When was the last time you did something for the first time?

For me it was tonight - and, in typical Laur style, it was not a typical adulting new thing like “I took a new route home” (often a great mental health break) or “I bought a different brand of toilet paper” (not worth the risk!)!  

Gonna just acknowledge here and now - I'm still high after a lot of fun and exhausted after a very long day, so I'm absolutely not guaranteeing any quality - or even particularly comprehensible - writing.  

I joined an adult Acro class.   For those of you with the same puzzled look I had - think acrobatics ;-P.  With nothing but the description, the fact that I could try the first class without signing up, that it was only a 4 week commitment, and that it happened to start the week I emailed to ask about it….  Away I went ;)

So I foolishly assumed the people in the viewing area waiting for the kids to finish were mostly parents of said children.  They were not.  There were probably about 15 adults there who filed into the gym when class start was announced - which had me mildly confused since they said the class would be 6-8 until I realized it was two classes worth.  The warmup is combined and then people doing arial stuff (which I’ve done before and is all kinds of fun but basically impossible to improve cause you can’t practice at home) and the acro group which stays closer to the floor.   I have floors at home ;)

Warmup was an experience.  I’m sure for kids who did gymnastics or dance it’s normal, and even for a large number of team sports there may be similar drills, but pretty well the entirety of my athletic interests - and therefore experience - started and ended w a combo of grade school gym class and horses.

So imagine 3 straight lines that run the length of the floor, everybody in a row goes from one end of the line to the other doing something.  But it’s not just one something, it’s a combo.   So first example was lunge, warrior-ish pose, front kick, then land the front leg and rinse and repeat on the other leg until you get to the end of the line.  Strength, balance, and flexibility together.  Sweet.  There were a couple variations on that - some more strength and some more balance focused.

Inch-worm that followed was arguably less fun ;).  And the line of 2 push-ups, lie down with hands and legs off the ground and roll-over without using them, hollow body hold, roll the rest of the way; rinse and repeat….  Well suffice to say I was just as well I was last in line for that one and “didn’t get to” finish my line ;)

Now that we were all warmed up it was time for stretching.  I am the extreme opposite of a flexible human.  But at least I wasn’t alone!  While I’m definitely among the least flexible in the group, there were others of similar lack of ability.

Okay so at this point they split out the two classes.  And we’re back to the lines.   Except the *very first* exercise was cartwheel down the line…

Ummm right - those lines are kinda close together and if I try something that even pretends to mimic a cartwheel I’m going to hurt somebody.  So I tagged our instructor w a “I haven’t done a cartwheel in 30 years - I might need some suggestions” and a woman nearby lit up!  “Oh I’ve never done one ever and am just learning”.  It wasn’t her first week here, but she’d never even done one as a kid and was thrilled to have another beginner in the class.  

So coach worked w us a bit and then set us up w a big square cushion to practice cartwheeling over (ummm isn’t that going to be harder?  Absolutely- but it’ll help you build the strength and get the concept).  Cool - okay.  So we worked on that while the others did lines of walking on their hands (that one I have hopes of doing some day) and walking in a bridge (far less likely - my bridge is dangerously structurally unsound).

Then we were divided into different areas to work on different things.  I honestly didn’t catch too much of what was happening because I was so lost, but I def understood “we can practice handstands against this (padded) wall” - sweet, sign me up.  My new same level as me partner joined me.  She was ahead of me in cartwheels but I had last summer’s practice for handstands and it was coming back fast which was awesome!  We took turns at the mat and our coach came over and gave us some structural clues.

But I’m not handstand fit anymore and I haven’t practiced in a v long time, so I tired pretty quickly and was watching the others doing some really cool stuff.  On one side was an inflated track that very much looked like the floor of a bouncy castle - two people there were practicing arials (think handsfree cartwheel).  Since I can’t even do the version WITH hands, I think we’ll pass on that.

Some were doing strength or flexibility training that I really didn’t understand at all but I also wasn’t really watching cause at the far side of the gym was a trampoline track with giant crash pads at the end where people were learning flips.  

We were like 2 mins before the end of class and one of them waves us over w “do you want to try?”   Yes!  That looks so ridiculously fun and absolutely no way in which I could seriously injure myself ;).  My partner had to leave though so she opted out and exited the gym.   Coach had me demonstrate that I could do a somersault on the floor (no worries - although made me shockingly dizzy in a way it didn’t as a child) and then she sent me to the bouncy castle floor that is, in fact, bouncy ;).  To try it there.  Since it was softer and springier I found that much easier and was giggling and feeling ridiculous if not particularly challenged by it.

So then I was promoted to the trampoline version after “just bounce a bit first to get used to it”.   I made sure all the other women were actually done because we had to remove one of the crash mats for my level (you’d think more was easier but in this case more is higher and you have to really commit ;)).  One stayed w me, not because she needed the beginner level but because coach told her she was ready to try land the actual flip and it also requires fewer mats.

All I had to do was bounce and do a somersault onto the mat.  Somehow suddenly terrifying?   Like it’s the softest landing yet but somehow both having my arms up in the air and needing a tiny bit of height suddenly made it super scary.  Which means I absolutely did it, multiple times (if there’s one thing eventing teaches you it’s to keep going forward when you’re terrified 😂).   And the woman who I was trading off w nailed her front flips so that was fun to watch.

I very much want to try the double mats next time to learn to get the height for flips.

So yes, there will be a next time.   I was definitely one of the oldest there and the least experienced BUT not by a horrifying amount - there was at least one mother / daughter combo which was nice to see.   

And it’s only a couple hours later and my body is questioning my life choices lol tomorrow and Friday will be interesting!

But omg was it ever fun.