Emma Sits

I had a rough silks class the other night. Well, let me rephrase: I had a move go very, very wrong, which almost ended up ruining my night, but then the teacher helped me end on a positive note.

The dreaded move was half scorpion. I got very stuck and very panicky, and the teacher basically had to extract me from the silks of death.

I wanted to be done for the night when the teacher suggested emma sits. I quite like emma sits. I got it on video. My double footlocks are looking rather smooth. And exiting has gotten a lot better, too.

Clothesline

This move used to terrify me on silks. There are two versions, one with the silks split and then one with a single pole. I've never let go on either. Especially not with a single pole.

But then I learned clothesline on lyra in intermediate classes. And man, I fell in love with this move. My teacher says lyra is just my spirit apparatus. It's true. But the confidence I had from lyra translated yesterday to silks. And just look at me!

I feel pretty, oh so pretty

Finally!

I have seen these moves done by students and wanted desperately to learn. But I had no idea what name my studio calls them. I've seen the left one online called mermaid. But of course, we don't call it that. We call it saildance. And its cousin on the right: music box. Both require an insane amount of strength. They're deceptive in appearance. They look easier than they are. And with music box, you're meant to circle around the silks once or twice. I only got a half turn and was done. But I can build on that!
And I for sure need to work on my single footlock from the air, so I can get higher. I'm so close to the ground because I did my footlock from the mat.

Splits!

I've been working on flexibility for a couple years now. Slowest process ever! But hey, they look nearly flat. And the teacher praised me, saying my hips were so squared.

Return to silks

I've returned to silks. I took about 6 weeks off and restarted silks in early March. Been trying to build back my strength, and silks is the best way to do that. And I'm looking pretty!

Silks Conditioning

I am a genius! I want to continue cross-training silks, it's a fabulous conditioning workout, but I'm tired of paying extra for classes, when classes are the exact same format for about the first hour. I've been attending silks classes long enough to have the conditioning part of class down. Straight arm hang/knee tucks, shoulder lockoff/L sits, hipkeys, ball inversions, straddle work, climbs, footlocks from the air (both basic and single). My private track subscription is valid for all apparatus that I'm trained on. So yesterday, I went to silks practice time. It felt exactly the same as class, only on my own. Boom! It was perfect.

I finished up the hour with a couple rounds of leg wrap. This is upper body intensive, which is why I like working on it. And with my improvement on footlocks in the air, I can get much higher off the ground. I look so cool up here.

Silks, again

I'm back with cross-training silks. I've been three times in the last few weeks. It really is a fabulous aerials conditioning workout. I don't have any aspirations of looking graceful up there. But I hope it helps with lyra. I am seeing progress with ball, less jumping, more control. I can finally hold my straddle (I mean, jumping up into it, spiderman pose, squeeze thighs together until I'm sure I have it, then spread 'em). Of course, now my teacher wants me to focus on stack. I'm not sure I'll ever get a good stack. I just feel there's too much body in my boobage/tummy area for my arms to properly pull and stack. I'd need too much bend at the elbows, which requires even more strength than straight arm. Show me a plus size aerialist doing a proper stacked straddle, and maybe I'll think differently.

But I can finally do a single foot lock from the air. This was elusive for so long because you have to hang on from each silks, without a wrist wrap. Thus my grip is extra tight and needs to be super strong. I didn't have the strength until now. It's not graceful. But I was able to do the full single foot lock series from a single foot lock in the air, so I'm higher up. And considering I haven't done this since Feb 1, I'd say not too shabby.

And then a basic foot lock from the air into my favorite simple pose.

Intermediate lyra classes start soon. I've been promoted, but I still don't believe I should have been. I plan to continue training silks, maybe on the weeks I don't have a private lesson for lyra.

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.

Starfish

Silks last night. It went super! The heat was still broken in the studio (from Lyra on Saturday), so it was painfully cold. I managed to get sweaty but still felt cold; it wasn't exactly pleasant. But I worked hard. I feel like single leg roll up is getting better. I won't bother with a double again until that single feels solid.

Biggest part of the night was pushing through the pain of flamingo arabesque. My teacher just told me to keep my hips open if I wanted, whatever felt right. It definitely hurt less and also I was able to pull myself up a bit to settle into the fabric rather than it pinching my inner thighs. It's still a bit awkward but coming along. So the next move from flamingo arabesque is called starfish. My best friend is visiting from out of town. She came to class with me, to watch from the couch. She likes to keep both feet on the ground. But she was available to take a picture. Better than the screenshots I take from video on my phone propped up on the floor.

