LouCarJo

Belated happy birthday! How do you use were wrong?

I'm tentatively sticking my toes back in the NF pool. Haven't caught up at all, but you are looking good in that bike gear shot!

I've tried to send you a PM but it won't work. Just to say I'm thinking of you (only just saw this all today). I'm glad you've reached out and got yourself some support through all of this.

I love the organisation in your approach! Also, butter wouldn’t melt in that mouth...

So in awe of your ability to do L sits :-)

I spoke to someone at my studio who works for the offending delivery company (poor thing, she must get this all the time), and she said they get paid for deliveries actually made, so it makes no sense.

WEDNESDAY, 9 MAY All the aerial: - pole silks - chair spin type thing and plank with feet up the pole and leaning back - trapeze - two arm and one arm hangs - silks - foot lock to stand and hold with wrists wrapped and pushing arms out to bring feet off the floor (I could do this from the ground but not from a stand as it was so sore on the wrists) - Chinese pole - climb and angel hangs Intermediate pole - my god this was a terrible class for me - I couldn’t do anything. We were meant to be doing a crucifix and then lots of different handstands and I managed an invert and that was it (couldn’t take my hands off or move them at all)

Ha ha, I was going to tag you but clearly didn’t need to! Not mine, they’re in the gym. I need my husband to sell his broken car to free up space in the garage so I can make it a home gym I actually enjoy working out in before I buy myself any more toys!

Argh deliveries are the worst. I had one a few months ago where I heard a card drop through the letterbox telling me I was out and the parcel had therefore not been delivered (I was obviously there and they’d not rung our very loud doorbell). The guy was still outside but chose not to see me as I ran out, waving crazily at him to stop. That’s annoying about the meeting too. Pointless time drains get to me more and more - I have things to do!

Cat: hey, you’re making a video and didn’t tell me? I want to be in it! Ooh, soft stuff, let me just go and make myself comfortable. Ah yes, nice and soft, mmmmm. Oi, you, you seem to be leaning towards me, hey careful there, I’m here! No, no, don’t crush me, argh I’m going to have to run! Made it! What on earth do you think you were doing there, trying to kill me? Huff...

TUESDAY, 8 MAY Jump squats 3 sets of 5 - same speed as last week despite having slept incredibly badly Segmented deadlifts (pause below knee, above knee, below hip) 5 with 60kg, 3x5 with 65kg Block deadlifts (bar just below knee) 3 with 75kg, 3x3 with 80kg 3 x 30 second hold planks with hands in rings 3 x 12/12 pallof press 3 x 30 second hold paralette tuck holds

Interesting. Yes, the teachers I have tend to be very good in knowing people. There is more obvious grading in pole skills. In aerial it’s less obvious what the progression is, ie what skills you should have before moving up to other ones. It would clearly be better if I could repeat skills etc on my own, but as mentioned above, open sessions are really limited. The one to one sessions are very effective though, even though it’s getting to a point now where they get booked up months in advance.

Agree it’s difficult with classes. This sounds like a good attempt though. There are open sessions but they’re not convenient - early afternoons on Wednesdays and Thursdays. As it’s a good half hour each way, I can’t do that during a lunchtime break, say.

Sunflower behaviour is quite common in the UK too, though climate change and all that has meant this weekend has involved a lot of hiding from the sun.

He’s racing in Italy at the end of the summer. (I’ve just been told - my parents have organised a holiday to go out and see him. I’ve not been invited, and there’s no recognition that I might even have expected to have been. Love families.)

Yeah I find routines really mentally draining. Have you known of aerial studios that pay attention to progressive programming? We tend to have a theme for a week, such as spins or handstands. Conditioning at the beginning of class is vaguely pitched to the level of the class but really there’s a lot of trying stuff and if you can’t do it just either trying some more or regressing; no real troubleshooting in the sense of “work at x accessory exercise, which should ultimately help”. Pole = such pain sometimes (most of the time).

