Short private class

Posted on December 4, 2011 by e

was a very short session. N was late 10.45am for a 10.30am start, and we were chatting. so lesson only started at 11am, for a 12.30pm finish. was quite tired / sleepy anyway, so didn’t mind too much.

Warm-up / conditioning:
1) kicks (front, side, back) x 8 x 2 for each

2) eagles x 3 x 2

3) climb undergrips: blade, swan, matrix x 2 x 2 : barely managed any with left hand up

Technique:

1) shoulder mount, mermaid, thigh hold, split dismount x 3

2) cat ripple x 2

3) shoulder mount, mermaid, thigh hold, cat ripple, split dismount x 1

4) eagle, hook, starfish, superman x 3: the first two were better. almost achieved it. but the third one was quite lame.

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L5 class

Posted on November 23, 2011 by e

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.

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Pole private

Posted on November 20, 2011 by e

Pole was very slippery today 🙁

Conditioning:

1) swan hold x 2 (20 seconds x2)

2) side pull-up, tuck, pike, v-legs, pike

Technique:

1) pencil mount technique (verbal walk through. i didn’t do it): bring head quite close to the ground, as much of the back onto the pole as possible, bring legs wide apart, stand on tip toe, and bring feet closer to pole if possible, roll hips up towards pole, pull down on the pole with arms

2) superman (from eagle, hook, starfish) x 5 : was really struggling with it at first, but almost managed it a couple of times. Key is to: i) slide lower (left) hand really low, ii) keep lower (left) leg low / in line with pole, iii) bring pole close to the hips (hip bones), iv) shift upper hand slightly lower if needed to *lean away* from the pole, iv) bring upper leg towards the body, then twist and bring feet together quickly, v) let legs drop and release lower hand and extend out / opening the chest.

3) handspring tuck (twisted grip) / jack-knife x 5 : the first couple tries were quite good – nat was helping me position my hips. I tried a couple of times without nat’s help, but failed big time – kept over-shooting. Was better the fifth time when nat helped position my hips again. Was struggling to hold myself up though, due to grip issues with my upper / right hand.

4) half-flag x 4, aerial half-flag x 2 : was okay with half flag from the floor. The upper (left) arm needs to be really high – 90 degrees or higher – and gripping the pole with the armpit / side of arms very tightly. Need to position right / lower arm such that elbow is digging into the side of the waist / rib than in the middle.

5) shoulder mount (on the other side) x 4 : did shoulder mount with pole on my right shoulder (instead of the usual left) with open-close cup grip. Was quite surprised I managed it. Was struggling a bit with getting the legs into caterpillar position though. Key is to: i) keep hands higher (for open-close cup grip), ii) Keep shoulders down, iii) target right area of the shoulder to press against the pole (fleshy, muscular part of shoulder – the pole will sometimes slip to the shoulder bone), iv) lift chest up (imagine a string through the chest pulling it up to the ceiling), v) keep head back and let head tilt back when kicking up (ie. Don’t keep looking up at feet /legs) so that the legs can get onto the pole (ie. Same mistakes and fixes as with the caterpillar), vi) slide heel all the way up to have a high caterpillar).

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L5 class

Posted on November 16, 2011 by e

Pole (PDS) L5 :  16 november 2011

Hip hop warm up, no conditioning.

Technique:
1) butterfly, plank, inside angel x 4; x 2 with a climb at the start: I didn’t feel super solid with my butterfly, but was better than before. I think I did quite well with the series when starting from the ground. Lower (left) arm was reasonably high (higher than usual), and plank was quite flat / horizontal. When I started from a climb (E was watching all the girls), E asked me to bring my hand lower (I think to get my body more aligned with the pole), and to keep my head back in the plank position ( I was bending my head forward to check my alignment).

2) split heel x 3 : start from a split grip (undegrip), it should be easier if the hands are wider apart. In any case, I failed miserably with this. Need to straighten lower leg, lift upper leg, then look at the upper hand and swing upper leg over and hook upper / right heel in front of the pole.

