Finisterre

I was going to suggest Shock Absorber as well - I'm a DD/E and mine keeps the bounce under control on a trampoline!

I had a similar issue with pullups - I'd get to a certain point and be stuck! Something I found to really help me get them happening was to really focus on engaging my shoulders and lats before starting any movement. One of my teachers (an aerialist) teaches this by getting you to do shoulder shrugs from hang to get the shoulder engagement, then progressing from the shrug into the pullup. Unfortunately there is also an aspect of it simply taking time to build the muscle and strength to do it, but this definitely helped me out.

Yes! Just go in and do it! I always find the initial walking in is the worst part. Overall that sounds like a good plan to wait for help to do the more technical lifts, especially if you have a friend who knows what they're doing. You'll feel way less self-conscious with a friend, and you won't be worrying about doing it wrong

Hahaha I actually know several people who do it specifically because they're scared of heights! I happen to quite like heights (probably a short person thing, it's nice to be up high) - one of my favourite things is bungee trapeze where you're attached to bungee cords, bounce up to a trapeze bar 7-10m above the ground then launch yourself off the bar to do flips etc

The rest of the weekend has been a lot more successful than Friday night! I've only had one can of coke this weekend - a lot less than I'd usually have. I'm on track with the core challenge - a couple more exercises due today but I'm almost finished. Class yesterday involved a whole load of new things, including an interesting "move" involving hanging off the bar while someone else climbs up you. Hanging is a LOT harder when you have another person's entire bodyweight attached to you. Outside of the specific quests, I went home yesterday before class and rode. Today I skipped open training and flexibility class to go on a day trip with my friend. We headed down to the Crawick Multiverse, a huge art installation created in an old quarry with boulders found there. An hour and a half of wandering round, up and down hills, and often around in circles, probably made up for not going up in the air. We also went for a tour around a castle, and tonight I had a whole load of fresh peas with my dinner so I'm feeling pretty good

Thanks TL! There's circus schools all over the place, so even if you can't come to mine (clearly the most awesome ) there's bound to be somewhere that can teach you to fly

All my rats are named after sci-fi/fantasy characters. I buy copies of books I never intend to read because they have pretty covers (so I have a reading copy and a display copy). Apparently these things are geeky/nerdy. I think they make perfect sense...

Well today's plans were somewhat scuppered - this time by something completely outside my control. The plan: Drive to Glasgow after work. 7-9 a performance workshop on developing new circus acts, 9-10 open training on the trapeze. The reality: Five miles onto the M8 get stuck in stationary traffic. Finally got turned round at quarter to 8, at which point the alternative route to Glasgow would have got me in at half 9. Decided it was pointless and just came back to the flat It turned out that there was a five car accident between junctions 1 and 2. I was initially kicking myself for not leaving five/ten minutes earlier (which I really should have, I was running late...) but if I had I might have ended up in the accident, rather than just the traffic jam. As much as I'm gutted I didn't get to train, see my parents, see ponyface, or see my new rats tonight, I'm looking at the positives: I avoided being in the accident itself - I'm safe and well which is the main thing. Everything else is secondary. I did do today's core workout so I'm still on track with that challenge I've still got a class booked for tomorrow so have something to look forward to, and will hopefully get at least one new move!

Kenbear's suggestions are much better than mine in that case! Good luck working something out!

Hahaha does anyone in Scotland NOT know Vee? Thanks SomeGuyFromScotland

It's a tricky one alright. Could you call the hotel and request a ground floor room? It's never a guarantee with hotels but might be worth a shot, then you wouldn't be worrying about people underneath you.

Brilliant, thank you Never made friends this easily in my life... I've also requested to join the group - I'm the Fiona with the profile picture of me in a weird position.

Thanks! Good to know there's people a bit more local Would it be OK if I friended you on here (not sure what the etiquette is for that...)?

