Back to pole

I went to my first pole class last Tuesday for the second time since I moved to Florida. So that's twice in 2 years. 

Online, it said it was a control class meant to slow down moves and make them look pretty, suited for levels two and up. By their definition, level two just meant that you could invert; so I figured I would be more than fine, even if I had some reconditioning to do.

The instructor (his name was Icarus) introduced himself right away and informed me that the class was misrepresented online, and it was more of a level 3/4 class, advanced. He said we'd be starting with Ayeshas, and I panicked. I told him I COULD do Ayesha... YEARS ago, but I had no idea if I could still do them NOW. And I didn't know that I felt comfortable going straight into them at my first class back at pole in 2 years. It seemed incredibly dangerous and irresponsible. He asked me if I could at least do an extended butterfly and brass monkey, and I said I'm certain I could do those. Whether or not I could stick in my brass monkey was another question, though, since I was out of conditioning. 

It was a very intimidating, intense, and quick-paced class; and I struggled to keep up, even though I held my own for the most part. He did a lot of complicated spins that were far beyond my repertoire, and he started the class with a split step-up to Cupid like it was nothing. Everyone in the class was doing it like they had mastered it a million years ago, and my feet were glued to the ground. I could do that long ago, but it was not something I had ever conditioned in class, and I couldn't just whip it out. When I tried, I barely made it. 

Then he had us doing Ayesha's. Even though no one else in the class had one, I made Icarus give me a mat just in case because I wasn't about to go falling on my head and breaking my neck. But I surprised myself and was able to get my true grip one immediately and held it stable for a really long time. I felt really solid in it, although my hip placement was crooked. That said, I impressed myself. Then I went straight into a firm elbow grip Ayesha and then pencil on the first try. Icarus noticed and gave me a big cheer. 

Honestly, I cannot believe that I got into my Ayesha's right away on the first try with no issues and full stability with two plus years of absence and no lead-up in between. I had no prep work whatsoever. I guess it's an indicator of my current strength, although that befuddles me a bit because I'm not that active and haven't been for the last 2 years. Yes, I go to the NASA gym once a week if I can, and now I go to lyra a class once a week on Mondays; but that's the extent of it. I don't work out, I don't do strength training, I don't do boxing anymore, I don't do combat training, I don't rollerblade, I don't do yoga, I don't train at home. I'm not sure how I would have the strength to do these things. And clearly I don't, because I couldn't pull myself up in the step-up, and I struggled just with a normal invert. 

The rest of the class was spent training Janieros, which I didn't love because I just don't know that my body is capable of making that shape. And Icarus wasn't really breaking down any of the moves or helping students one-on-one. He was helping some of the students on the other side of the classroom, but he never made his way over to our side, which the girls around me even mentioned. Instead, they helped me out a bunch and even helped me get this weird split from brass monkey where you hook your elbow around the pole and then grab your leg and then open them up into a split. It took about 10 tries, but I finally got it in the end. 

It's called a Cheba Split

I don't think I was a fan of the instructor's methodology because he never broke anything down and just showed everything once and then expected you to be able to figure it out and do it on your own. I don't know if that's just how he always does it or because the class is already more advanced and has been working on those things and I just walked into the middle of the session but I didn't love it.