Lyra & Silks

Doubled up on aerials yesterday. First up, private lyra lesson at 1pm. I hadn't sent my teacher any requests. We worked on single knee cinch, she's challenged me to time these, extending the length of time I can hold it. I worked on getting my leg up and over the hoop in inverted prow. The idea being to do splits, but my splits? yikes. I bailed on momentum to seated during the first warmup, which was disappointing. My straddle was hard. I couldn't even cheat ball to the top of the hoop, we had to move on. It was just kind of messy. And I came away not feeling like I worked all that hard because things were just too hard.

The plan was to meet a friend for hooping after, she had expressed interest in learning how. So I had loaded up my hoops in my car. En route, she texts to cancel. Figures. I had still wanted to go do some hooping on my own, even though I forgot my baton, but by the end of my lyra lesson, I was feeling a little weepy, so I just came home.

I decided to go to silks last night at 7:30pm, to get more workout in. I talked to the teacher a bit about focusing more on the conditioning rather than the pretty poses, since I don't feel pretty when I try them, but I do enjoy feeling strong in conditioning. Last time, I had that meltdown with leg roll up. I was like, I'm never doing leg roll up again!

There were only two students, so it ended up being like a private lesson. And it went great! I did both warmup conditioning exericises with single wrist wrap: straight arm hang, knees to chest and shoulder lockoff, L sits. I did all four ball flows with single wrist wrap. I'm faster with russian climb, can get pretty much to the top with two climbs. By the time I've done the second climb, my hands are about a foot from the top.

I attempted leg roll up again, my demon. But only a single wrap. I did a basic footlock from the air, then one roll up. I'm discovering that footlocks can be tricky. From the ground, they're easier to get right, but it's still possible to get a bad footlock, which ruins anything after. From the air, they're even harder to get right. If you don't get your footlock right, you could be in for some pain.

Worked on clothesline #2 a bit. I have a distinct good side and bad side with this. But I didn't let it get to me.

We had a few mins at the end for free time. I wanted something on video. I got a hipkey. I want to get these consistent. So that I can do them from the air and be a bit higher off the ground. For now, this is what I have. And praise from my teacher! She gives such great praise. She even gave me a sticker for my accomplishment with leg roll up. I got a nice puffy hot pink eighth note and stuck it right next to that pose on my sheet. My teacher said that was the perfect sticker because I'm "rockin' it!"

Clothesline & Fang

Silks won out over lyra last night. I knew I wanted to do aerials, just wasn't sure which, until the last minute. I'm glad I went to silks. The heater was fixed (it was super cold Monday night). Aerials is no fun when it's cold. And I usually like cold. Hello! I used to be an ice skater.

Class went well, actually. I've had a couple rough classes recently. Even working on sideways middle split (#3)...which I wholly cannot do. I can't even get into position. It feels like I'll never get it, that feeling. Because it's so comically bad. I dislike any pose with the word "splits" in it.

My bad side for climbs seems to have switched. Teacher always says start with your bad side. So I did. It felt strong. My good side, not so much. Same with every round. I also saw marked improvement on hipkeys. The first couple rounds were a struggle. But something sorta clicked, and I ended up higher on the silks, with nice leg position, and that hipkey felt very solid. I wish I'd gotten video.

Straddle...I hate straddle. But my teacher showed me a trick to work on my stack. Spiderman pose. Invert back but catch both feet on the "pole" (that's what it's called in silks, don't ask me why). Then from there, I can work on pushing out the right muscles to get a good stack. It's a lot harder to get a stack on a pole. Then bring one leg out and eventually the other. Once I brought out the second leg, I came right out of it. But progress.

My videos are not great. The angle was bad. And I don't look as good in clothesline as I thought I did. Oh well. And my hand slipped off my foot, but not to worry, my knee cinch is well trained from lyra. All that slipped was my hand. But my teacher says this is a hard one and that it's impressive I was able to do it my first try. It's probably the knee cinch. This is called clothesline #2. Added bonus, a badass footlock from the air, yay!

This is called fang. My teacher wasn't even sure at first if I should try, she said it's a bit advanced. But we had just worked on a move called birdcage, which is just like bird's nest in lyra, so she said, watch me demo for the others, and if it looks like a lyra equivalent, you can try. And it's bent arrow. Which I was just working on to the top the night before. The video I got is of my bad side, and the angle isn't good for a nice screen capture. But I could do it. Well, with a double wrist wrap. It's fundamentals...we were all sporting double wrist wraps, even the more advanced students.

