Saturday Practice

Another Saturday, another lyra...

Mermaid ON TOP

Lyra class last night. Gotta use these class passes up before they expire, the ones I bought for silks. But meh, silks. I'd rather do lyra.

There were only 5 of us last night, all about a similar level. So we all did the same warmup and worked on the same moves. Some skin the cats, my shoulders are sore today, trying to pause before touching down.

And a bit of this. Inside mermaid to the top. It's a little awkward to get into, definitely needs smoothing out.

Saturday

My favorite way to Saturday. Lyra. Sushi lunch. Hair did. In that order.

Funnily enough, my profile straddle is getting better than my regular straddle. Although I was able to do a few (bad) regular straddles today strict, with no hop, bending my legs then unfolding them, like I do in profile straddle.

At my private lesson on Thursday, my teacher showed me this to work on, to build up stabilizer muscles. I think the point is to eventually do a pike in shoulder stand. But I need to train the balance first. I'm doing fairly OK here.

I also am really loving momentum to ball. I prefer it over straight-up ball to the top. I guess the momentum helps me get into position. But look at that form, my toes nearly touching the bar in a swing! Badass!

And back balances. Is there anything better than feeling solid in a balance? Whether front or back. I just wanted to get on video how long I could hold this. Maybe I'll start timing myself and building up that time.

Some pretties...

Intermediate

Ack! My lyra teacher promoted me to intermediate classes. Well, with a caveat. The next unit that starts in April is quite difficult, and she thinks it would be better for me to wait until the July unit. I was sort of speechless. I was like, but wait I'm not ready. She said she feels I'm a very well rounded aerialist, quite strong, with a lot of strengths that some of her intermediate students don't have. So while yes, some of my inversions are cheated, while a lot of her students can do them cleanly, I can do them well enough to be safe in class. And she's not worried about anything I'll learn in intermediate classes.

We went through what I'm still struggling with that is technically needed for promoting. Pullover. Got on video with her spotting me a tiny bit. I need to practice, no longer trying to finish the mount at any cost (i.e., catching my feet) but instead focus on that moment of weightlessness with my legs in the air, trying to remember to pike. Legs to face!

Then a mini sequence from shoulder stand to straddle back balance (which didn't feel very secure, need to practice this quite a bit) into bird's nest. She commented after that she wants me to pay attention to my straddle mount when I watch this video. She thinks I have it and need to now train myself out of thinking I have to jump.

I totally just registered for the first intermediate class, July 16, when the new unit starts. I just want to see it in my dashboard, reminding me that I get to go to intermediate classes now! Well, starting in July...

Bit of Practice

Highlights from practice yesterday...
That angel roll twist to front lion. Definitely needs polishing.

And balances...

Fun Class

Lyra class last night was muuuuuuch better. I came prepared with some sequencing ideas, should the teacher ask us what we wanted to work on. But she also came prepared with new variations for us more advanced students to learn.

Fun sort of angel roll twist into front lion. I didn't get any video of this, I'll try Saturday. But it was fun. Funner on the double tab. I tried this on the single tabs, but I'm just not fully used to how single tabs wiggle, and it was hella awkward. Or it felt that way anyway.

Then this, vine climb roll with an extra roll. It's pretty fun.

And finally, gazelle to the top. I finally let go! And did it on the high hoop! I looked down at that crash mat and remember thinking, wow I'm high. I was trying not to hook my foot in the straps but still ended up with not such a pretty foot. Something to think about when practicing...

Final bit of interesting from the class...while I was waiting on the hoop for something, the teacher said to me quietly, how do you feel about promoting? I wanted to laugh in her face. I simply said, there's still so much I can't do. I told her I'm still catching my feet on pullover. My ball to top is still awkward. She did say the most important part of ball to top is coming out of it back to seated, which I pretty much have (except not so well in the above video). She said she'd talk to Katie about it, who's out of town right now on a modeling trip to Thailand. mhmm...I bet she forgets to talk to Katie about it, and there's nothing to worry about. The next unit starts in April, and it looks pretty hard. It has a pullover to the top. Even if she remembers to talk to Katie, I bet the answer is still, I'm not ready. Which I don't want to hear. It's like if you know you're fat, that's one thing. But if someone tells you to your face you're fat, that's hurtful. I don't want to hear the words, you're not ready, when I already know it.

