Money saving tip: save those old bottles of grip aid!

Next time you run out of grip aid (depending on the type of grip aid and the container it comes in), save the bottle.  My favorite is Prince Tennis Grip, which I wear over Tite Grip to keep my hands from getting too sweaty.  It’s really the best combo I’ve found, but the problem is that Prince Grip runs around $9 – that’s a lot to pay if you go through as much of it as I do; I practice almost every day and it goes especially fast if you use it on the pole as well.  And because it comes in gel form, it’s not very fluid when it gets exposed to too much air and it can be hard to get that last bit out of the container. 

January update

Here’s what I’ve been working on this month!

Splits: Just started working on these more seriously again.

Back flexibility: I’m thinking I might need to start working on this more, too.  However, this month I started being able to grab my foot with both hands in the cocoon for the first time (instead of awkwardly trying to latch on to my other wrist with the further away hand), so that looks much prettier now.

Invert: Now that I’m in the advanced class at my studio where we’re spending more time working on straight leg and scissor inverts, my invert is starting to look better.  I’m trying to avoid bending my legs every time I invert.

Zumba!

In my recent quest to work out every day while still giving myself a break from my usual aerial activities, I decided to try out Zumba for the first time last night.  I can now say I understand the Zumba craze a bit more now.  The music was loud and fast, and the dancing was a blast; it’s not necessarily what you’d think of when you think of fitness dance (if you think of repetitive stiff arm movements and squats on the beat) – it’s more like what you’d expect to find in a club (or at least, a club on TV where people aren’t just shown to be jumping up and down and awkwardly swaying back and forth).  There was definitely an emphasis on shoulder rolls, hip gyrations, arm pumps, and a lot of moving around (even considering the large number of people packed into the class).

I am a BEAST

January has been pretty great so far.  I’ve added silks and lyra to my list of aerial activities, I’ve been pretty involved with pole rehearsals for a show I’ll be in later in the spring, I’ve started practicing again with my pole buddy, I’m now in the most advanced level my studio offers, I’ve been pushing myself more than usual outside of class, and I’ve learned and improved a couple of moves that have been at the top of my list (including the cartwheel dismount/Jenyne tumble!  And yep, that’s my expression on the left there just after I’d performed it perfectly during practice). 

New class, new goals

Last week I attended my first pole class of the new session (the last one ended right before Christmas).  I’m now in the highest level pole class that my studio offers (yay!) and I have a TON of learning and improving to do.  I have an amazing teacher and the class is much more intense and fast-paced than all of the other levels I’ve taken have been, and I absolutely love it.  I’m definitely being pushed to my limits not only with the new moves I’m learning but also with the intensified conditioning and stretching exercises.  My progress in December was a little slow and my goals were a little sparse.  Granted, I did learn some new moves and even participated in my first showcase (I’m waiting on the photos and video from the event before I post about it).  However, after seeing what this new class is like and what is expected of me, my goals and priorities need to change a little.

You never know until you try

Several months ago, I ran across a wonderful routine by Jenyne Butterfly in which she does an aysha fang.  The first time I watched the video, I cataloged the aysha fang somewhere in the back of my brain as one of those “dream moves” I probably wouldn’t be able to do for a very long time.  After all, at that point, I couldn’t even do an elbow grip aysha, let alone an aysha fang, which requires you to both be able to balance with your body away from the pole and arch your back to get your feet over your head.  I had barely taken the baby steps to get there.

Looking back on 2011

I saw a post on Studio Veena today that got me thinking about all of the things that I’ve accomplished this year.  Although I just wrote a progress update for the month of December, I thought I’d also take a look at everything I’ve learned since I started pole just over a year ago.

I started pole last September, but the majority of my progress occurred between January and the present.  When I first started, I attended a 10-week beginner choreography class that got me hooked on pole.  It wasn’t long into the session before I bought a pole so I could practice at home, and because of this I was able to learn several things on my own in addition to what we learned for the routine in class.  I ended up performing that routine for a studio video shoot, and that was the first time I danced in front of a group of people.  It was several months before I tried inverting.  I bought a pole mat right before the holidays last year, so that was the first time I felt comfortable learning to invert on my own.  Unfortunately, I was not able to bring the pole home during Christmas break – I don’t even think I told my parents about my new-found obsession until then, and I didn’t want to push my luck.  Thankfully they were supportive once I was able to dig up the most amazing videos I could find on YouTube showcasing the strength, beauty, and art of pole.

December update

Here’s what I’ve been working on this month!

Splits:  Ugh.  I could blame final exams, schedule changes, hectic holiday traveling, preparations, festivities, and a million other things for my failure to keep up with this, but instead I’m just going to keep at it.  I’m not going to let a breakdown in my routine throw me off course.  And that’s that.

Back flexibility:  Still slowly improving bit by bit.  My cocoon is more consistent, my closed scorpio is looking better, and I’ve finally gotten my legs parallel to the ground in the crescent.  In fact, I’m so happy about my crescent that I thought I’d post some pictures of my progress!

My first lyra lesson!

Yesterday my friend (and pole buddy!) and I got the chance to take a private lyra lesson at our pole studio.  It was AWESOME.  We learned a couple different ways of inverting and getting into the hoop from the floor, and we learned several poses from there.  I’m not going to lie – with over a year of pole under my belt (and after having taken advanced classes for the past ~6 months), I did not think it would be very challenging.  I was wrong. 

Turning around a failure

I have exams this week and I have been beyond stressed lately, to the point where I’ve been driving myself crazy.  On top of everything, I haven’t been able to practice for a while because my pole broke and I’m waiting to receive a part from the company.  To relieve some stress, I decided to work a practice into my schedule yesterday at the studio.  My main goal for the day was to film a routine I had put together but had not been able to rehearse at home.  I wanted to be able to use the video as a submission for an upcoming showcase, and although I knew it probably wouldn’t be perfect, at least it would be a start.  At best, I hoped to run through the routine a couple times and film it just so I could go back and see what needed to be fixed; I would worry about perfecting it later.  In reality, things didn’t go so well.