Well I've got one in my six week challenge already to reduce how much coke I drink. Rather than go cold turkey (which I've tried before, and lasts a week and a half...) I'm starting with only having it when I'm at my parents' house (so max 2 evenings per week) - this can then be decreased over time. I can start making my lunches consistently. I try to, but often end up not getting round to it and ending up with whatever the cafeteria at work is selling. Third, I can work on my fruit and veg consumption. This currently swings from 0/1 per day to 5/6 per day, so I can get this more consistent - starting point is to aim for at least 2 per day. Obviously making my own lunches will help with this since I can chuck a load of veg in that the cafeteria food won't have!

Thanks everyone! Yesterday was an easy one - rest day on the core challenge and no trapeze training. However, despite having dinner with my parents and a myriad of justifications to have some coke, I stuck with water. Small, but I still feel pretty good about it.

I'm in Scotland so also in a different timezone

Having done a bit more research, gnomes actually seem quite cool!

Ohh this is super helpful, thank you! May need to give this whole stats thing a bit of thought before I launch into that one. The assassins have already found me Plus I like the idea of being in the assassins guild, following in the footsteps of Vetinari and Pteppic. According to the generator I'm either a goblin or a gnome, not sure how I feel about that!

Yay! I'm mostly confused by the whole RPG side of things...how do I pick my race? Wth do I do with stats?? Levels??? Yeah, I'm totally not an RPG nerd. Can you tell

Thanks guys Tanktimus - the air is definitely my happy place! The main thing is really encouragement on the eating properly front, I tend to be somewhere between poor and dire most of the time!

Kenbear - I started with aerial silks in June 2013, then switched to trapeze that September so coming up for my two year trapeze-aversay Achaedia - I was secretly hoping the assassins would pick me up I'll definitely have a wee nosey over!

Could I sneak in with you guys? I've just started (and just signed up!), and still feeling a little lost around here... My current challenge is http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/69693-finisterres-first-foray/

Introduction: Hi there, I'm Finisterre (or Fiona) and this is my first challenge! I'm sneaking in a wee bit late so I hope I'm still welcome I'm 24 and mostly focus on trapeze training. I've joined NF to hopefully get some extra push and keep my motivation levels up. Main quest: Perform on the trapeze at a local venue - this means I need to be fit and strong enough to get through an act, as well as having a great routine Quest 1: Only drink coke when I'm at my parents'. I drink far too much and this is a step towards reducing it. Quest 2: Complete the 30 day core challenge. This is something a group of us from aerial are doing to improve our core strength, which is one of the most important parts of aerial. Quest 3: Train at least one "new" move/transition on the trapeze each week. This can be a new move that I've been taught in class, or it can be something I haven't worked on for a while. Hopefully this will stop me simply doing the same things repeatedly and ending up with a dull routine! Life quest: Do at least one load of washing each week. I have a ridiculous clothing collection so have a tendency to let the dirty washing build up.

*Peeks shyly round the doorframe* Hi everyone! I'm Fiona, a 25 year old PhD student in Edinburgh. I'm 5'3" and currently don't know how much I weigh (somewhere around 145lbs I think...). Growing up I was pretty active. I started horse riding just before I turned five, dabbled in dance (which stopped when I was ~9 and the ponies won ) and started field hockey at 10. At 10 I got a horse (yeah, I was a super lucky little girl!) and from then was riding 5/6 days per week. Throughout secondary school I also played hockey 3/4 times a week in winter, with cross country running in winter and athletics in the summer (mainly 1500m, because I was one of the only people daft enough to agree to it). Summer holidays were spent playing with ponies as much as possible. Unfortunately throughout school my knees had been problematic, and they were getting worse. After years of knee pain I finally got a diagnosis - turns out I have hypermobile ankles so they fall in HUGELY, making my knees out of alignment. A couple of years off running, and some fancy new insoles got me to a point where I could do a bit of running, but they're still temperamental. These days my focus is on aerial arts - in particular solo static trapeze. I started in June 2013 on silks, discovered trapeze that September and ended up addicted. I'm currently going to one solo class, one doubles class and two open training sessions a week on the trapeze, plus a flexibility class. I've started dabbling in performance as well, and recently I feel like I've moved off a wee plateau I was on. I really want to keep pushing and improving, so hopefully you guys can help keep me motivated!