Conditioning:
[can’t remember]
Technique:
1) Superman (Climb, hook, starfish, superman) x 3 (last time without climbing): yay!!!! Managed the superman! Three times!! It seemed to just click into place. In starfish, make sure the pole is directly on the hips (no gaps between hips and pole), lower right hand if needed, pull top leg towards my chest then quickly swing it around to bring feet together (bottom leg remains in position) and allow legs / hips to drop. To get out of the superman, turn body back to the pole, let the legs drop a bit and grip pole with left (lower) hand, hook the right leg onto the pole, go back into starfish, then bring left hand onto the pole ABOVE the right hand to climb up the pole, and then come down gracefully.
2) Showgirls x 1: Need to really make sure that the right heel is pressed against the pole, and the left abductor is pressed strongly into the pole – left foot should NOT be hooked behind the pole. Left leg is bent with left foot near the right knee, left leg pressed IN towards the pole. To be safe, first keep the right / outside hand on the pole in true (cupped / Chinese) grip. The left / inside hand is off. Keeping the legs in position, move body around the pole and in front of the pole until right arm is the inside arm (need to let go of pole with right hand), right legs bends to hook pole in an inside angel (left leg goes behind in inside angel shape). To move back to the other side of the pole, lengthen right leg back to the pole (extended inside angel) and create showgirl shape with left leg, then swing body all the way around to the other side, and hook right leg onto pole into outside angel.
3) Aerial half-flag x 2, half-flag x 1: Failed at aerial half flag – my body was not sideways enough. I couldn’t lift my lower (right) knee up… I kept having to support it on the pole. I think I was just too weak.
4) Inverted swan x 3 (the last time I took hands off): I wasn’t very neat and clean getting into the inverted swan (N said I looked dangerous!) – I basically had some trouble getting my body around the pole. N says I should grip the pole with my right hand, and then move under my right hand and use my left hand to grip the pole (pole is tucked into left armpit, and left elbow and hand are gripping pole). To get into inverted swan, sickle right foot to the pole, then hook left leg onto the pole lean out to get the grip, create a swan shape (right leg on top of left to hold left leg in position), then SLIDE BODY DOWN slightly to remove the gap between the pole and body (hands need to slide down slightly as well). Then you can release the hands, but make sure the inside (left) shoulder is pressed against the pole, bring shoulder blades together by arching the chest FORWARD (instead of just bringing the arms/ shoulders behind).