Gymnastics Sneak Peek

I Looooove gymnastics. And this weekend, my college team had a Halloween sneak peak for kids to get their face painted and for the new freshmen to get used to performing in front of a crowd.

So my sister and her two girls and I went. 

1) There was a costume contest so the kids were all in costume. As luck would have it, my sister and I were the only adults who dressed up. 

2) The adults watched the gymnastics while the kids played on the gymnastics equipment. Madison was even trying forward rolls on the tumbling mat. So cute.

Here are the gymnasts practicing on bars. I've tried bars all of once before. Soo hard.

 Here are the gymnasts on beam. I can't even do a flip and they can backflip on 4-inch surface. Amazing.

And lastly, floor exercise. A lot of the girls did their tumbling pass on the track to the side and landed in the mats, but a few did floor work. And weren't our seats great? Right along the mat.

I'm looking forward to this gymnastics season. Gooooo Gym Dogs!

Acropolis Open house

I went to an open house for Acro Athens for their new acro yoga space.

Leah and Martha

I know a lot of the acro people from Wednesday tumbling. A few of them stopped by Aerofit a few months ago and I took a few classes this summer. It was fun.

I'm excited that they got their own space. They've been talking about it for a while. So I dropped by and played for a bit.

Now, if only I could find the time to take a class there...

Adult Tumbling

I brought my camera to tumbling class this week.

This is me working on a bridge kick over.

I usually start kicking over from higher up and work down to one pad. This is the kick over from two pads. (It's easier when you start from higher up and have more leverage to kick over from). I can get to one pad after about 10 minutes.

I am THIIIIIS close to getting a bridge kick over from the floor. I still need a tiny push from Megan or Helen (in pink in the back).  And looking at this picture, I need to get my arms straighter under my shoulders and not bend my elbows.

Here's my bridge. I was showing Lindsey the difference between arms below your shoulders and arms angled out. It's hard to open up your shoulders to get that straight angle, but it makes bridges and easier.

The thing I like about tumbling is the more I work on it, the more flexible I get. Now, I can do a back bend no problem. I couldn't a month ago. And I like to think I get a little better every week.

Flips…
I'm still working on my flip. I don't feel like there's a lot of progress, but I'm getting closer, I know it! I have to do about 10  bad flips to warm up and then I get some flips closer to landing. I saw some of the photos about me not going high enough and the very next flip I did higher. Next week I'm going to take over the tumble track and try flipping on there. I think the footing with the run, run punch and trampoline confuses me. I think the tumble track might be simpler. That or get the high mats out again. I must get this!

Bad flip. Much too low and too open. I landed on my butt, which is better than my head.

Bridge Kickover

I've been working on a bridge kick over for most of the summer. Here's one at Aerofit. This one's not especially pretty, but you get the point.

Basically you go up in a bridge and kick over. It's not the hardest skill ever. Your back has to be flexible enough to go up into a bridge. And the key to this one is keeping your arms straight—hands and shoulders should be in line, not extended. (Mine arms are slightly extended in this video.) And you have to kick hard with one leg.

I worked on these at my first tumbling class. You can start kicking over from a higher block (easy!) and gradually work your way down to the floor. Here, I'm kicking over from 2-3 inches of padding.

I can't quite do them all the way on the floor, but I've been pretty close for a while.

Up next: I'd love to do a front limber to back walk over.

Quitting trapeze

I've really been struggling with trapeze classes. It's a lot of complicated movements. Every move has 8-or-so steps that I have trouble remembering so I've really been debating whether I should stick with it.

I should stick with it, because I quit everything. And if I stuck with it, I could potentially get better at it. How do I get better at something I can only do for an hour a week? If I stick with it, I can take more classes and go to open studio. I could also take silks, which looks super fun, after two classes.

The problem is that I feel super busy. I do Canopy on Monday, Aerofit Tuesday and Thursday, and Tumbling Wednesday and it's just too much. I need to drop something and I think Canopy is what I'm going to drop.

It's the easiest thing to drop. I can just not sign up for the next session. Aerofit I have a yearly contract for. And I just love tumbling.

• I don't love trapeze
• I could spend my time doing something I love
• It's expensive
• Not enough instructor time
• Not for me

1) I don't love trapeze. I thought I might. I remember playing on the trapeze like contraption on the playground when I was a kid. I could hang upside down. It came naturally. I was good at it. It was fun. Trapeze for me is a source of bruises and frustration. It hurts. I can't do the moves. And I don't come out of the class excited, floored or thrilled. I just trudge on to Aerofit to get a real workout.

I loved Aerofit first class. I thought this was so fun. I bought a membership a few days later. I knew immediately that jumping on a trampoline was something I enjoyed. I tried to drag all of my friends there. I leave feel de-stressed, happy, euphoric.

