Winter in Alamut

[@mu]

I finally had my Assassin Level Up and have now gained a decent mastery of Teleportation by freeing the little Red Ball from the silks. I also started  linking bent arm press reps on my parallettes. But the real grit is yet to come... On the programme:

• more conditioning (the beatings will continue until morale improves)...

• some string theory (aerial puzzles)...

• experiments in fluid mechanics (sequencing, movement quality, improvisation)...

 

~~ Overall goals – the usual suspects ~~

 

Increase push/pull strength

More back flexibility

Up aerial practice

 

~~ Artefacts and challenge companions ~~

 

A pair of parallettes

Silks hanging from a low-height in-house aerial rig

Red ball

Teenage tabby cat

 

~~ Implementation plan ~~

 

Goal 1: Push-Pull - 3x/week - 12 sessions

(Warm-up on floor & equipment)

Core sets – 12 sessions:

• Bent arm press linked reps on parallettes x2+ set 1

• Dead hang to inverted pike x3 from bars (no silks / wrapping to catcher Left / Right)

• Bent arm press linked reps on parallettes x2+ set 2

• Long arms straddle up x2+ each side

Supporting sets - alternating 2 workouts – 6 sessions each:

• Support A

  • 1-arm hold progression LR

  • Bent arm press hold on parallettes with ball

• Support B

  • Meat hook progression on silks x2+ each side

  • HSPUs in sling: 3+ reps working on good form

Adding reps / moving to a new progression = bonus
 

Goal 2: Bend - 2x/week - 8 sessions

(Warm-up – general/prep stretching)

Standing back drop to support / Elevated Jefferson curls

Camel bend back drop / Pancake

Elbow stand hold to bridge on sofa back to front / Legs behind shoulders/neck

Aim at 3+ sets for each

 

Goal 3: Apparatus puzzles - 1x/week - 4 sessions

Low-height rig puzzles:

• find ways to wrap high enough

• modify / tighten moves to limit sliding / slack

• find decent exits when the floor is very close

Try to solve at least a couple of those issues. Practice on both sides.

This will require some prep during the week to get into my session with ideas ready to test. I made a little aerialist paper model to check my knots on a wee string. Here it is in a belay  

 

Examples of puzzles:

S-wrap entry → helicopter → exit

Belay entry with enough height left to hang from

Catcher → angel → exit

Ankle hang

…

 

Goal 4: Movement quality - 1x/week - 4 sessions

Practice a mini-sequence but instead of doing plain reps, use each repetition to work on movement quality and improvise on it.

e.g. minimalist / slow and sustained / flickery / body part focus / organic vs robotic / small vs big

Have some plan for each session and report briefly afterwards about what works / does not, findings, dead ends and so on. Practice on both sides.

 

Goal 5: Sequencing - 1x/week - 4+ sessions

Work on sequencing with a bit of music.

In my last challenge, I had a similar goal but I got myself entangled into a lot of constraints (theme / story / music / ball taking up space / different video takes to be put together). It still worked out and it was useful to get more training time in but I'd like a bit more freedom on that one. No upfront constraint on theme / music / length / moves. But still take a final video for accountability.

Because my week-ends are Thursdays-Fridays, I will start on Saturday rather than Monday. In the meantime, I will continue my prepping to check specifics / feasibility / timing.
Have a good challenge everyone!
 

 

[Manarelle]

Love the little paper guy to practice with. Following again. 

[@mu]

13 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Love the little paper guy to practice with. Following again. 

 

Merci bien! Will you join as well? I haven't found your thread yet

 

~~

 

Yesterday prepping for Goal 2 (bend)

 

Warmup and prep stretching + ball drills (flex foot / straight legs)

Standing back drop to support / Elevated Jefferson curls => 3/3

Camel bend back drop / Pancake => 3/3

Elbow stand hold to bridge on sofa back to front / Legs behind shoulders/neck => 3/3

 

I took snapshots of where I am at for all of them.

 

Back drop progression (standing & camel): I'm starting slowly to go with two hands at the same time (but not always, it's still more difficult than just one hand). I also don't always manage to get back up. I'm hoping this month will strengthen that bit.

