first double

Just for fun I wanted to see if I could throw a double back and how it felt compared to doing one off high bars in gymnastics. Well it's still tons of fun and exhillarating. Of course when I spin it I can hear the wind whistle through my hearing aids. Bizzare!!

Well the swing was pretty lame and totally not good. I have no kickback, the take off was bad, and the only reason I made the flip is because I know how to flip and compensated by increasing spin speed. Although it's weird being that high off the ground to start with and I was suprised I still knew where I was in the air and could stop rotation at the right time. I figured I'd be lost in mid flip. I guess I have still retained my aerial awareness.

Pole Workshop w/ Hanka

I went to a pole workshop taught by Hanka from the Netherlands. She was telling us about how she teaches pole at the university which would be heresy here in America. I think it's too bad pole is treated with such disdain here, bc it really has nothing to do with strip clubs and such. It's a beautiful aristry of grace, style, prose, strength, and skill on essentially a vertical bar. Much like gymnastics.

Anyways the workshop was hard and I am very sore today. But I did get a video of one of our easiest moves we learned. My form leaves little to be desired but I still did the move. :-)

While I'm at it I thought I'd post a video I made in Hawaii on a pole I found on the beach.

Caught a layout

I'm so psyched!!! I finally caught my first layout to the catcher tday. I did lose my grip with one hand and while Bruce and I tried to hang onto each other Physics won in the end. I peeled off and got a nice net burn. But I don't care. I caught the trick and that's all I care about. The burn was inconsequential compared to my excitement. :)

I wished I had it on video but I don't. I got the miss before that one on video. My timing was off and the swing was bad. If you noticed I barely had a hard kick back and my toes were too close to the bar on the downswing causing me to break early and therefor release too early. So I wasn't higher than my catcher. My form was crappy too. Although the layout itself was nice form...but that's bc I'm a gymnast and know how to do flips.

I feel good about my catch though on the last one and that's what matters at the end of practice.  Ending on a good one!!!

Here's some layouts I was working on last week. Unfortunately my timing was still off and I was unable to catch them. Also for some reason I'm not getting good height on the backend of my swing. Perhaps moving up to a higher riser would help. But I have to be even more conscious that my take off is correct and not fall forward.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4idJkH_zFbs

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjRYW32D-KQ

Disappointed set back

I find myself disappointed. I need to pace myself and stop trying to rush myself to learn everything so quickly. I'm messing myself up trying to speed through the learning process. My swing is suffering and I haven't caught a single trick since open house. So I decided today to print out a log book and go skill by skill and force myself to start from the basics and get comfortable doing the easier stuff. Then I can work myself up to the harder stuff. I'll be all the better for it.

OK so that means a basic knee hang and hopefully do it out of lines. I need to practice safely falling to the net out of lines too. 

Perhaps I can still treat myself to a fun trick at the end of practice before going home. I really want to catch those layouts. Patience Patience Patience!!!

Pole pics in Hawaii

On my trip to Hawaii last month I had the good fortune of finding a pole on the beach. Odd place for one right??? Well I guess It was part of a training set and there was a lot of other gym equipment for people to use while doing a morning workout.
Anyways I decided to show off some of my tricks in the lovely sunset. Here are a few pics. An Outside leghang and a flag.

Attempt Splits to catch. Common catch the thing!!!

I am doing a splits to catch. The attempt was for a backend rather than a two part splits. For some reason when a catcher is at the other end I get all psyched out and do a lousy job of catching. It's all a mind game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGKy7vs-_Sw&feature=player_detailpage

You can see I totally dove off the platform. Very bad!!! I had to learn to do take offs correctly bc that take off right there kills a swing and runs the risk of causing you to peel off the bar. This video was about half a month ago and my take off is much better now.

June 2012 Open House

Our Imperial Flyers Open House went well. My kids and Matt both went up. It was so cute watching my kids hang on for dear life and then smile BIG after landing. They were just getting the hang of swinging.

As for me, well it's only been a month!!! But I am getting really close to catching a layout to the catcher. My timing is off. Timing is so critical and easy to mess up. I finally have my swing down much better and a good take off so at least my swing isn't being completely deadened/dampened before executing the trick. A really good swing can make a flyer a really good one, so I'm working hard on making it better everytime I go to practice.
I am really trying to restrain myself and have patience. Being a gymnast spoiled me and I just want stuff NOW. :-)
I am moving very fast so I should be nice to myself about it. Most people wouldn't dream of learning a flyaway in a month, much less to a catcher. So what the hey!! I'm already ahead of the game.

Flying Trapeze

I just recently joined Imperial Flyers, the oldest trapeze group located outside Denver. Having been a gymnast in the past I caught on quickly and find myself constantly playing moves in my head that I want to learn ASAP. I know I know...patience is a virtue! But I just want to get up and knock my socks off! It's so exhilirating and tons of fun! I have almost no fear and when I do it's such a rush to stare at it straight in the face. But I'm being waylaid by rips. Two nasty dime sized ones in the middle of both palms. Grrr! Made practicing pole a bit of a challenge. I just don't have a lot of calluses yet. With work feeling like such a drag bc my experiments are failing all over the place, it is nice to have something to look forward to that I'm actually somewhat decent at.