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Just like that ;) Only maybe slightly closer to the ground. |
So as some of you are aware, I’ve been taking adult acro classes, which sadly are almost done for the summer, and unfortunately had to miss the last two in a row. Boo. BUT the lovely admin / front desk / organizing person said I could do a makeup in the Tuesday class. Sweet!
Except…. “Isn’t that the advanced class? I am the opposite of advanced.” “You’ll be fine; it’s a really small group.” Well if Christine (coach) is okay with it…. Never got an answer on that last part. ๐คจ
So always open to adventure and acro is all floor based so figured worst case I get a good warmup and practice cartwheels and handstands for 45 mins while watching people who know what they’re doing defying gravity w some impressive flippy-flippies (definitely the technical term). To put in perspective, the beginner class ranges from literally never done a somersault or cartwheel to people doing front flips and aeriels (hands-free cartwheels). I’m closer to the beginner end of that although in reality right in the middle of the class skill wise - I cartwheeled through a tunnel without knocking over a wall so deeming that a pretty big win ;-P.
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I see no way in which this could go wrong ;) |
So I show up and there are exactly 4 other students. Total. Which means the warmup was intense and exhausting cause no waiting for your turn ๐ everybody has a turn all the time. 5 lines, 5 people, all the exercise.
Then it’s time to move to the interesting part of the class. The coach, who is not my coach (warning sign one) says “in this group everyone is working on specific skills they’re interested in, so you can pick whatever apparatus you like and work on it, or I can give you some ideas.” (Warning signs 2 and 3) Now sometimes even in the beginner class we get choose your own adventure- some go to the handstand wall, some to the tumble track (think long straight bouncy castle run), and others to the trampoline run (this is my fav although I usually do all options at least a bit). So I didn’t question too much…
…until the other students started pulling stuff down from the ceiling. Oh frig. Not only is this an advanced class I’m not ready for, it’s an arial class. Aka options are silks (which I have actually at least tried in the past!), trapeze, hoop, or a giant swinging cube. The cube wasn’t out tonight so I’m guessing that wasn’t something the other women (all of whom are about half my age!) were working on.
So with an only slightly panicked look on my face I told the instructor I’d only done acro. A brief stint w silks ages ago that I didn’t entirely remember, and nothing else (in my head I had memories of playing w a trapeze in a friend’s basement when we were about 10 - does that count?!?!)
To her credit, she only paused a heartbeat before “Well do you want to try?” Sure - but starting from zero so not sure that’s fair to everyone else? I don’t want to hold them back…
Well it turns out they’re all working on improving stuff they already know how to do, and therefore this class is more about access to equipment than instruction. So we start w trapeze cause I said I’d love to try something new and that’s her area of expertise. And she spent solidly at least the first 15 min w me 1-1 giving me 3 different tricks to try. I think she was slightly lost w somebody who had no fear and decent balance but zero skills ๐. Like she asked if I could stand up on the trapeze like she expected there to be hesitation or even a solid no and suffice to say there was no issue. Heights at the edge of a cliff or the top of a volcano or the middle of a high rickety bridge - those I have issue with. I hate that I do, and I rarely let it stop me, but I have to consciously work to overcome it. Heights on stuff I climbed up on and can climb back down again? Not an issue.
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This was one of the first things. Obv not me, all pics from Google ;) |
So I did the things - starting w demonstrating that I could hang and support my body weight for at least 15 seconds lol - and took a bit of a break while she wandered to see if others needed help or throw a comment one way or another. One woman was actively learning and trying to evolve a routine - I’d say the coach worked 1-1 with her as much as w me, but none of the others seemed even remotely interested in what she could or could not contribute. 2 were clearly friends and working together on something while the last one had one very convoluted trick on the silks she was working on.
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This was the first standing one. Other than a lack of flexibility, as easy as it gets. |
So eventually I got bored of the trapeze (only so interesting as a complete beginner) and went to see if I could remember anything from silks. Had the climbing no problem. Up to the ceiling and back easily enough. Then I couldn’t remember anything else so coach Jesse reminded me of how to do a foot lock and a double foot lock. Then showed me a spin of some sort that I forget the name of but was super easy and a lot of fun. Effectively throw yourself at the floor and miss ๐. Then I get “oh here’s an easy one, start in your double footlock…” okay…. She’s doing the same on the silks right next to me so I can follow…. “Then go into your splits” ummm yeah, that’s not going to be an option ;). ๐. Turns out this move is actually one I learned the last time I did Silks. There is a modification if you don’t have flexibility, it just requires strength and looks less impressive. But that I was able to do and felt it was easier than the last time but it was a couple yrs ago so could be misremembering.
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This was less graceful to get into, but easy to execute |
So I played there a bit more but footlocks hurt your feet if you’re not used to them (or at least they hurt mine) so eventually I went back to the trapeze which is just fun. Realized very quickly trying to get up that my arms had had about enough ๐ but once you’re up, arms are less important. Was pleased I actually remembered all the moves she had taught me, and she came and added one more to the repertoire (the gazelle that was the next step from an earlier one she showed me) which ended up being my favourite by a lot. She also said that there was a step two to one of the other earlier ones (the star) but that if I was getting tired it probably wasn’t the best time to learn it but I could come back again if I wanted ๐.
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This was my favourite one - prob cause upside down ;) Also, requires little to no strength so good when tired. |
So I said I had one more makeup to do and if she’d let me maybe I could come back next week? She was pretty into that so stay tuned to the next edition of Completely Inappropriate Middle Age Hobbies (accidental version!)