 

Standing pike (Jeff curls) and pancake: I still have a big rounding of the back to work on.

 

Elbow stand to bridge on sofa and back: it's fine but still wobbly, not well controlled. Hopefully it will improve this month.

 

Legs behind shoulders/neck (front bend knot): I can lock my feet but they are not yet completely behind my head and shoulders. I worked also on unlocking the feet and straightening the legs gently. This is not going to happen this month but I'd like to get further behind the shoulders in a locked position and get used to the level of compression, which is quite intense for me right now.

 

Spoiler

Cat was not impressed by my front bend.

“Wait. I'm not one year old yet but I can sure attend to my own arse.”

 

~~

 

Today prepping for Goal 1 (push/pull)

Warmup

Bent arm press linked reps on parallettes x2+ set 1

1-link-1 up and fell over

Dead hang to inverted pike x3 from bars (no silks / wrapping to catcher Left / Right)

bent legs: 1-1(foot help)-1(foot help)

Bent arm press linked reps on parallettes x2+ set 2

1-link-1-fail to link again but not far from it! If I can use a bit of tuck momentum, I could get there.

1-arm hold progression LR

1 arm from bar: R 12s L 10s => timing went higher because I made sure my hands were dry this time... bars are too slippery otherwise, I still slipped a wee bit on the left (but my left is also weaker anyway)

Bent arm press hold on parallettes with ball

10s => pike press takes ages with the ball between my ankles, I went up sloooowly and fell, took 10s to do that  

Dead hang long arms straddle up x2+ - LR

bent legs 2R 2L

 

Then prepping for Goal 4 (movement quality/improv)

 

Checked out the thigh hitch flow L&R, and I could use that one as well, with the split hip lock flow I checked out earlier this week. Maybe I could throw in the twisty descent from Francesca as well. But I should probably not pick more than 2 mini-sequences for each session. Left side for all of them will be a bit so so but then yeah... I really have to practice it.

 

And then a bit of Goal 3 because those puzzles are really bugging me.

 

S-wrap

Entry 1- Earlier this week, I tried s-wrapping from the bars, and I could indeed manage to get a helicopter turn in there but I ended up very very low, like almost on the floor (cf end of this video) => okayish but just a little bit more height would really help a lot.

Things I have tried today:

Entry 2- twisted climb => nope, I can't get a flamenco grip in such a small space, has to be from a fairly extended arm, thus ending up lower than Entry-1.

Entry 3- try to bend arms from bars to wrap higher => nope (wrap slides, doesn't make a difference)

I have another idea, an entry I used to do on rope but I didn't try it, I was too tired. Next time. I suspect it will still be quite slidy on silks...

 

Honestly, doing aerial on this rig feels like programming in those days when computer memory was scarce . Very very tight stuff.

 

[Manarelle]

Your cat... I love the commentary and intrusions, although I'm sure they're less welcome irl. 

 

Je créerai une challenge, peut-etre aujourd'hui. Demain était .... занята? I forgot "busy" in French. 

 

Imagine how great it'll feel to get a practice area with lots of space... you'll dazzle them all with your compact aerial skills. 

[Mad Hatter]

On 2/6/2018 at 7:11 AM, @mu said:

 

 

Really like all you movement goals too!

 

11 hours ago, @mu said:

feels like programming in those days when computer memory was scarce . Very very tight stuff.

I've never had that joy but imagine it was a bit like GPU programming these days...

[raptron]

That kitten judgment hahahaha. 

[AceVixen]

Subbed! But, wow, I cannot understand half of what you're going to be doing! How long have you been doing silks? Judging by your flexibility and such, you must be pretty advanced! 

[@mu]

14 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Your cat... I love the commentary and intrusions, although I'm sure they're less welcome irl. 

Yes, sometimes she goes a bit under my skin, and not so metaphorically But I know she just wants to play, I let her have a go, who knows, she might finally understand the concept of partnership in acro   The only time we really get cross is when she tries to claw the silks.

 

14 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Demain était .... занята? I forgot "busy" in French. 

