Note: was late and missed warm up (severe delays on Victoria line), had to leave early for a work conference call (8.30pm)
No conditioning.
Technique:
1) mermaid into thigh hold x 2: i did this a couple of times… I didn’t feel very secure and confident with my stability and leg grip to really bring it down to 90 degrees and cycle my legs. The first time, I managed to bring my legs down to 90 degrees, but didn’t feel confident to cycle my legs. The second time, I didn’t bring my legs all the way down to 90 degrees, but I managed to cycle my legs a bit. I’m not sure if my upper back needed to be a bit arched and away from the pole, or whether it needed to be in line with the pole – maybe one of the positions is better for stability. Will need to check with Nat. The transition to thigh hold was okay.
2) half-flag, aerial half-flag x 4: i did this quite well on the floor. the first time i did it from a climb, my lower (right) wrist REALLY hurt. E said that this meant that i was resting all my weight on my wrist (and also my hand was placed a bit too high). She told me to use my obliques and really engage my core muscles. That really made a big difference. And she said to really swing the legs out as we turn our body (from facing down) to face sideways – that makes a difference as well.
3) vertical splits x 4: this was surprisingly better than expected – my splits were much straighter than i remembered or thought i could achieve. my legs looked almost straight! albeit with my left leg (the lower one) along the SIDE of the pole instead of in front or on top of the pole (ie. fully in line with my right /top leg)
4) superman x 5: i was really struggling with this. managed to do it fully once when E held on to my right / upper hand, so i felt sufficiently confident in my grip to bring my legs together and twist my hips and face out. but i struggled to do this on my own. G (my pole partner) ‘got it’ and kept showing it to me – she really moved quickly and confidently, and just twisted her hips and body and extended her bottom / left hand out. So I tried it several more times with G helping hold my top hand. I kind of almost got it several times, but my body kept turning around the pole, and i couldn’t grip the pole properly (my thighs really hurt though, which is a sign i was probably getting it right). anyway, the way i almost got it was to do the following: i) make sure my right / top hand was not too high and not too low, ii) lean my body AWAY from the pole (to allow the top / right leg to move further AWAY from the pole), iii) move upper / right AWAY from the pole and TOWARD the upper body, iv) BRING FEET TOGETHER, and QUICKLY, v) then at the same time, QUICKLY, twist hips and body to face forward and REMOVE bottom hand and extend outwards and chest open
5) flatline, viva, archer x 3: did this two times reasonably well, the third time not so well… didn’t get fully into archer. but the poses were not very solid / confident, and the transitions weren’t great / neat. need to remember to go back into flatline (from viva) before moving into archer.