I don't think I've written a post since I started taking classes at Anna Aerial inside Turner Hall. I started off with silks, then added some lyra, and just recently, dance trapeze.
Trapeze is by far my favorite. I've always wanted to try trapeze but have been pushing it off, even longer than silks and lyra, because of my shoulder. But my instructor felt I'd be fine given that I can do lyra and silks without too many problems. I never would have thought that of the three apparatuses it would be my favorite, but I started to suspect it would be after I had done more silks and lyra.
I'm still not sure how I feel about silks and lyra. I definitely enjoy doing both, but none of them have stuck a powerful love in me like pole did and like trapeze is starting to, although I suspect what you can do with trapeze is more limited. I do love lyra the most for it's beauty. It's the only apparatus I've been on that's actually made me feel pretty. Pole makes me feel strong but not beautiful. Silks doesn't make me feel that way, either, although I suspect that I might feel differently if I actually saw what I looked like. It's the transitioning into the moves that makes me feel so ungraceful. That part of silks is just not very appealing.
Also, surprisingly, silks has been the easiest for me and trapeze the hardest. I've read everywhere that silks is by and large the most difficult of all aerial arts because it requires the most amount of strength in all areas of the body; and trapeze is always touted as the easiest. Lyra, too, is usually described as one of the easier ones. Well, I've found the complete opposite to be true. I think it has to do with the fact that silks is vertical like a pole, so my strength translates very well; whereas with lyra and - more so - trapeze, it utilizes more horizontal pull-up movements, which are muscles I've never used. The moves themselves on lyra are really, really easy for me, but the transitions are really hard. I haven't felt my arms burn so much since I went rock climbing for the first time in almost 8 years. One time, I literally couldn't pull myself back up, so I had to drop down.
With this problem, I decided it was high time that I start working on pull-ups and chin-ups. I can't get a pull-up bar because I don't want to do damage to the house, so I've started to find creative alternatives. I've starting practicing on the bar of the treadmill downstairs, for example, or on the bleacher bars in the Pettit when I went running last week. It's honestly already made a difference, even though I can't do many of anything. I was able to hold myself and do a lot more egg beaters on the trapeze this week, for example, and getting into a back hold was so much easier this week.
Speaking of, apparently I'm able to do back balances really easily, which my instructor was really freakin' impressed by. In general, I've noticed my balance is much better than normal in the past few months. I can hold yoga poses better than most people, and things like balances on lyra and trapeze come relatively easy. And since I could get into a back balance the hard way, my instructor let me do a star pose.
Other things we've done are monkey rolls (I'm getting better! But I still keep getting lots of bruises), sitting to standing on top of the bar by doing a flip, then flipping back down to sitting, mermaid, and the trapeze version of gemini (I guess it's called gazelle).
In other news, I lost my handspring about a month ago and haven't been able to get it back. I can't even pull myself off the ground now. I went from 100% to barely 15%. The motions don't even feel right anymore. I thought taking a break from doing things would help because my arms were feeling insanely weak and tired, but it didn't help at all. My shoulder mounts are getting stronger and stronger on the other hand, but this is very frustrating. I feel like as I'm getting better at aerial stuff, I'm getting worse at pole.
Trapeze is by far my favorite. I've always wanted to try trapeze but have been pushing it off, even longer than silks and lyra, because of my shoulder. But my instructor felt I'd be fine given that I can do lyra and silks without too many problems. I never would have thought that of the three apparatuses it would be my favorite, but I started to suspect it would be after I had done more silks and lyra.
I'm still not sure how I feel about silks and lyra. I definitely enjoy doing both, but none of them have stuck a powerful love in me like pole did and like trapeze is starting to, although I suspect what you can do with trapeze is more limited. I do love lyra the most for it's beauty. It's the only apparatus I've been on that's actually made me feel pretty. Pole makes me feel strong but not beautiful. Silks doesn't make me feel that way, either, although I suspect that I might feel differently if I actually saw what I looked like. It's the transitioning into the moves that makes me feel so ungraceful. That part of silks is just not very appealing.
Also, surprisingly, silks has been the easiest for me and trapeze the hardest. I've read everywhere that silks is by and large the most difficult of all aerial arts because it requires the most amount of strength in all areas of the body; and trapeze is always touted as the easiest. Lyra, too, is usually described as one of the easier ones. Well, I've found the complete opposite to be true. I think it has to do with the fact that silks is vertical like a pole, so my strength translates very well; whereas with lyra and - more so - trapeze, it utilizes more horizontal pull-up movements, which are muscles I've never used. The moves themselves on lyra are really, really easy for me, but the transitions are really hard. I haven't felt my arms burn so much since I went rock climbing for the first time in almost 8 years. One time, I literally couldn't pull myself back up, so I had to drop down.
With this problem, I decided it was high time that I start working on pull-ups and chin-ups. I can't get a pull-up bar because I don't want to do damage to the house, so I've started to find creative alternatives. I've starting practicing on the bar of the treadmill downstairs, for example, or on the bleacher bars in the Pettit when I went running last week. It's honestly already made a difference, even though I can't do many of anything. I was able to hold myself and do a lot more egg beaters on the trapeze this week, for example, and getting into a back hold was so much easier this week.
Speaking of, apparently I'm able to do back balances really easily, which my instructor was really freakin' impressed by. In general, I've noticed my balance is much better than normal in the past few months. I can hold yoga poses better than most people, and things like balances on lyra and trapeze come relatively easy. And since I could get into a back balance the hard way, my instructor let me do a star pose.
Other things we've done are monkey rolls (I'm getting better! But I still keep getting lots of bruises), sitting to standing on top of the bar by doing a flip, then flipping back down to sitting, mermaid, and the trapeze version of gemini (I guess it's called gazelle).
In other news, I lost my handspring about a month ago and haven't been able to get it back. I can't even pull myself off the ground now. I went from 100% to barely 15%. The motions don't even feel right anymore. I thought taking a break from doing things would help because my arms were feeling insanely weak and tired, but it didn't help at all. My shoulder mounts are getting stronger and stronger on the other hand, but this is very frustrating. I feel like as I'm getting better at aerial stuff, I'm getting worse at pole.
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