Russian Climb

So...I still love/hate silks. I thought two weeks off would help. Class always starts off great, though. I really enjoy the strength stuff in the warmup. Climbs. Hipkeys. Ball flows. Straddle...not straddle. Straddle can eat shit and die. Footlocks from the air. All stuff that makes me feel amazingly strong.

I was too slow with my climbs last night, apparently. The teacher asked if I had finished. I still had one more each side. She asked if I minded moving on, acted like it was the best news ever, that no one would ever mind skipping out on climbs. I minded. I wanted to do them more. But I bit my lip. I didn't want to be a nuisance.

Then we moved onto poses. I hate every pose. I feel fat, ugly, awkward, clumsy...sometimes I'm in pain. Sometimes too much pain. I hate everything about every pose. Except standing lean. And you fucking learn that in your first fucking class. Well, letting go comes later. I like letting go. And maybe sail. Sail looks pretty, if I can keep my locked leg straight. But nothing else I've learned looks or feels good.

I wonder if I can email the teacher. Ask her if it's OK to just extend my warmup during class. When students are doing three hipkeys each side, maybe I'll do five. Or six. She wouldn't need to babysit me. These are all safe things, don't need guidance. I just want to feel strong.

I got video of russian climbs. Yes, I'm liking these more. I'm still split on whether I like them more than basic. It's a toss-up.

Hipkeys were terrible. I need to work on these more.

And I got video of footlock in the air. Well, sort of from the air. I'm standing on the ground. I eventually want to climb once, then try a footlock.

I also tried single footlock from the air. Mainly because the teacher wanted us to do sequencing. uhh, no. Can I just work on footlocks instead? She suggested single footlock from the air, since I'd never tried it before. This requires hanging by each fabric in each hand. I slip. I needed a wrist wrap for that. Maybe I can extend my warmup conditioning, straight arm hanging and lockoffs without wrist wraps.

So...by the end of the night, I weren't doing too good. Mentally. I have a motto...don't cry until you get to the car. I was emotional but held together. I was gathering my stuff, putting on my shoes, when a student I'd shared classes with many times arrived for the next class. She turns to me and says, we've never been properly introduced and held out her hand. I nearly lost it. Such a nice gesture from someone, nearly did me in. I hope I get a chance to take classes with her again.

Favorite Pose

Last night's silks went great. I mean, there's always something in class that's a hot mess. And last night's hot mess was man in the moon. I'd seen this before and didn't care for the look of it. I totally messed up getting into it, so bad my foot got so tangled in the fabric, another student had to help me get out. Embarrassing.

Climbs went well. The usual three attempts each side. I did one each side of basic. Then my teacher asked if I was going to try russian. Yes, yes, I just wanted to try my trusty basic first. I attempt a russian climb. I try to reset to do a second, fail. My teacher pointed out that I need to bring my top foot away before re-scooping. Again, I attempt and was able to perform a second climb up. I tried to then reset my feet back to basic, nope. I wasn't that high, so I just jumped down. Third attempt, I am able to do three russian climbs up to the top, I dangle and reset my feet to basic, success! Yayness! Maybe after some time, I'll learn to like russian climb after all. We'll see.

Hipkeys are pretty solid. I was even able to do one with both legs straight. My teacher then saw and told me to tuck. Maybe it's an intermediate move to do them straight leg? Dunno. I'm going to ask if I can try from the air next time: take a baby climb and hipkey in the air. I think I'm ready to try.

I also want to try straddle without the knot. The knot was helpful. But now it's sort of getting in my way. I'm going to ask if I can try without it next class.

And I also want to ask if I can work on foot lock in the air. I learned this once awhile back, struggled with it. I haven't worked on it again. I think my straight arm strength is there now, I'd like to ask to work on it. I'd love to be able to climb the silks, foot lock in the air, and go into the poses I know, higher on the silks.

Back to double wrist wrap with ball inversion. Silks students will want to progress to no wrist wrap for their grip. As I'm taking silks to help the inversion part, it really doesn't matter to me if I can hold the ball position with no wrist wrap. What matters to me is being able to invert into position without jumping.

This is my favorite pose. A little pathetic because this is the first pose you learn at your first silks class. Except you're not allowed to let go. Letting go makes it more advanced. When I first learned this, I got it on video. I actually needed to put my free hand on my knee to keep myself in place. I've gotten way stronger since then. It felt totally comfortable to let go completely. My first silks class was July 10. I didn't like it. I didn't take another silks class until October 19. I have been to eight more silks classes since, nine total.