 

occupé. J'ai vu  / je suis

 

14 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Imagine how great it'll feel to get a practice area with lots of space... you'll dazzle them all with your compact aerial skills. 

 

Not sure about that but thanks for the heads up!

 

14 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I've never had that joy but imagine it was a bit like GPU programming these days...

Is it what you do as a job? dear lord I have never done gpu stuff, do you have to allocate/deallocate memory manually and all?

 

14 minutes ago, AceVixen said:

I cannot understand half of what you're going to be doing! How long have you been doing silks?

 

Aerial jargon is pretty horrible, yes I'm sorry about that. When I read my old notes, I don't understand myself either

I started aerial in 2009 (in Edinburgh). I was training very actively for 5 years, then I had a break for nearly 3 years. I moved to a new country, needed time to settle down,  was busy learning other things as well. There is no class here, so I finally got myself a home rig and I started again about 5 months ago. I'd say I have a fair experience (in vocabulary / technique / security / how to train on my own) but well,  it was a long break so the physical is no longer matching the stuff in my head Ha, to be honest, the physical never matched the stuff I long for in my head  
The apparatus has its own constraints as well (but also its advantages, mixing bars and silks). I see it a bit like the new apparatus thingies that have been popping up, you know, spirals, cubes.... Mine is sort of an open bird cage... Why not, so far I'm happy with it overall, despite little pikes of frustration!


 

[sylph]

Here again, of course.

[@mu]

~~ Thursday

 

Goal 5 prepping

Found a couple of music tracks to work with. Worked on a few short sequences.

 

~~ Friday

 

Silks: move review. Checked a variety of cross-back straddle entries and another thigh hitch flow from the floor (I still can't get into it from the air, same issue as one of the cross-back entries actually, a wrap with the feet that I am very clumsy with).

 

I watched a little 101 straddle up sort of video to review my form a wee bit... and I need to make sure

1. that I don't let my hips sink back once I'm up...

2. that I activate the rhomboids... aka showing off the boobs, I tend to round the back...

Need to think about these 2 items for next conditioning session.

 

~~ Saturday

 

My challenge officially begins now!

 

After warm and general/prep stretching:
 

Goal 2: Bend

Standing back drop to support 3

Elevated Jefferson curls 3

Camel bend back drop 3

Pancake 3

Elbow stand to bridge on sofa back to front 3

Legs behind shoulder/neck 3

Okay but feeling a bit tight.

Cat left me alone as she was herself struggling with her muscle-up today:

 

 

[sylph]

Kitty muscle up! SQUEEEE!! <3

[@mu]

BD party night yesterday. Both my husband and I were very tired rather early, getting old aren't we. But today is a national holiday. Meaning sleeeeep and I could train without having to rush. Goals sheets below and some notes here:

 

Bent arm press linked tuck reps

Kitten was a bit disruptive as usual. But got 3 reps = 2 links in a row in second set! PB! Used momentum and then fell over because I was pushing a lot but still! I'm counting it as 2.5 reps  
 

Spoiler

 

 

Dead hang to inverted pike

Still a wee foot help on the 2 wrapped rep. It's a “pull” move but the hard part for me is really the pushing bit at the top. I have to push like an elephant.

 

Dead hang long arms straddle up

I was careful about keeping my hips up and straightening my back, but it still needs work...

 

1-arm hold progression

Still 10s range. Slippery bar (let's blame the apparatus ). Had to get another go on the left.

 

Bent arm pike press + hold on parallettes with ball

Also 10s. Pike press is consuming all my stamina, went into a hold and fell over quick. Hope I can improve the hold soon.

 

Aerial puzzles

 

Tried s-wrap from a loop. I kept sliding. Tried holding the bars to keep at the same level, but then the silks would start turning around twisting my shoulder. So nope. Maybe a slow controlled meathook from bars could do the trick but I don't have the strength to hold it. I guess I'll stick to the okayish s-wrap piking from bars for now.

 

Moved on to belay and it was more productive.

First I tried a low tech entry, just doing the knot by hand at the top and getting my head in the loop for a neck hang...It worked fine and it's a full body hang...Did both sides.

