Just a thought. I would probably get better, right? This might make a good 30 day challenge, a la 100 Sandwiches, but less sad and offensive.
I FINALLY put up my pole this weekend–after tons of drama with a missing top insert and a faulty X-joint, and it was kind of stupid the amount of progress I made just doing stuff over and over for an hour.
Here’s some clips of shit I was working on, including struggling into something resembling a floor handpring and patenting The Sad Juliet Spin. I probably didn’t invent it, but can I name it tho?
I was also working on chopsticks—OW OW MY RIBS–and hands free back bends (the power of Indian Burn compels you!!) but I can’t show you them because that was from practicing before my evil neighbor came home and thus I was listening to music at an audible level that got my video banned from YouTube 😐
PS. If you’re been wondering where I’ve been for like a month, I had a big show I was rehearsing my buns off for with my bellydance troupe for a show call Rakhasa (sp?). We don’t have a video of the performance yet, but here’s a teeny snippet of an early rehearsal that I’ll probably get in trouble for showing you, whooooops. I’m in the blue tank:
And here are some pictures of the show, wheee:
blocking one hour before the show… outside
…because we are GODDAMN PROFESSIONALS
Chillin’ backstage, getting nervous!
Thanks Brian Lin!
a couple of my favorite people 😀
Oh and one last thing…. does anybody get why this is funny or do I have the world’s most obscure sense of humor?
My bank constantly calls to remind me I’m poor, so I put its number under “Yo Bitch.” That way every time I see my missed calls I get a little chuckle. Anyone? Anyone?
I know you guys love your yoga. That’s okay. But yoga is kind of like pumpkin spice lattes: everybody loves yoga.
So I feel no guilt in proclaiming my hatred for it. Like Starbucks and Lululemon, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon, so my little opinion is free to exist in the blogosphere without doing much harm.
Here’s what happened (because you know there had to be extenuating circumstances for me to take a yoga class without there being a gun to my head): there was a gun held to my head.
JKKKKKKKK.
What happened was, I rode the subway an hour and a half (this was a Sunday, the R train was a nightmare) to the ballet class at my gym that I have taken every week for months, and when I walked up to the studio with my little bun and ballet slippers and water bottle, no one was there. THE CLASS WAS CANCELLED.
*shock, horror, general mayhem*
But even worse, this is not a one time thing. Ballet is just off the schedule. Forever. The class description isn’t even in the brochure anymore.
I. Was. Pissed.
I was also determined to not just get back on the subway to complete a 3 hour round trip on my motherfucking day off for nothing. So I checked the schedule for another class I could take.
The only option: yoga.
Fucking yoga.
And the class was an hour and a half.
So I mentally weighed some pros and cons of the situation.
Pro: this might be good for my back (which has been spasming like a motherfucker to the point where I had to stay home from work on Friday after a simple attempt at shaving my legs threw it out again).
Con: I hate yoga.
Pro: I was planning on stretching/flexibility work anyway…
Con: I fucking hate yoga.
Pro: It’s an hour and a half long class, which would nicely justify schlepping all the way out to Chelsea Piers.
Con: An hour and a half is a long time to be doing yoga, which I fucking hate.
Long story short, I decided to go for it. Some of it was okay–it hurt my back very badly during, but left me feeling much better on the way home–but most of it was annoying and just plain not for me.
Here were my pet peeves.
1. I got in trouble for pointing my toes
Like, okay, I get this. We’re supposed to relax, etc. But I can’t be in a shoulder stand for several minutes just looking at floppy ankles. Isn’t the whole point of this checking in with your body and being mindful of all of its parts? I tried flexing and turning out too, and the yogi called me out for that, too. RARRR. I’M BORED, AT LEAST LET ME WORK ON MY TOE AND TURNOUT GAME.