AND that first class, this pose has a variation in seated. You basically come down to a single leg squat. I couldn't do it in July. Or even recently with another pose (cocoon) that requires a single leg squat. It hurt too much to fully descend. Last night? No problem. My teacher says I have gotten so strong in such a short amount of time. aww, shucks.

p.s. This was my 100th day in the air! I've been tracking when I go to aerial training. Sometimes I do two in one day, I count that as one. This also includes that first free half hour mini class...it's my 100th day in the air, no matter how long I spent training.

Sail Away

Silks was rough last night. Everything seemed hard, but I don't think I can blame my period. Not due for PMS for another week.

My teacher wanted me to try ball with no wrist wrap. I only got to single wrist wrap last time. And I could not do this. My grip is not strong enough without assistance on those little bits of fabric. I hate silks grip. Hipkeys were tough. I'm so over straddle on silks. 

Oh, and I take it back about russian climb. I don't like it. It's awkward to climb to the top, THEN you have to switch back to basic climb position to come down. I cannot hold on while I figure out some complicated reset of my feet. Nope.

Pose last night with silks wrapping around my thigh. I could NOT get enough slack to do this without more pain than my threshold could bear. And I endure a lot of pain for this sport. The teacher kept demo'ing. I'd get even more slack than she, and still my thighs are too big to get this. That flamingo arabesque pose, but she wanted my hips square, not open.

Not to mention, some of these beginner silks poses aren't all that pretty to me. There, I said it.

And silks just glaringly highlights everything I'm not good at. I'm not flexible. I'm not strong. I'm not thin.

I just...don't like silks. I'm bummed to have to say it. But I don't. I'm doing this because just doing lyra wasn't working well enough. I'm hoping this cross-training with silks helps. But damn, I wish it would go ahead and help already so I could quit silks. Once I get my lyra inversions, I'm dropping silks like a hot potato.

This pose is pretty, though. If way simple.

Hipkey

Yay, my period ended. Strength has returned. Last night, I was able to do three climbs each side, three climbs up the silk. Of course, my final round, those climbs were teeny tiny. But they count. Far cry from last week, when my strength was zapped by hormones.

I also learned russian climb. I had heard rumors that if one were to learn russian climb first, one would never bother learning basic climb (sometimes referred to as american climb). I can confirm this is true. Russian climb is so much simpler and easier.

Also, I worked on ball flows (ball tuck, pencil, pike) with single wrist wrap. Gripping a single silk in your hand requires the tightest of grips. It's difficult. So when you're progressing with ball, you start with a double wrist wrap. It helps. My teacher suggested I try single wrist wrap. It was intense, but I could do it. Then my fingers were immediately sore. Eventually the goal is no wrist wrap.

There were three students in class. And I was the most advanced. There was a first-time student. And a second-time student. The second-time student is way stronger than I am already. So she'll breeze by me quickly. I hope the first-time student comes back. Silks is hard. But your first time ever, if you're not already like super strong? Hard doesn't even begin to describe it. If I had started with silks, I would probably have been so discouraged, I would have written off aerials forever. I started with lyra, which is more forgiving to true beginners, I think. I love lyra. All this silks work, which is hella fun after all, is really to help my lyra game. I belong inside the circle.

Hipkeys are coming along nicely. I was even able to do a decent one on my bad side, final attempt. I sort of said, this is my bad side, attempted it, and it went well. My teacher was like, that doesn't look like your bad side. Here's a video of my good side. And my teacher praise. I love praise. The teachers at this studio are excellent at making students feel good about their existing abilities.

And then more progression in single foot lock. I'm not bothering to upload the video I have. It was a hot mess. But I got into position. It's just the getting into, and out of, position was quite messy. End of class fatigue is a thing, yo.

This is called flamingo arabesque. I think. I'm terrible with remembering names of silks moves. Not sure why.

No Hands

My strength was lousy last night at silks. I'm due to start my period today. Warmups included climbs, three each side. I was able to do one each side decently. Then I tried for the second. Nope. Both sides. After that first step up, I just couldn't hold my body. The attempt still counts though at this studio. I tried a third time. Nope. Oy.

That flippy move I learned recently, we added another wrap, to make it a double. Then a triple. Yikes, the silks are tight in that position.

I almost nailed my hip key. I got one out of the three each side attempts, on my good side (the right side).

Then we moved onto single foot lock moves. My foot has been sore all week, now I know from these. I could feel it immediately. We progressed on from supported bridge last time, this time with no hands. You can see my mishap at the end, I was tired.