Spoiler

Then another entry with a pull over in split silks. Quite a bit of sliding as expected. But I might be able to work on reducing the slack. Going down, I also get space to pull over the knot. Did right and left side. Need to work on the exit though.
 

Spoiler

Same belay knot as above with belly pull over instead of neck hang... ending up way lower....

 

Then I tried another entry, similar to the one above but with a back balance wrap. Way too slidy at this stage. And a sort of slide that is difficult to control. I'd say nope for now but might come back to it.

Then tried another entry from crossback straddle, ending up in a knee hang. Ha ha. I'm not even finished with the crossback wrapping that I'm already near the bottom. So nope for now.

 

Ok, not too bad overall. Next session I want to consolidate my findings a little bit, it's still a bit raw/clumsy.

 

Challenge got barely started and aerialist paper buddy is already suffering from a waist injury:

 

 

Goal 1: Push-Pull

Core

Bent arm press linked tuck reps on parallettes x2+ set 1

1. 2

Dead hang to inverted pike x3 from bars (no silks / wrapping to catcher Left / Right)

1. [bent legs, foot help x2] 3

Bent arm press linked tuck reps on parallettes x2+ set 2

1. 2.5

Dead hang long arms straddle up x2+ - LR

1. [bent legs] 2L 2R

Support A

1-arm hold progression LR

1. 13s R 4s 10s L

Bent arm pike press + hold on parallettes with ball

1. 10s

 

Goal 3: Apparatus puzzle

0. s-wrap –> 3 entries tested – 1 okayish (from bar)

1. s-wrap –> +1 entry tested: nope. belay –> 4 entries tested: 2 ok/okayish (hand-made knot, knee pull over)

 

[lucky fire dragon]

found you

 

I really enjoy your playful spirit throughout the whole challenges, with the word plays like string theory and the themes and aerialist paper buddies and cat commentary... it's all so so cool!

With no experience in silks whatsoever I won't be able to give any advice but will just pop by to admire 

Even with no silks background I can see how strrrrrrrrrrong you are though!

 

Oh and please don't accidentally strangle yourself!

[AceVixen]

Yay, kitty! How cute! And wow, your own rig at home, that is very cool.

[traaki]

Following!! This all sounds very impressive; I'm excited to learn a few things.

[Manarelle]

Grats on linking 2.5 reps. It was nice of kitty to leave alone until you ended on your own, at least.  Looks like your aerial buddy needs a weights belt, of the sticky plastic variety. 

[LouCarJo]

Here again!  How is it that the cat gets the muscle up through sheer determination, when that doesn’t work for me?!

[raptron]

Poor paper buddy. That sounds like a good training session.

 

[@mu]

On 2/11/2018 at 5:31 PM, lucky fire dragon said:

Oh and please don't accidentally strangle yourself!

 

Welcome! and thanks! And you are actually making a very very good point you know... I don't train when I'm alone in the house for that very reason. Neck hang is ok but I did get stuck once on another move I assumed I could still do, and well no... Had to call my husband and use him as a ladder... He found it very funny, but it was a good reminder for me to stick to that protocol... no training alone.
 

On 2/12/2018 at 5:16 AM, Manarelle said:

It was nice of kitty to leave alone until you ended on your own, at least.

Err, actually she came to bite my right hand and did a sort of head grab with her paws on the first reps. It doesn't look like much but it's very unsettling
I repaired the aerialist paper buddy with some tape. Not sure how long it will last though
 

 

20 hours ago, LouCarJo said:

How is it that the cat gets the muscle up through sheer determination, when that doesn’t work for me?!

She is cheating a little bit, this is why

 

On 2/12/2018 at 2:23 AM, traaki said:

Following!!

 

Welcome!

 

~~

So wee update...

I caught a form of tonsillitis, feeling a bit meh and having to gargle with salt water every so often...

Had a practice session today but I wasn't really on top of it.

 

~~ Monday

 

REST

 

~~ Today

 

Goal 1 (Push/Pull) and 4 (Movement quality)

 

Goal 1 notes:

 

Bent arm press linked tuck reps on parallettes

1 rep – fail... 1 rep – fail... 1 rep – fail. Just couldn't get up at all  Only managed 2 reps in a row in the second set.