Yeah I too get annoyed when I’m trying to think and can’t. But the context here was sitting in one room for 8 hours solid (there is no place else to go for lunch so if you bring your own lunch in, you have to eat it at your desk), getting 5 hours in and needing some release. And others playing games/doing online shopping when commenting that all the talk indicates that not much work is being done. I am one of the most productive people there, yet just cannot work solidly in one room (that was starting to get too hot, too) for an entire working day.

I think cutting down on climbing sounds sensible for you so you feel able to hit it properly when you do go. My goodness I’m jealous of your food at the moment! Afghan recipes are added to my list of cuisines I need to look up and try to emulate. I love properly spiced foods. I went out last night with studio people and was so disappointed the restaurant chosen was just a chainy junky place. My husband even had to give me a pep talk in advance of not expecting too much, as he knows how picky I am over having decent food! I have plans to adult today too but am currently still in bed, reading the forums...

Poor Ghostlet. By the way, every time now I shift gears to assist in slowing down, I think of you!

Wow, naps permitted at work! That said, i think that’s very sensible - who works well in the immediate post-lunch period?! I and others got told off just this Friday for talking in the early afternoon, and it was clearly just because you can’t possibly work a whole day with no recharging time. I can see that a short nap would be less disruptive and more productive ultimately. Interesting about the ebbs and flows of the theatre performances. I used to go and see an improv group a lot, who played the same games each week. Some performances were just far, far funnier than others, and some were, frankly, flat and not funny at all. There was just an energy that was either there or not. I suooose we see the same in our training - sometimes a good session comes from nowhere and sometimes nothing works.

SATURDAY, 5 MAY Intermediate pole - all the handstands. One where one hand is on the pole and the other on the ground - we paired up and our partners helped us to find the correct alignment. I lucked out with an amazing partner and we both got this. Then a crucifix into a handstand. We were meant then to play with the leg position a bit, which I couldn’t really do at all on one side and could do but shakily on the other, but it was all good practice. Then it was meant to be a cross knee release into handstand with different leg positions. I moved to the Chinese pole and got my CKR proper (ie no hands) for the first time ever! Partner was super helpful as she very kindly came over to the Chinese pole to spot me and that was enough mental reassurance to do it. I didn’t get into the best handstand position from there (shoulders weren’t properly stacked) but as a first attempt I was pleased with it. Stretchy class - mainly legs Beginners pole - I was a bit tired by this stage. Some cup grip spins, fireman and mermaid spins, swan seat, and hooded ornament. By this stage my inner thighs were red raw. It kind of deflated my elation about the intermediates class earlier but I think I was probably too tired to perform properly by this stage.

Yeah I know there’s meant to be a correlation, but it doesn’t particularly follow strictly for me. When I was a teenager and really suffered though, there would have been a few days when I’d have been useless due to pain, discomfort, and lack of sleep. Occasionally I think I feel the impact of hormonal changes, but definitely not consistently.

I think the proliferance of cookie cutter type programmes makes you think that you should have a rigid programme and follow it without fail, but where else in our lives does something like that happen or work? I mean, academic syllabuses follow that model, but I always learnt better when I had the latitude to go into some things in depth and skirt over others, and when I was obliged to follow a syllabus strictly, it often felt it was moving too fast. I guess I mean I fairly frequently experience what I think is CNS fatigue - that kind of hit by a bus feeling that comes after a heavy series of sessions. I think it might be because it’s hard with aerial classes to know in advance how hard the classes are going to be - something involving lots of spins doesn’t hit as hard as something that requires lots of pulls and holding of bodyweight. I’m also guilty of using aerial classes as a means to get out of the house, so pack in more for that reason rather than applying a mindset of what will work best training wise. But, hey, the aim is to have a happy and healthy life, so it probably doesn’t matter.

I guess I feel I could use planning my deloads better but then again, it’s probably impossible with life getting in the way, never knowing exactly how you’re going to react etc. Attitude legs are a thing so it’s a spin with attitude legs. Basically your outside leg comes round to the pole and you hook it in the dip on the back of your ankle. That leg is then bent and almost horizontal/parallel to the ground, whilst the other leg also bends and is parallel to the ground but with the knee out to the side and the foot behind you.

Well done on finishing the 30 days! I can imagine some sleep will be well overdue.