Off Camera

I've had quite the rough week. No aerials. Saturday was so warm, I hooped outside. I felt amazing. I took video. Like, this is awesome, my skills are awesome, this video I get to watch will be awesome. And I'll post it to my blog.

I watched it. I didn't like what I saw.

Nope. Ugh. I was disgusted with both my skills and my body. It plagued me all week. So...until I can watch myself without thinking dark thoughts, I'll just stick to hooping off camera. It should matter most how it feels. Logically, I know this. The heart isn't always logical.

Momentum to Stag

Yes, I practiced lyra four days this week. It's still a bit much. I was super pooped today. But managed to be a bit productive.

I give you, momentum to stag. I learned this Tuesday. Worked on it again Thursday. Today, I got my foot through without touching the hoop. It's pretty exciting!

And I worked on negatives with ball to the top. Get into ball position, untuck just a bit like I'm starting to dismount back to seated, tuck back up. I figure this will be the best way to get my body to learn that tuck. grrrrrr

So Much Progress

Rockin' ankle hang. It barely hurts now, way below my personal pain threshold. At one point, I was starting to tell myself this might just be a move I wasn't meant for, that I had super sensitive feet. Not anymore!

Then another to the top move, front lion. It's getting less scary up there. I don't feel the need to use the low hoop as a crutch. Plus, this hoop doesn't swing out.

My favorite bit of class is hearing all the comments on my videos that I didn't hear while actually doing it. I look like a "beautiful mermaid...a beautiful lion mermaid." Too cute.

I'm seeing so much amazing progress in my skills just this year alone, it's overwhelming. My ball to the top may still not quite be showing improvement, but you know what? I don't care! (Well, I DO care, I plan to work on it diligently. I have a lot of hope that I'll get it eventually. I just don't have it yet.)

Ankle Hang

This blog knows I've been working hard at ankle hang. Last night was the first ever hold, no split second hold for a screengrab. I wish I held it longer, I could have. The pain was tolerable. But I think I was just stunned.

And also, world's most awkward ball inversion...might be improving. But still, hella awkward.
p.s. the girl behind the laugh in the video? she's just as cute as her laugh.

Tofu Hook

2018 has been the year of fabulous firsts. I'm gonna get spoiled. Eventually I'll hit another plateau. But right now, I'm just having a lot of fun with all these firsts.

First ever tofu hook. I've never been able to do it one-handed before. Until now.

And then I worked on this sequence. I built in a bit of rest after arrow. I need more stamina. And I flubbed ball to the top of the hoop a bit. I was tired. I had run through this sequence a couple times already off camera. I should work on sequencing more, to build stamina in the hoop.

Aerial Photo Shoot

Lessons learned:

• There's no rush. There will be plenty of time for all poses, even to re-shoot them if need be.
• Point those toes! There's one photo below with a lazy foot. It bothers me.
• I look amazing!

Multi-Lyra

A couple weeks ago, I had a multi-apparatus week (lyra, trapeze, silks). This week has been a multi-lyra week. Class on Tuesday. Private lesson on Thursday. And practice today.

Little warmup routine including skin the cats. Look how much better my straddle is! And timed single knee cinches, I'm trying not to allow myself to push off the floor when I need to bail. Just crunch up to grab the hoop. And skin the cats, wow that's some kinda shoulder workout!

Then I tried momentum to ball. Look at my profile straddle! That slight pause in position. Yayness!

And some beauties...

Polerskating

I would totally try pole dancing if I could do it on roller skates!

Momentum to Ball

Holy shit, you guys! I did momentum to BALL! This is a game changer. I had the slightest foot catch. I'm OK with that. I feel AHmazing!

In addition to that in my private lesson, we worked on gazelle to the top (no pictures). I let go with one hand. I wasn't ready to fully let go. Having one hand still on the straps, it still made the prettiest of shapes looking at myself in the mirror. Hopefully on Saturday, I'll get some nice video. And we worked on skin the cats. Keeping the pike position all the way to the floor with control. It's super intense, and I'm gonna be super sore. I hope to also get more video of this on Saturday.

Best private lesson ever! I say that a lot. But they really are. If I could rank this one a 6, I would...

Night of Firsts

Happy Mardi Gras! I went to lyra class. Terrible of me to say, but it's nice not being among the worst in class anymore. I get grouped up with the best. There were two official intermediate students in class.