HSPUs in sling

Exhausting. Still lots of form issues: loosing the core, elbow flaring...
Everything else was a bit like Sunday.

 

Goal 4 (Movement quality) notes:

 

I'm using the Laban grid to help myself a little bit (pic below). I quite like the dimensions. It does not cover everything of course but it gives some ideas.

 

 

Feeling a bit meh, I wasn't really in the mood for this to be honest, going for plain reps would have been much easier.

I did these 2 improv on both sides:

1. slow / heavy / bound but with indirect stuff in it (wringing)
   intent: silks are like a sticky spider web you want to get out off

2. percussive: direct / quick / heavy / free + look at a single focus point during the whole run
   intent: something like Maori haka, dance to frighten your enemy, silks are your weapon

With matching music for both.

 

And mhm:

• I think I'm slow but I'm not really... really really not!

• In 1) I couldn't really get any interesting wringing movement. Tried but it didn't come out very well.

• 2) was much easier / inspiring.

I really don't know how to articulate this much more than that. I found it difficult overall.

Goals update:

 

Goal 1: Push-Pull

Core – 12 sessions each - 2/12

Bent arm press linked tuck reps on parallettes x2+ set 1

1. 2 – 1

Dead hang to inverted pike x3 from bars (no silks / wrapping to catcher Left / Right)

1. [bent legs, foot help x2] 3 - 3

Bent arm press linked tuck reps on parallettes x2+ set 2

1. 2.5 - 2

Dead hang long arms straddle up x2+ - LR

1. [bent legs] 2L 2R – 2L 2R

Support B – 6 sessions each - 1/6

Meat hook progression on silks x2 on each side

1. [floor, split silks, pull up to wrapped bent arms, tuck extension] 1R-1L 1L-1R

HSPUs in sling: 3+ reps working on good form

1. 3

 

Goal 4: Movement quality

1. Wringing - sticky spider web / percussive - Maori haka

 

[@mu]

Oh I made some "silks" for the cat. She's completely ecstatic about it.

 

 

[Asuka]

On 2/8/2018 at 1:40 AM, Manarelle said:

Looks like your aerial buddy needs a weights belt, of the sticky plastic variety. 

On 2/11/2018 at 7:34 PM, @mu said:

Awesome challenge!! 

I love the cat, the paper doll with a belt... and the no strangulation protocol! 

I second everyone saying how cool you look and sound (and how much I don't understand!). 

 

How much French do you speak? It is rather rare to find fellow francophone here...

Stocked for your challenge and following!!

[@mu]

58 minutes ago, Asuka said:

How much French do you speak? It is rather rare to find fellow francophone here...

As much as I can, it's my mother tongue are you French as well? Btw Manarelle also speaks French. And a few other Assassins here, I noticed, I don't remember usernames though

 

58 minutes ago, Asuka said:

and how much I don't understand!

Erm, I'll have to improve my communication skills, it's getting a bit embarrassing!

But thanks for your lovely message and have a good challenge!

[AceVixen]

Ok, aerial cat is ADORABLE!

[Norgaard]

you challenges are amazing! and more videos thanks

[lucky fire dragon]

2 hours ago, @mu said:

Welcome! and thanks! And you are actually making a very very good point you know... I don't train when I'm alone in the house for that very reason. Neck hang is ok but I did get stuck once on another move I assumed I could still do, and well no... Had to call my husband and use him as a ladder... He found it very funny, but it was a good reminder for me to stick to that protocol... no training alone.

 

That is so good to read, I was seriously concerned but trusted that you would surely take care. Not training alone is a great policy!! I made me aware that although pole may dangerous in its own way, it won't be able to strangle me  

Please do stick to that protocol and keep you hubby close

 

2 hours ago, @mu said:

I found it difficult overall.

 

It sounds like you have a proper cold working through your body. Tonsilitis is enough of an infection to make your whole body want to slow down and often goes along with heavy, sluggish limbs. Just keep taking good care of yourself as you are and don't expect too much for a couple of days. It'll be so much easier and satisfying again after

 

Love the cat silks