3) outside angel, star, thigh hold x 4 ; 1 with a climb at the start : very happy with this. Am finally doing the star quite confidently, and managed the transition to thigh hold too. Yippee! I always started with an outside angel, though E taught it starting directly from a star.  Transition to thigh hold is to clamp legs into caterpillar on the pole (from star), and to move body around so the pole is in front of the body instead of the side.

4) climb, pole sit, v-sit, extended pose, lean back x 3: was struggling with lean back, particular with confidence / letting go of upper arm to rely on lower (left) arm. Need to bring left hand lower down, and Really push down on the feet and open up the chest and stretch right arm out. Need to work on the lean back in particular.

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Pole spin

Posted on November 9, 2011 by e

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.

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Pole spin

Posted on November 8, 2011 by e

Technique:
1) Falling angels on the other side (pole on RHS) x 3: was struggling to get the confidence to do it without hands for a bit… so did several outside angels. eventually did one set of leg switch, 3x

2) Attitude x 3 (on the other side): Did attitude 3x with left knee hooked on the pole. yay! 🙂 i’m getting to be quite versatile now! 🙂 although i felt less secure on this than on my other side it seems. i didn’t feel confident enough to lean too far out when i let both hands off the pole

3) Superman: really struggled to get into superman from outside angel.. pole was super grippy and i was not moving anywhere.. the side of my body and the insides of my thighs were stuck. having the two supporting hands closer together is easier than having them far apart (which i’ve been doing so far). and need to let legs drop slightly once i get into position

4) Pencil from hangback x 1: Succeeded only once, although i tried once before and failed – struggled to get my bum to slide over my hands and felt like i was losing grip. The good thing was that J was very efficient and capable at spotting me and getting me out of my inverted position. – yay, i feel safer now! anyway, i did manage to get my bum down and over my hands the second time around. the key is to bring the feet nearer the pole and release the inner thighs slightly and go for it. my hands would get caught in my pants slightly, but i need to ignore that and go ahead with sliding down. apparently V-legs is easier than pencil, although i found pencil easier.

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Pole catch-up

Posted on November 1, 2011 by e

Technique:

1) Outside angel (left-leg hang) on other side (pole on RHS of body) x 3

2) Inside angel (right-leg hang) on other side (pole on RHS of body) x 2 x 2 (straight right leg and hooked right leg)

3) Falling angels (pole on RHS of body) x 1 – kept left hand on the pole to hold

4) Flying body spiral into ballerina (‘full monkey‘) x 3 – can’t wait to try this up on the pole, Felix-style!! 🙂

5) Hello boys (‘Violater‘) x 3, hello boys into martini sit and slide down x 3 – practised this over and over again to get into it smoothly and clean it up.

6) Caterpillar into crucifix and roll up (legs behind pole) x 6 – practised this over and over again to achieve roll-up without hands and gracefully. And also practiced going into crucifix slowly and gracefully (without putting hands on the pole) and sliding down by controlling leg grip instead of pulling myself down using my hands. Successful – yay!! 🙂

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Private

Posted on September 25, 2011 by e

fellow poler: Lu

Conditioning:
1) ballet kicks : attitude front/back ; sideways ; leg circle to the side (with bent knees)

2) sit ups

3) side pull-ups, tuck, straight legs up/ pike up, split, pike up, tuck, down x 3 x 2 (one set on each side)

4) eagle, hook, pull up, eagle on other side etc. (“monkey climb”)

Technique:

1) climb eagle, flatline, viva, apprentice x 1

2) i) butterfly x 1b: this is slowly improving

2) ii) butterfly, inside angel x 1 : keep both hands on during transition for now

2) iii) climb apprentice, butterfly, inside angel x 2 : to go into butterfly from apprentice, need to lower upper hand out of the way to allow right leg to hook properly and swing upside down into butterfly position

2) iv) climb flatline, viva, apprentice, butterfly, inside angel ** x 1 (target combo)

3) inverted climb x 2 : need to focus hard on sitting/ squatting back upwards by pushing away and upwards with arms. need to keep lower hand (when in elbow grip) completely locked and straight to be safe and secure. Was struggling at this and didn’t feel secure letting legs go at all and wouldn’t have  been able to do without nat holding my butt. Lower the hand further to help keep it straight

4) i) shoulder mount x 1 : was quite rubbish at this

4) ii) shoulder mount, inverted swan x 2 : need to stay longer on “straight edge” before hooking (left) leg on

5) handspring (twisted grip) x 3 or 4 : used twisted grip, which worked much better than regular grip. Need to turn body upwards to face ceiling more. Need to make sure head doesn’t go beyond the pole.