2. The breathing stuff made me a little sick
The expanding your abdomen stuff? Yeah, did not feel good. Especially when, as a belly dancer, I’ve been trained to use my chest and abdomen separately: breathing fills my chest but does not move it, or my belly, until I actively pop them. This has all been wired in my brain for eight years, so, it was both mentally AND physically very uncomfortable for me (it felt kind of gross and made me a little sick to my stomach).
3. The Ohming
This might have more to do with the fact that my instructor was an old white guy who sounded EXACTLY like the Catholic priest at my childhood church when he sang “amen.” Like, he sang it the same key and everything. Personal association, my bad.
4. The lying on the ground for an indeterminate amount of time
This is partly because I had to pee for the last 45 minutes of class, but ending like this was torturous. Okay, it was MOSTLY because I had to pee. Just as we were crossing the finish line (5:55, SO CLOSE), the silent meditation started. We were just lying there, forced to have our eyes closed, and I lost all concept of time. I could only think about how badly I had to pee. There was no indication of how long the lying in silence would last (maybe this class would run over 10 minutes, OH GOD), so I began to freak out that it was going to go on forever, and I would either have to pee myself or be the girl that got up in the middle of a silent meditation and yelled “I have to go to the bathroom!!” as she ran out.
And then I could never go to my gym ever again.
5. It’s so goddamn serious
I fell out of a couple of poses and cracked a smile, and every time, the instructor glared at me. What even is this? Also, people definitely audibly farted a few times and it was just so awkward to sit in perfect silence while it happened. Cannot take the solemnity, sorry.
Anyway, for all of my complaining I probably WILL go back, because I think it helped my back a little, and also because there was a hot guy in my class. I’m only human, people.
So how do you guys feel about yoga? Has anybody ever tried yoga pole? Because my friends just told me about it and I have a feeling it would be a vast improvement on this Hatha ish.
OH PS: new favorite pole jam. Kid Ink and Tinashe? Yes please.
So I was just reading this fabulous blog about the importance of clean lines in pole dancing (even for those of us who aren’t “serious,” ie. are probably not ever going to try a machine gun, etc) and I just want to jump up on the nearest table in lucite heels and scream YES, THANK YOU.
If you’ve ever taken my classes, you know I believe in doing things well–especially while performing the “easy” things, because, if you know a move inside and out, there’s no reason you shouldn’t have amazing posture/positioning/lines/hands/feet. Like, come on. There is no excuse for being that person knocking out strength moves with ease, but having flexed feet and claws for hands. That’s not a lack of strength or control, its just plain… not giving a fuck about posture/positioning/lines/hands/feet. #petpeeve.
I know it sounds elitist, but I swear it’s not–because anybody can clean up their lines with a little time and attention. It’s just about having the patience for honing an aspect of dance that’s not as instantly-gratifying as hitting a trick. (BUT, actually–gamechanger–it IS instantly gratifying!!! Once you see how beautiful small changes can be, you’ll be hooked, promise).
I get that some people are trick people, and that’s fine. But to me, the art of DANCE (of any kind) is in the flow and transitions and lines. Felix Cane backs me up on this (a former ballerina, PS).
Popping into a hard trick is great, but presentation is everything. If your posture sucks, wrenching your body into tricks with a weak foundation is kind of like rolling a turd in glitter. A shitty Fonji will be less moving to the average viewer than an artful, controlled, expressive fireman spin. That’s real.
So anyway, as I continue my casual ballet obsession, I wanted to quickly share a couple of exercises that I’ve picked up along to way to improve lines.
1. Straddle quad-lift (for straighter extensions)
Cleo the Hurricane totally cover exercise #2 in her new extensions DVD. That’s how you know it’s good!!