That knee cinch is really the only thing holding me in

Foot Locks

OK. I braved the cold for silks class. (Fall has arrived, yay! but with a little too much vengeance. Temps dropped like 20 degrees practically overnight.) I also knew it would be a bit of a shit show, as my period is due to arrive in days. The week before I start always results in lack of strength due to hormones. Guys (nobody reads this, let alone guys) but guys, seriously, be grateful your hormones stay even throughout the month. This roller coaster ride of hormones is not fun; I'd like to get off. Pleaseandthankyou.

And guess what? Another "private" lesson. I was the only student. Last week, the rain kept people away. I guess last night, the cold did? I was hanging in there pretty well. We moved onto actual hip keys vs manual. Manual had gotten "easy" so time to try a real one. You pull up on the silks with them on the outside of one thigh. You sort of kick back with the other leg to scoop the fabric up over that leg, then shoot down with the original leg to secure the fabric. Then lean away from the leg that did the scooping, while keeping it tucked, and cinch it between your thighs so you stay put. It felt so close. I tried several. I would almost get into position, hold for a beat, but then slide down the silks. No big deal. I'm sure I'll get this with more practice.

Ball flows, which are ball into pencil and for my first time, into pike. Straddle mount practice. Then climbs. I did one to the top. I tried again and nope. Again and nope. My arms were spent. We reviewed the flippy move I learned last class, and I just could not lift myself up.

So we moved onto learning foot lock in the air. To practice this, I sat on the mats. Then I tried it in the air and again, close but not quite. I was hanging for a bit, struggling to execute but couldn't get the silks wrapped over my foot using only my other foot. At least I was hanging for the time required. Once I get the execution, I should have this.

Final bit for class, a move using single foot lock. By single or double foot locks, I mean one or both silks, wrapped around one foot. Thus far, I'd only learned moves using a double foot lock (both silks as "one" wrapped around my foot.) Last night, I learned a pose using one of the silks wrapped around my foot, with the other silk free.

Here it is. I think she said it was called supported bridge. I'm really struggling to remember the names of any of these moves. It's probably the first move I'm kinda proud of.

Ball on Silks

Guess what? My period is due. Again. Everytime I turn around, it's here again. Yesterday's lyra was going awfully. I couldn't understand why. My straddles were hard. I tried that same sequence from a few weeks ago and bailed before mill circle; just couldn't bring myself. I also tried to get on video that new move I learned, tilted fold. But failed.

I spent a lot of time on back balances. Straddle back balance seemed to click, felt way more secure. My front balances, they're part of my warmup. And I was able to lift up and hold for three beats with no hand assist. In my private lesson last week, my teacher was complimenting my front balances, saying she has some intermediate 2 students who struggle with it. Lovely. So are these like my mohawks in derby? Everyone was envious of that skill of mine. But big whoop. It's not part of assessments. It doesn't make me a great player. So I can do a front balance well. Big whoop.

I took to the silks for a bit, to get ball on video. I'm jumping a bit still. And I just cannot dismount to lockoff, no matter how hard I try. But I no longer have to catch my foot. I sure hope this helps lyra ball.

After, I treated myself to some chocolates and a pedi. There's a chocolate shop in the same center as the pedi place, so I picked out my chocolates and got my toes done. The pedi place serves wine.

Chocolates
top row: milk chocolate salted caramel, peanut butter, espresso mocha, coffee hazelnut
bottom row: strawberry champagne, cookie dough, maple cream (my favorite), dark chocolate salted caramel

Proof

Here's proof of my climb! Hubs was impressed. He likened it to climbing the rope in gym class, which he could never do. Neither could I.

It was at the end of class, when we had a couple minutes of free time. I wanted evidence of my climb, so that's what I chose to work on. My favorite bit? My teacher was watching. And the comment she made at the end...all the good feels.

And then a flippy kind of move. I forget what it's called. My guess is it's simply a transition move to others. Still, everything I'm learning is on a full foot lock, which is getting boring. But I remind myself I'm not taking silks to have fun, per se. I'm taking it for conditioning, for lyra. Climb and ball work will help lyra. I wish I'd gotten my ball on video. Next time...

Cross Training

This is how I cross train. I've decided to take a bunch of silks classes in the hopes it will improve my inversion game with lyra. I dislike silks. The grip, mainly. And it's HARD. There's no rest. It's all strength without a lot of reward. At least for now. I can't climb, so there's not much pretty I can do yet. I'll just think of class as conditioning. I may not bother with photos or video much, since I'm not all that impressed with what I can do.

And I'm so fucking sore...