Technique:
1) Hangback into pencil x 3: struggled to do pencil mount from the floor. Have just completely forgotten the technique. Need to get Nat to teach me the technique again. So tried hangback into pencil 3x.. was really struggling to get bum to slide over hands.. was better when i brought my feet nearer the pole and loosened my thigh grip. But afterwards, I seemed to struggle to keep my legs straight up, maybe because Janet tried to get me to do have legs in a V-shape first, which I found stressful in terms of getting into a V, then getting it back into pencil shape.
2) Outside angel into starfish into superman x 4 or 5: Kept trying to get it, but was mostly struggling with it twisting my hips all the way through and keeping my hand grip (left hand is top hand gripping the pole). Need to keep both hands quite close to each other, need to move quickly to twist hips and face front (ie. Away from the pole) and to DROP the hips/legs to where the bottom hand is and face up /outwards instead of downwards towards the ground.
3) Half flag (usual way) x 3 or 4: Half flag was somewhat decent, although struggled to hold much beyond 1 or 2 seconds. My body wasn’t fully sideways though, still facing down slightly. Tried full flag – this was more difficult if I tried to do full flag immediately. It was much better when I started from half flag and then extended my bent leg out. Tried half-flag on the other side and completely struggled with it. Will need to work on this for my pole course.
4) Butterfly (on the other side) x 3: Was struggling to get body straight / aligned with the pole at first, and felt somewhat unstable. Janet tried to get me to push away more from my lower (right) hand, which got me more aligned with the pole. She tried to get me to try extending my left leg (which is the leg hooked onto the pole), but the movement made my lower (right) arm unstable and created a tendency to bend that arm, so I chickened out. Think I need to work more on my arm and grip strength. Maybe I’ve lost some strength given the reduction in my training.