This one’s simple. Sit in a straddle, toes pointed, and squeeze your quads (your kneecaps should pull up) so that your knee caps retract and your heels lift off the floor. Hold for a second, and repeat. This works all the muscles that keep your knees straight when you’re off the ground, and it’s easy to work into your warm up (I usually do it right after straddle stretches, dur! 😀 )
Speaking of instant gratification, if you want to *see* more movement while working extensions, try sitting on the floor with legs extended and palms flat on the ground and slowly lift your leg for 8-10 counts, as high as you can without kicking (ie. cheating via using momentum) or compromising your posture. If you REALLY want to be ballet-authentic, do a second set on both legs with a turn out. Awwww yeah, feel that ballet burn. Bonus for both of these exercises: it’s really gratifying to see your quads flexing while doing this.
We do this one in belly dance a lot, but for pole, it trains your shoulders to engage and retract while spinning or sitting in holds, protecting them and preventing that “just hanging there” look. It’s simple, but surprisingly difficult: extend both arms out in a T-shape, then pinch your shoulder blades together. In the mirror, you should see your shoulders get very slightly closer together and draw behind you as your chest opens. Try 10 reps slow, then 10 double time. You can also try slowly raising your arms into a V overhead for an added challenge, but throughout either variation, focus on keep your shoulders down and your elbows up.
This is a tad extreme, but you get the basic idea…
3. Ankle stretch (for straighter ankle points)
I’ve been trying in vain to get my right ankle to flatten out into a straight line with my shin, and this simple move sure feels effective: kneel with your butt resting on your heels and the tops of your feet flat to the ground. With one hand touching the floor for support, gently lift your knee with the other hand (same hand for same knee) until you feel a stretch at the front of your ankle and top of your foot. Try shifting your weight around to see where you get the deepest stretch. Hold for several seconds and switch.
If you don’t know why straight ankles are important btw, I urge you to look at this picture of US gymnast Aly Raisman, who caught all kinds of crap for having “claw feet” in the 2012 summer olympics. (Yes, even when you are doing cray-cray flips and balances, people will still notice this stuff).
On another note, I swear to god, just being up being on your toes smooths out your feet and ankle lines more than anything–if you’ve got good form. The next time you’re on releve, make sure to check that you are 1. truly on the balls of your feet (not your insteps or literal toes), 2. that if you were to roll forward, your weight would be on your first three toes, not the 4th and pinkie, and 3. your ankles are straight (not winging or sickling).
4. Standing splits walking drill (to train leg extensions, flexibility, posture, and balance–whew)
A quick positioning guide! So image, very help, wow!
So you need a little room for this one, but it’s worth it for extension training, warming up, and flexibility-building all in one: starting with both arms extended in front of you, lift a leg as close to waist-level as you can, then in one smooth motion, bring it straight down and through behind you (into an arabesque) as you tip forward from the waist and touch your fingertips to the group (with your torso close to your standing leg).
Kick through your raised foot, bringing it high as you can. Hold a beat, and return to standing. Tak a step forward and repeat on the other side, alternating to cross the room. Tip: try not to pause or use your travelling foot to steady you as you transition into your standing split: you’re trying for one smooth, controlled motion. Use your core to keep your balance, and try to keep a flat back!
5. Anti-dinosaur arm stretch (for poor range of motion in arms and lower back)
This one is basic, but essential, and there’s two ways to do it. The first way, which we used to do on the swim team, is the “against the wall stretch.” Standing in front of a wall, raise your arms overhead and press your palms flat, gradually pulling your chest closer to the wall as your legs stay straight and your back arches. Try to pull your head through your arms, feeling the stretch in your shoulders. You can also try leaning from side to side for a deeper reach.
Alternately: stand with your back to the pole, grab with both hands overhead in cup grip (you can keep a little bend in your elbows), and pull your chest out and away from the pole. Be sure to keep your feet planted and close to the base.
Am I snob? Do you know better tricks for ironing out bent legs or limbering up dinosaur arms? Please share!
Also, in writing this I discovered that I have WAY more stuff I want to tell you about proper alignment (learned in my ballet adventures yet again), so I think I’m going to do a follow up about line/posture corrections you should be making as you dance. Yay for being a know-it-all 😀
I think I wrote before about how I was struggling with what felt like a contemporary style in my poleography pole classes (Body and Pole choreography class, holla!), and I finally feel like I’m starting to get with the program!