Lots of firsts last night. Got to try "baby" skin the cats. This is difficult to describe. Imagine hanging upside down in pike position and bringing your feet to the floor. So you end up in a sort of reverse shoulder hold. I'm super sore today in my shoulders, probably because of that.

I'm also bruised all along my inner thighs. From vine climb. I had that flexibility breakthrough on Saturday. Last night, we took it a step further and did a kind of roll over the hoop. Gotta watch out for your lady bits here. Yowzas!

Yet another first, gazelle to the top. The double tabbed hoop swings like crazy. Just look! It swings in both directions. I don't yet know how to stop/minimize that happening.

Crescent Moon

Flexibility breakthrough, for me. I've never been able to hook my foot over the hoop before in this position. It always felt so awkward. I'm excited for this progress.

In action, with some lean out on the high hoop for the first time. It's a bit terrifying way up there. One of the terrifying bits is getting my hands from inside the tabs to outside, as double tab hoops tend to sway out. So I just started with hands outside the tab. Got into position and came down, no dramatic arm releases. Yet.

Lyra Straddle Conditioning

Some of these I already work on, but some of these are new ideas for me to incorporate. This gal is just delightful.

First up, general conditioning on lyra:

Next, conditioning for straddle:

Trapeze, part deux

Took my second class. This is an interesting apparatus. But I don't love it. It's like a weird lyra. And when I'm waiting for my turn up on it, I'm wistfully gazing over at the lyra section, wishing I could be over there. I think I'll just stick to my lyra classes and some silks for conditioning.

My unconventional size

Hooray for unconventional! Represent a new paradigm of athleticism. Can I get an amen?

Whatever your size or weight might be, don’t let that sabotage your goals and dreams. If I quit every time I realized that my body seemed unconventional to what I wanted to achieve, I wouldn’t be where I am. Don’t think it doesn’t cross my mind...but I remember what is conventional and what isn’t is made up by the messages around us. If I allow those messages to end my aspirations then I’ve given up my power, bought in and become a participant in the machine that kills many dreams. We must go against the grain, set new precedence and tell a new story. My size won’t be my demise and stringent ideals won’t stop me from representing a new paradigm of athleticism. I hope you will join me in this movement. Tag your sweaty, “unconventional” kick ass images with #bigfitgirlmovement —we are in charge of our lives, no one else. . PS: you can still use the code FLASH to our next Unleashed program and get $30 OFF (link in bio) . Gloves by @societynine / top by @underarmourwomen / pants by @nikewomen #plussize

A post shared by Louise Green (@louisegreen_bigfitgirl) on Feb 6, 2018 at 10:31am PST

Silks Straddle Conditioning

Since I'm allowed to work with the silks during lyra practice time for straddle and ball, I think I might incorporate some of these into my practice. The straddle on silks is much like profile straddle on lyra.

Lyra in the Sun

ahhh, lyra in the sun

Single Foot Lock Sequence

What's this? Flamingo Arabesque no longer hurts? Well, technically it hurts, but it's way below my threshold now. The data could be called pain.

I give you, the entire single foot lock series. Supported bridge into unsupported bridge into flamingo arabesque into starfish into knee hang. I can't wait until I master single foot locks from the air; I'll be able to do this whole sequence much higher.

Couple more highlights from the evening. My knees to chest during warmups are more like the advanced knees to armpits. I'm even getting a slight tuck upward. So during ball flows, I attempted to get a higher shoulder lock off (combo mini pullup with mini jump) and let my feet dangle. I had to swing a bit for momentum but got up into ball that way, without using the floor.

And now, my week has been Lyra on Monday, Trapeze on Tuesday, Silks on Thursday.

Cameo

Cameo! This was last Thursday, I'm in the back on lyra while this person is on trapeze. I love a little stealth cameo that I wasn't expecting. And yes, I'm totally stalking this girl. I know her. I don't think she knows me. Weird? yea, probably. But she's the one with the public insta.

Shin splits! Yes they do hurt ☺ but its too fun to resist! . . . #trapezeaerialist #trapeze #itsatrap #trapqueen #queencity #aerialbeauty #AerialCLT #aerialantics #aerialistsofig #charlottenc #circuseverydamnday

A post shared by Katie Vanscoy (@katievanscoy) on Jan 25, 2018 at 7:28pm PST

Personal Space

Handy new use for my hoop!