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Private : summer threesome

Posted on August 19, 2011 by e

fellow polers: Jule and Lu
Conditioning:

1) pull up and swing legs forward and backwards (keeping legs straight) x 5 x 2 (left and right arms above)

2) straight legs eagle, bring legs together into pike then com down x 3 x 2 (on both sides)

3) hang back sit ups x 4

Technique:

1) shoulder mount, mermaid, 2 cat ripples, thigh hold, splits dismount x 2
(cat ripple separately another time). Felt off centre on mermaid. Key is to keep shoulders square.
2) hang back into pencil into inverted swan x 1. Was terrified but managed one set with nat spotting me / holding my bum. Key is to move legs closer to pole (more vertically aligned) to create space for bum to slide down over hand; and to keep head straight ( back of neck to the pole, so I can get my back aligned to the pole and feel secure in pencil)
3) falling angels. Ok, still somewhat afraid but not hyper ventilating. Dismount is horrendous
4) attitude x 3 Much better than before. Need to start with lower foot higher on pole and slide down into position as hips are pushed forward. Key is to move hips forward and lean away from pole and lower foot will get into place. Knee of upper leg in line with hips
5) knee hold x 3. better then before. Managed to lean away with no support

6) lean back. Much better than before, but still need to trust bottom hand and push away

7) half moon. Much better than before. But could should really keep pushing feet down to get a nicer line. Need to improve on keeping toes pointed/ gain confidence in grip
8) butterfly. Was much better than before in terms of bing centred, feeling stable, and bending the back leg, although still need to bend it back more into attitude

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L5 class (post spin class!)

Posted on August 3, 2011 by e

Warm-up:

1) Light warm up with pole, similar to pole spin (shoulder stretches, side bows, pencil grip warm up, lunges and hips warm up) + additional leg lunges, triangle yoga poses

Technique:
1) Knee hold
– i had 3 turns on the pole on this but really struggled with this because i got a very bad bruise very quickly
– somehow i really struggled to get my knees into position.. and adjusting my knees took so long that i developed the bruise!

2) Heel, shoulder hold / hook: shoulder mount position (with open grip), lift hips into eagle, then hook one foot onto the pole and extend the other leg straight out (almost in a split position)
– was struggling with this initially, but managed to get into eagle (just a split second and hook leg onto the pole) if i pushed off/ used momentum
– anyway i tried this 3x on each side (i would swap shoulders when i swapped leg, but others kept the same shoulder on the pole)

3) Handspring tuck
– i had 3 turns on the pole and tried this several times each turn
– the last time i did it, EG was there to look at me, and i got high enough that she helped hold my bum up / in place in the tuck, but i think because of the angle, i kind of semi ‘dislocated’ my shoulder… as in, something clicked and it hurt a bit and i couldn’t hold the position
– so anyway, now i have to go see J to get her to check it out

4) Falling angels
– managed to do two sets from a climb caterpillar eagle (EG noticed the second time round that i cheated on my climb eagle – oops)
– in both cases, i stopped when i felt somewhat insecure: i didn’t feel like the grip from my waist and shoulders were strong enough (i think my body didn’t slide down into place quickly enough, or to the extent necessary); and that tended to happen when i swapped from the inside angel to the outside angel. also, i was struggling to swap as quickly as EG was calling out

5) Handstand 4: from inside angel, arch the back and make sure one shoulder is in FRONT of the pole so it can be supported by the pole, hands slightly more than shoulder width apart, one hand clearly in front of the pole, then bring the outer (in my case, right) leg straight to the side like a split, unhook left leg and split out
– i only tried this twice – shame i didn’t get to try this a third time 🙁
– anyway both times Louise spotted me / supported my hips
– the first i felt super insecure and didn’t dare to unhook my leg. that apparently happened because my body was to the side of the pole instead of in front of it
– the second time, it felt slightly better. i really had to make a strong effort to arch my back and get it in front of the pole though

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