I was struggling with taking myself/my movements seriously when they weren’t sexy, and oddly enough, I think ballet has built up my confidence with this. (Yes, I started taking ballet once a week because, while I sadly let my Groupon for a Real Dance Studio expire, my gym has a class taught by an excellent, real ballerina… that is totally included in my membership. She’s 100% legit–constantly correcting our form (nicely) and telling us how movements should feel–and I LOVE HER.)
So now that my head is chock full of “PULL UP” and “LINES” and “GET ON YOUR LEG” it’s easier to turn off the part of my brain that helpfully narrates my dancing with “OH SHIT OH SHIT I LOOK STUPID.”
Progress!
So anyway this isn’t anything particularly graceful, but I was feelin’ it and I think it shows.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the past year (probably because of that mid-year review blog hop going around), and how this was the year that I just kind of threw it on automatic. These days, I don’t think about it too hard–I just get my ass to the gym. I just stretch after every workout. I just go to the studio for pole twice a week and ballet once a week. I just. fucking. do it. And I stop immediately checking for results every time I do, because it’s a lifestyle, and I’m down with that. As they say in the ballet world, love the pain.
And you know what? I’m starting to see huge, permanent changes in my dancing. My lines are better. My flexibility shows. My hands and feet aren’t “dead,” even when I forget about them. These are huge wins for me!! It’s those things that make the difference between “looking terrible while learning choreo and then kind of making it passable” and “looking OK while learning it, then making it beautiful and emotive when it’s mastered.”
This is going to sound weird, but my body-mind connection is getting stronger too. Now, when I think about a movement I want to make, what I see in the mirror or video usually resembles what I WANT to see. I cannot stress enough how much this was not the case before. I would practice at home for hours thinking a routine looked great and then not even recognized the choreography once I saw myself doing it on tape.
These are small things that feel important to me because they’re real changes. I’ve learned tricks and then lost them a few weeks later, but these skills feel “for good.”
I hope.
Haha!
What changes have YOU made this year? What were your biggest accomplishments? Let’s pretend it’s still July and blog-hop this bitch!
It’s family-gathering and wedding season, so I’m afraid I’ve been rather delinquent with my weekend poling. Luckily, my gym being a part of my workplace and all, I’ve been staying in pretty decent shape. Hopefully that translates into still being able to do pole tricks. We’ll see when I get back into the studio this weekend!
Speaking of the studio, here’s a little flow sequence I learned a couple of weeks ago that makes me cringe (not very smooth, but, I like to video things as soon as I learn them so I don’t forget!). I haven’t figured out how to style it yet, but I really dig the moves. You’ll just have to take my word for it that hey looked much better when Shaina did them 😛
Aside from slooooow pole progress, I’ve been spending time with my #1 CHICK, my niece Julia. She learned how to wave, kind of (she does it backwards), so, I lost like 9 hours of my life being entertained by that. Here’s a picture of her “waving” at my mom with just-out-of-the-bath hair. I mean….
Here’s us having an intellectual conversation up in the Adirondacks on the 4th of July. She was telling me her thoughts on Nietzsche, and also that she thinks popsicles are too cold.
On the dating front, I also spent some deeply emotionally satisfying time on Tinder:
Which made me just kind of tired.
In happier news, I had a bellydance show! Here are some pictures. It was a blast! That’s me, back center 🙂
So that’s what I’ve been up to. How about you guys?
PS. Does anyone have any awkward sunburns yet? I somehow ended up with a small crescent of burn ONLY on my right boob. So awkward.
I think I’ve blabbed on here before about working out during the day, but, things have changed.
