warm-up: was actually there for the full warm-up for once!
technique:
1) combo: sideways ‘frog’ extended pose, swing right leg across into invert-V x 3: tried several times, i kind of got part-way there but was not strong enough to invert fully
2) [some of kind sideways extended-pose-like move – maybe dying swan?].. i remember my right hand was on the pole, i had to arch my back and lean away, and J said it was good. not sure what it was though
3) outside angel into inside angel x 3: getting better, but i still prefer to keep one hand on the pole (more as a security blanket than real support) when i switch the legs over
4) hangback into pencil x 3: did this with my left hand on top instead of right (i.e an alternative hand placement to my usual). This felt much more unstable to me, probably because I’m not used to this hand placement I guess, so my body lacks muscle memory. And despite my left hand being on top, I still felt like most of my weight was being borne by my right hand/arm, and my left hand/arm wasn’t really pulling its weight so to speak. interestingly, J usually places her left hand on top, and she feels unstable if she puts her right hand on top.
5) the violator (hello boys) x 5: climb, extended pose, then lean the body to the left side, keep both hands quite low (this is key!!), keep left leg extended (pole is on left butt cheek), right is bent first, then unfold right leg to form V legs. the key is to really keep the hands low, hips turned in/upwards, and lean away. was much better this time than before… my violators generally looked very confident, although i messed up some of the later ones because the pole was too warm i think
6) extended butterfly prep (bullet, starfish, transition into butterfly upper body positioning) x 4: 1 successful try with J helping me push my butt into place, 2 failed attempts, 3 successful own-attempts – yay!!! this was a real morale booster, since i was struggling with it at first and another girl got into it super easily, so i was feeling bummed at first. anyway, the key is to get the lower hand REALLY LOW…. much lower than i thought it needed to be, and then some! so: bullet (easy), starfish (easy), hook right ankle on the pole (easy), bend the left leg at the knee, slide the lower (left) hand ALL THE WAY DOWN, then tilt the body so that the head is facing down, meanwhile the left knee (of the bent leg) is clamping the pole with the right ankle – and this is actually a surprisingly stable position (it feels like i could stay here forever… except that my right forearm was aching a bit. and i wasn’t sure how long my left arm could stay pushing away from the pole). but i was REALLY happy. WHOO HOO!!!!
7) invert, cat ripple, clamp the legs behind the pole and rise up x 3: was struggling a bit with my cat ripples, i think partly because i was tired, partly because i was trying to do it with my left hand pushing away (instead of having my right hand pushing away as is my usual), so i didn’t feel confident enough to bring it closing to chest-level (instead of face-level) which would enable me to push away more and get more of a ripple going
8) the little combo of: climb, inside leg hook /forward spin, swing across to the other side (flying body-spiral style) into ballerina: was struggling to get the momentum to switch sides of the pole, then forgot the ballerina pose (tried to get the wrong arm behind the pole), then struggled to reach my leg. so, all in all, was a bit of a hilarious attempt, haha.
summary: the extended butterfly prep made my day – yay!