I love tumbling. Coach Megan and Robert are awesome. They have great energy. I have so much to learn—but there's always things I can do. I can do a one armed cartwheel. I'm decently flexible. I have fun at the classes. Even if there are 20 people in the class, I can get a few minutes of attention or help from someone else. I always leave happy. I wish I could put a gymnastics gym in my basement.

2) I could spend the time and money from trapeze at Pure Barre, at rock climbing, at the outdoor trapeze place—or at any of the new classes I need to try. My time is valuable. It's only an hour a week, but it makes me feel a little overwhelmed.

3) It's $153 for nine classes. That's pricey. Pure Barre has a $100 first month unlimited deal. That's 2.4 months at the climbing gym. That's almost 4 flying trapeze classes. That's a lot for nine hours of instruction.

4) I get about 30 seconds of instructor time a week. Classes begin and end promptly at the scheduled time. There's no chatting before class to the teachers. They disappear after class so you can't talk to them about something that you couldn't do or wanted to try next time. I'd rather take private lessons—and really it might be worth it. $30 for 30 minutes, is the same price as about two classes, but I could potentially learn more. I'm really struggling in the big class and the complicate series of movements.

5) I think it's just not for me. My brain doesn't work like that. My body does't move like that. I have no trouble hanging upside down, but

Everyone just raves about Canopy. And yes, it's amazing what some of the people can do. There's a cool kid cred you get for saying you take classes there. It's an awesome hipster thing to do. But it's me. It's jut not for me.

But their customer service is nonexistent. They don't return emails. The classes and big and too expensive.

Me. I have trouble remembering all the moves. It doesn't suit me.

Battle wounds

I'm calling this the week of the injury. Nothing serious. Just lots of scrapes and bruises.

Monday, I bruised the back of my knee at trapeze class. It always bruises my knee. It's the candlestick pose. It just hurts.

Tuesday, I wore shorts to TRX and we climbed the rope. I got some nice rope burn on my knee (it since scabbed over) and a rashy burn on my lower leg that will be quicker to heal. The rope is scratchy and when you wrap your leg, it just tears the skin off. I tried just climbing down and unwrapped my feet completely and was about 10 feet up in the air and was really worried I would fall. I was tired and my arms could fail. I didn't fall, but I kept wrapping after that. A rope burn is better than falling from 10 feet.

Wednesday, I went to get an allergy shot and the nurse really stuck me with the needle. It hasn't hurt that bad in a while. It really hurt and lasted forever. My arm swelled up like a bee stung me and the muscle was sore because she jammed it so hard. And sure enough,  I got a black bruise the size of a fingertip from the shot. My right arm was stiff going into tumbling class and later.

I suppose I should be symmetrical because at tumbling that night I got a nasty blue bruise on the inside of my wrist. I don't know how. I think it happened halfway through class. Maybe from a handstand. Maybe I hit it on something? I don't know. It doesn't hurt, but it does worry me.

Thursday, I decided I'd had enough and didn't go to the gym.

Almost flipping

A tumble track is a long trampoline runway. This is not me.

It's been another week of tumbling classes and I think I'm making progress towards my flip. Almost there.

We'd been flipping onto a huge pile of mats—to work on getting UP. At this class, the teacher got a mini tramp and we were jumping on to waist-high mat. I didn't think I could do it at first and thought that I needed to work up to it. After a few runs I got it. Run. Hit the trampoline hard. Jump high. Hands up. Hands down, hips over, ball up and reach for your knees and try to find your feet. And don't put your hands out behind you like you're breaking your fall. It's a reflex. Everyone does it. It's also a good way to break your arms.

Flipping is like getting the right combination in the lottery. It's about getting everything together all at once. If I get a good jump off the trampoline, I open too early and land up my butt. If I don't get a good jump, I get a nice rotation, but didn't get the height to land on my feet. One of the coaches told me I was making progress and that if the mat was lower, I could have landed it. She told me to go practice on the tumble track. And the first few attempts were a disaster. I didn't get a full rotation, or I fell forward or didn't get enough height. Then, there were a few almost flips. I came so close to landing on my feet. I told coach to watch me one last time and I ALMOST LANDED IT. It was low, but my feet were on the mat and I stepped backwards twice….and into the hole between the tumble track and the mat. The hole that I'd just told another girl to close up after she flipped. Embarrassing!

"Are you okay?" she kept asking me.

I think she thought I sprained my ankle. I was a little dazed but only my pride was hurt.

I think that if I ever do flip, I should do something to celebrate, since it's such a big goal. I want a Go Pro, but that's big even for Christmas. Maybe we'll just have to go out to eat. I need to think of something. Any ideas?