I used to take a class called “Chisel” that was weight training, but like, high intensity, high-rep, agility-based training (was any of that in English or am I wiling out with the hyphens?) We would do squats and lunges combined with other stuff so that our heart rates would stay up, but blessedly, no jumping jacks or bouncing of any kind is involved.
I was ALL ABOUT THIS CLASS until something horrible happened: our instructor peaced out. He was all, “BRB in October,” and we’re all “HAAAAALP, you can’t abandon us during swimsuit season!!”
(Disclaimer: I don’t give a crap about “swimsuit season” and consider a “bikini body” to simply be your body in a two-piece. But, these were the concerns of many of my classmates and I’m trying to reflect that).
So now we have a new instructor. I tried to keep an open mind, but as soon as he said “Set up your equipment in the middle, we’re going to need the perimeter of the room for the warm up,” I made a made dash for the locker room.
Why? To retrieve my second sports bra. And like, MAYBE cry a little. Because I have huge boobs, and it makes me hate the running I knew we were about to do.
And oh god, it wasn’t just running. It was jump squats. Jumping jacks. That football thing where you shuffle really fast but up and down the aerobic step. It. Was. Terrible.
Real talk: I’m a 32DD, and even with my two bras, I came very close to losing an eye.
So when I saw this article I was like DUH, my boobs make literally 80% of all my exercise decisions for me.
That explains why I love bellydance and pole, but not Zumba. Why I was a swimmer in high school and not a runner. Why I have always, always hated trampolines.
Do your boobs call the athletic shots for you? Am I the only one in the world who has to layer sports bras?
The description for the class (at my favorite pole studio) said that “Acro” was great conditioning for pole, and would smooth out transitions and floor work. Perfect, right?
It was also a Level 1 class, so I was like, “Mkay, I’m not going to know what I’m doing, but I’m a fit person, I can handle this!”
LOL WRONG.
SO WRONG.
Here’s the thing: I have tools for approaching most forms of dance or exercise. I know a few things about body alignment and positioning, posture, and safety (using core to protect the back, keeping shoulders retracted, tucking the chin to protect neck and head while inverted).
But some stuff, I have no way of approaching. It disorients me. I have no idea what “right” feels like, or looks like, and it’s so jarring and unfamiliar and dangerous-feeling that I’m just totally petrified by it.
There is one category that singularly encapsulates these types of movements that terrify me, and they can be contained by one word: Gymnastics.
Let me throw out a few other words and phrases to define my terror:
-All my weight on my hands? But that’s what feet are for.
-You want me to fling myself through the air with my head being the closest thing to the ground. oh…kay. On purpose????
-I don’t want to put all my weight on my head, even if I can use my hands. That’s how breaking necks happens, yes?
-I can’t jump over my own leg. What? How? I don’t… what?
Here is a sampling of the exercises we were instructed to do–in groups of two/three, while the rest of the class watched, for extra enjoyment.
-Go into a handstand. Come down. Do a pushup. Pike your hands to your feet. Repeat across the room.
-Lean backwards into a bridge on one hand. Sweep the other hand around and down and lift a leg into a split. Sweep out of the bridge on the other hand. Roll over into a plank position and do a pushup. Pike to standing. Repeat across the room.
-Some kind of new fangled cartwheel that you do a fancy turn out of. (I was so tired and frustrated at this point I couldn’t see straight, so I don’t remember the finer points).
About 30 minutes into the longest hour and a half of my life, one of the acrobats in my class (because really, none of these people doing handstands like LOLthisiseasy could be called “level one students”) noticed I seemed… off. I thought I was doing a good job of covering how close to stress tears I was, but I guess trying to hide my quivering lower lip by taking a sip of water and then dumping my water down myself (because my lip wouldn’t stop quivering) was probably less than subtle.
I think the conversation went something like this:
Her: “Are you okay?”
Me: *blubbers unintelligibly*
And then she went to go get the teacher to help me. Which was very nice, but a new form of torture altogether–the clumsy idiot receiving special instruction from the teacher while froggy jumping next to flawless handstands is not a fun role to play.
