My new fitness regime

So i've been feeling tired and unfit for a few months now. I recently was inspired by one of my housemates, nellie, who has started skipping every night after work. the best exercise i've done in the past few years was a circuit class i was doing before circus last term (alas, the circuit class got cut)

So, I do
*2 mins warm up run around the garden
*2 or 3 headstands (each time splitting then lowering my legs and using my tummy muscles to raise them again)
*10 handstands
*7 minutes stretching (focussing especially on stretching so I can do the splits one day)

Then I do 2 minutes each of:
*squats
*shuttle run
*push ups
*skipping
*lunges
*shuttle run
*tricep dips
*sit ups

Then, finally, I do 5 minutes of a circus skill. Both times so far, I've done juggling, but I think I'll also give myself the option of hula hooping or poi. And maybe I'll think of more things too :>

It's been fun so far - it's pretty minimal in terms of time and commitment, but still feels good afterwards. We'll see how long it lasts :>

post Varekai musings

Last night i had a free ticket to check out Varekai - the Cirque du Soleil show. WOW! My jaw was on the floor for most of the show. I almost forgot to clap at some points, it was just so incredible. There was a guy juggling huge balls and doing the craziest stuff- like at one point he had a stick and two balls, he caught the stick in his mouth and then got one ball from his foot onto the stick and then the second ball on top of the first (also from his foot). Even cooler were the acro guys juggling each other (the flier would be in a headstand on the bases feet, then tossed in the air, and landing again); or the 3 little boys who juggled while doing backflips in sync; or the young woman in the sparkly costume (pretty!) who contorted her body into the most flinch-worthy positions. Or the stacks of three people standing on each other's shoulders ... no my favourite was the net/tissue act. this guy used a diamond shaped net like a tissue/rope, wrapping himself in it, wrapping and falling like a tissue act, climbing up it, while extending it like wings. I don't do it justice here, it was mesmerising and I've never seen anything like it. There was also a cool double-trapeze act that was fun to pick out tricks in (having done a very modest amount of trapeze, and an even more modest amount of triple).

So, anyway, it got me thinking about how I can keep doing aerials but ditch the class. So I came up with the idea of doing beginners aerials (it's a big class) - I know it's a bit of a regression and part of my pride is railing against it, but apart from that it's such a good idea (sorry pride, I'm not ignoring you)! And then today i found out that my acro class has been cancelled, which sucks cos it's the one i'm most excited about! hannah is trying to recruit, but i'm resigned to possibly hooking into the intermediate class (which is also on friday). I think that might be pretty cool - beginner's aerials (thursday) and intermediate acro (friday). not sure about conditioning on mondays though ... 3 circus nights a week is a bit full on. but that said, i am wanting to get my fitness back up and circus seems to be the only thing i actually sho up for!

aerials?

tonight i did a conditioning class and then aerials. at the moment, my body is still reeling from doing web - where you climb a rope, put your hand into a loop then get spun around. i still feel nauseous and it's about 3 hours later. so, i'm a bit down on aerials for that!

but more seriously, i don't think i felt at all supported in the class, and i think i need to be. i'm quite self-conscious and feel discouraged easily. i have very few skills in aerials and have never found it easy. that would be fine if the environment were more supportive, but it feels like everyone is really just waiting to use the apparatus themselves.

jan asked me how it went and it was striking how negative i felt - and i was really trying to sound positive!

am not making a decision tonight, but i do feel like it's unlikely i'll continue with it. in terms of signs from the universe, i ended up paying only part of my fees for this term - strangely enough, i paid exactly the right amount for just my acro class (ie if i did drop the classes i went to today, it would work out with the money). AND then i could actually join the gym like i have been saying i'll do for ages! if i keep doing these classes, it doesn't leave much time for the gym ...

i'll keep y'all posted :>

circus term 2

so today i made a snap decision. well i kinda had to because circus term 2 starts back today. oops that was a bit late (unlike me to be late, hey? actually, as i write, i'm trying to finish with a book that's nearly two weeks overdue from the library, but anyway ...) this term i am going to do aerials as well as acro. there's a conditioning class before aerials, so that means i'll get a good workout on mondays. then i'll try to do my pilates class on wednesday and then acro on fridays. i think that's quite nice, actually!

as for the show, jan tells me she's disappointed i've said i'm not going to do it. i'll see. i'd considered doing the performance class - i love performing best of all - but it seems that that has been replaced with a comedy/performance class or anni's "performance lab" which sounds horrific if you ask me (which of course, you didn't but this is a blog, so i get to rant!). the performance lab is where you go with your ideas and she helps develop them. not really my style.

am a bit worried about going back to aerials - i'm not a natural at it, and i always struggled last year to remember stuff. but i did love being in the air!!

circus decisions

so, i'm in the women's circus (check it out at www.womenscircus.org.au). last year i was in an aerials class, as well as new women's. we got to do heaps in the show from both classes. we were really lucky.

but i'm not wanting to do the show this year. it was too full on and i couldn't really handle the stress of it all. at the time, i was also applying to do my phd, working a lot, and still struggling with my mental health. it was all a bit much. i don't think i'll do the show this year.

so far this year, all i've done is an intensive tumbling class and beginner's acro and conditioning. the latter were both on the same night, which meant that i was only out one night a week. that was pretty good. but i want to do more this term - i'm tossing up whether i should do aerials again or a tumbling/acro class at circus oz. even as a i write, i know that the tumbling/acro class would be better. there's something about aerials and the specific aerials class that didn't feel good. i think it's because i have a terrible memory for aerials - my body just doesn't seem to work that way. but i do want to do it again, maybe when i have developed more fitness and more body-awareness. it's funny, but i feel like hand-stands are a pretty basic skill that i want to develop at this point in time.