…the human flag is a great method of training the entire upper body, from the hips to the arms and shoulders, and everything in between. It also gives some auxiliary work to the lower body and the muscles of the spine. Holding the body rigid against the force of gravity itself provides a tremendous workout for all muscles involved.

In addition to its practicality, it just looks cool and impressive. I guarantee that nobody else in your gym is doing the human flag in their workouts, and you’ll get respect and admiration from both sexes. And why wouldn’t you want that?

Last, and arguably best of all, this exercise costs you literally nothing to do—as long as you have some sort of vertical pole you can wrap your hands around, you can do the human flag. You do have a vertical pole near you, don’t you?

You can read the rest of the article here