I got through class, but, here’s the sad thing: I kind of want to learn these skills! I just don’t ever want to back to this class ever again though. Someone tell me–if people are doing perfect handstands in a level one class with no special help, where exactly are you supposed to start?
And does anyone else have a full body aversion to going upside down NOT on a pole? It just feels so open and terrifying to me. My body literally won’t let me do it.
How do you leaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarn.
(Please tell me).
In other news, the universe is fair after all, because I my first ballet class at my gym (re: NOT a dance studio) and I was by far the most coordinated person in there. Which duh, it was a bunch on non-dancers. But it was really healing for my ego. Updates on my rond de jambes to come!!
I told y’all that I was teaching again, but Jesus, even I didn’t know I was going to be TEACHING. Like, anywhere between an hour and 5 every single night this week.
When I first started out, I came on the scene like THIS:
Now though, I have blisters on my palms, bruises on my knees, and large sections of the balls of my feet peeling off and I feel kinda like Lili Von Shtupp from Blazing Saddles:
And speaking of showers, between morning, lunch time gym sessions, and post-class detox, I’m up to 3 a day. Eep. Pole is truly a lifestyle.
Anyway, since I’m too tired to think critically about anything I’m doing right now, so here’s an awesome trailer for a documentary someone’s making about a ballerina who crosses over to pole. It looks really, really interesting (of course I’m biased).
This just reinforces my belief that a background in ballet or concurrent training is a perfect companion to pole. I mean… D’ose lines. I’ll never forget the first time I stepped into Shaina Cruea’s class at B&P and immediately just KNEW that she did ballet, just from the warm up. Her extension and toe point game is off the charts, and it makes her movement absolutely ethereal. (But in case you were wondering, she’s one of the kindest, most encouraging, lovely teachers I’ve had–not anywhere near as intimidating as her dancing 😉 )
How’s everybody? Are we all just playing hooky from the studio to go on picnics, etc? I am loving the extended Spring we’re getting in NYC, so much better than the Frigid=>Balls Hot jump we usually make from April to May.
Okay, BRB, teaching 4:30 to 10:30 today. Eeeeeeeep.
Is it a matter of context? Lighting? The costumes? The camera taking the photos?
I’ve been working out 5 days a week for a few months now, and the night of this show, I remember feeling really good, totally comfortable in my costume, but a little worried that my makeup was too heavy. During the actual dance I felt connected to the music, fierce and emotive in my facial expressions, and 100% in the moment. Muscle memory is a wonderful thing.
And then I was tagged in photos from the show and I just see BLECHHHHHHH. Why am I barefaced?! Dead in the eyes? And don’t even get me started on body stuff. I’m actually self-conscious now that my arms are too… big. Not even flabby or anything, just, large. Over-sized. Not delicate.
Am I fucked in the head? Because it’s super annoying to spend so much time busting your ass learning choreo, training to stay in shape, and primping for a show only to dread photo-evidence of it forever afterward.
Should I get ribs removed and arm liposuction? Should I just stop performing?
Yeah yeah, I already know the answer: I just need get over it and roll on. But please someone, commiserate with me. What is it about performing that makes everything seem hopelessly not good enough?
Body paranoia aside, I’m pretty damn excited that we got to do a $40-a-ticket show in New York City on a REAL STAGE with REAL LIGHTING. I’ll try to be less of a brat here, because wow, what an opportunity. And I’m so proud of our group!! We really did rally and do a great show, despite last minute choreo and blocking changes. #pros 😉
In terms of pole, though, I can’t imagine doing this someday alone, in a smaller costume, and with literally much higher stakes (if you screw up you FALL, ahhhh). Even without the body stuff (EEK, really, in a bikini?!!) the pole adds so many new variables to things that can go wrong. The hand sweat alone… I can’t even.
