Warm-up:
was late (as usual) to class
Technique:
1) Pencil:
1a) tried pencil mount x 6: most times i managed to get my bum to the pole. a couple of times, i even started raising my legs (in a straddle), but i never quite gained the full confident to lift it all the way to the pole, because no one was spotting me. i really need to work on getting my legs up in a ‘symmetric’ way – both legs up at the same time. the couple of times i started bringing my legs up, i noticed that one leg was lower than the other, which made me feel unbalanced/slightly dizzy, and when i tried to compensate, the imbalance would the other way (the previously lower leg would now be higher). having a mirror definitely helped
1b) Pencil from hangback x 3: J spotted me for my attempts at pencil from hangback. I was unstable, especially from the middle, and J had to hold on to my middle (hips / bum). I think the main reason for my lack of stability is that my back was not flat against the pole. It was slightly arched, which made it super unstable. I tried to really focus and get my back aligned, but I think I struggle because my legs were initially behind the pole (in hangback), necessitating an arched back. It’ll take time and practice I guess.
2) Bullet (crunch) spin, removing the top hand, and straightening legs into pike x 5: initially i kept having the pole on my stomach, but it should be very high up on the thighs instead. to be really stable, i really need to lean to the side, so that my body is parallel to the floor. i was struggling to straighten my legs (flexibility issue i think) and keep my body parallel. To make it easier, the straightened legs should be leaning/ pointing towards the floor slightly
3) Crunch butterfly (ie. bullet into starfish into butterfly) x 6: J spotted me about 3x on this… pushing my hips up and holding me there. I didn’t feel very stable in this at all, and came down in a shockingly ungraceful manner. The other 3x was me trying to work it on my own and trying to push up into the butterfly. But after a while, my right heel was feeling sore from hooking (hitting) onto the pole – oops ;p. Basically, the key is to have a solid starfish (leaning back and away from the pole, so the right leg is quite far to the right and front of the pole, and has space to hook onto the pole), then lower the left hand towards the ground (to make it easier to really PUSH away and get the left knee up and behind the body)
4) Shoulder mount (TG) x 5: I did 3x just simple tucks (because my right forearm especially was on fire, and felt like it was about to drop off), then J pushed me up into a straddle.. but I didn’t dare to hold it at all because I didn’t trust my right arm. Then I did a couple more attempts at shoulder mount tucks to finish off.
5) Routine: we practiced the routine a bit… more hanging off the right arm!
6) Outside angel into pike hold into inside angel: I was quite tired and not feeling confident, so didn’t dare to go into pike. Really need to work on this one!!