My Stupid Back

So, yea, I hurt my back a little bit on Friday. Not with weights, like last time. Well, not free weights. My bodyweight did this. I held a shoulder lockoff, overhand grip, with my pullup bar and planned to descend slowly. Wahoo, I can hold this! sometimes. On that descent, something pulled and hollered. I had thrown my back out. I was face down in my bedroom doorway, unable to move. My husband had to step over me to get in the room to fetch a pain killer. Except I couldn't sit up to chase it with any water, so I waited until I could.

Much ice, heat, and a painkiller later plus a few hours, I was sore but no longer in pain. I am so over throwing my back out. I decided to skip lyra on Saturday. I ran some shopping errands instead, and yet I had to actively stop my car from driving to the studio.

I also skipped Monday night. I'm no longer feeling any pain or soreness. I just decided to hoop instead. I have a couple of hoop workshops coming up. I'm really trying to improve my skills with my 32" hoop. It's quite difficult coming from my 37". And that requires practice. Besides, this week is class week. I have class both Tuesday and Thursday. Someone ELSE is going to tell me what to train.

Tuesday's class was a bit of a downer. Yea, I'm grouped with the more advanced students. But the teacher kept asking what we wanted to work on to promote to intermediate. I'm nowhere near, still, promoting. Yes, I can do all my inversions, badly. They're not passable. These girls were virtually promoted. I wasn't. It's just easier to not want what you can't have. To realize I'll be forever stuck in this inbetween limbo of fundamentals and intermediate. Thank goodness for private track, or I'd be so bored only working on fundamentals moves.

But tofu hook was fun, super solid with just one hand. Just wish I'd remembered to point my toes...

Upside Down

New things! I love learning new things in my private lessons. Especially upside down things.

Straddle back balance transition into bird's nest. My teacher likes that I can do this slow and controlled.

And behold, shoulder stands! These are awesome. I thought they'd hurt. But my shoulders aren't bony, so they don't. Can't wait to play with these in practice. Not to mention, the cool transition to reverse lion at the end. That's fun!

Sad News

Saddest news ever! They're closing the satellite studio. I is sad panda. Everything will be uptown. Traffic, distance, big open space, lack of decent practice times. There's lots to like about uptown but also lots to dislike. I'll need to wait and see how the practice schedule lays out. Right now, there aren't a whole lot of evening times. And by evening, I mean after 7pm. That 5:45pm time they all like so much? Forget trying to drive into uptown at that time. Ain't happening.

Here are some videos of my mini sequences. It's a neat way to practice a bunch of moves at once while also working on stamina.

straddle, angel, dragonfly, reverse lion, transition to hip hang, front balance, transition to open delilah, release to single knee cinch, loud thudded dismount. oy.

profile straddle, arrow, pike arrow, tofu hook (awkward, needs work), vine climb rollover

straddle, gazelle, leg block, hip hang, transition to open delilah, pike, bird's nest, ankle hang, straddle dismount

Here's an attempt at momentum to ball with my grip outside the tabs.
It's supposedly harder there but easier at the same time. More room to fit through but a wider grip requires more lat engagement. It went well. I need to practice ball dismount to seated that way. I have tried before. I can't hold the lockoff, so my butt never makes it back to seated.
Followed by arch back, from my private lesson last week. This LOOKS easy to do. It's crazy hard. This is actually an improvement, ever so slight, over last week, but I cannot push the hoop out fully.

Ended session with some variations on front balance.

Idea

Quickie post re lyra. I had a FAB session today! Didn't take any video cuz this teen was in her first silks class, her father was there in the "waiting" room. And this studio is so small, the couch is just a couple feet from my lyra, so I kinda felt on display. Was he watching me every moment? Naaaa. But I do feel like he was watching me a bit. Along with his other teen daughter sitting with him. It just made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

But I had a genius idea how to structure my practices. Instead of just a long list of moves to practice...mount, do a move, dismount...I broke them up into 4-5 move mini sequences. Hit nearly the whole list of moves I'm working on lately. I felt so strong and fluid moving around the hoop. Now it's nap time...

Praise

Does it ever get old? I say no! I'm so far out of danger of ever getting a big head. Hearing little bits of praise is just lovely. My teacher told me I had strong legs and also pointed out I have a strong core. I'd heard this from my derby coach, too. I'm like, how can you tell someone has a strong core? I certainly can't tell if mine is strong. But it was nice to hear.

We worked on a gamut of difficult stuff mixed with some easier stuff. I'm getting better at crossing my legs in ball inversion (under the hoop). I learned ball basically from silks. So no "lyra feet" necessary. Now I'm having to retrain my body to cross my feet in order to fit under the hoop.

Ball to the top felt better, higher. I still have to massively catch my foot. But the negative ball tucks are helping. Just keep practicing.