Ladies who have done shows, are you prone to photo-induced mini breakdowns? How did you get over it? Do you ever have those feelings right before a show that your choreo is boring and no one should watch it? (I have this thought before EVERY show. Not helpful, brain).
So I MIGHT be doing a little more socializing than poling right now.
Remember when I was all excited about doing ballet as cross training for pole?
Yeah, I f***ed that up.
But, I have my reasons. A lot has changed.
First, both of my parents got sick–my mom in January, and my dad in March. The Saturdays my ballet classes were scheduled for were spent running home. Or catching up on 3 weeks worth of chores when I stayed here.
Then, our bellydance troupe got a “Come to Jesus Talk” re: our lack of dedication. The solution, our troupe leader decided, was to divide the group into “serious” dancers and “just for fun” dancers. This sounds mean, but honestly, it was kind of the only solution since half of us were religiously rehearsing and the other half were constantly missing practice and in the dark about choreo changes, etc.
Since I can’t stand being second best at anything, I immediately set my sights on landing a spot on “Troupe A.” But M (our troupe leader) hasn’t made the decision just yet. So that means an extended period of really kicking ass in practice and at the two shows we just had (and have tomorrow) has been top priority.
Another change: I got a gym membership about a month ago! The new company I work for is at Chelsea Piers, which has the greatest gym in the city, and we get a discount. So, come on, I could only watch my coworkers leave at 12 to go take a class or run or swim so many times before I caved and got one too. #YOLO.
Okay, I’m going to be honest–taking classes at this gym has made me realize something. Setting aside all my reasons and excuses for not getting my ass to a ballet class, I think there’s some psychological resistance behind it: I’m burnt out on “not good enough.”
As attracted as my type-A self is to discipline and perfection, I think constantly being critiqued in the insane number of dance classes I’ve been taking has been getting to me. (God, I really, really hate admitting that).
It’s hard to be working, genuinely working, and seeing in the mirror that the effort is just not showing because some secondary issue like toe point or flexibility. It’s all part of dance, and critique is part of improving, but, I think I needed a break from all the pick pick picking.
Which brings me to the classes I’ve been taking at Chelsea Piers, which I LOVE. I’m not normally an “exercise class” gal. I mean, if it doesn’t look pretty, I’m usually not interested in getting my body to do it. But for some reason, it’s really clicking with me right now. I go in and shut my brain off, and WORK. It doesn’t matter how it looks (though of course, form is important, duh). And if the instructor sees my WORK, he is happy. Case closed. My best is always enough. And then I take the highest-water pressure shower of my life and go back to work exhausted and happy.
This week alone I did 2 abs classes and a “Chisel” class, which is weight training, but so fast-paced that you sweat like it’s cardio. So I haven’t exactly been sitting on my ass… but come 6pm, I have been a little too wiped out to even think about ballet (which only offers classes during the week on ONE DAY. wtf, ballet?). Also, I keep forgetting to bring 2 sets of workout clothes, so there’s that.
The good news is, I think I AM improving my extensions and flexibility. It just hasn’t been from ballet. My Groupon expired, but I should still be able to put my tail between my legs and get the “paid for” value in classes when I can. Hopefully that will be soon. But I’m not gonna push myself.
Meanwhile, like a lot of bloggers its seems, I’ve also been slacking on pole a little. I’ve been feeling a little bored with it. I think I hit that plateau that Leen Isabel talks about–I hit a strength wall and was just not progressing. So maybe a little active away time will do me some good (and I do mean ACTIVE–my jeans don’t fit because my thighs are bulking up. Thanks, squats!)
I’m hoping maybe taking another week to just workout-workout and not worry about dance stuff, aside from Fire Blossoms, will prep me for more advanced pole stuff when I’m jazzed to go again. And I think I will be. Just, not right now. And that’s okay!
What have you guys been up to? I’m sensing a little Spring Fever from everybody… ❤
The Spin Diaries: Your Guide to Everything Pole and Aerial 