Pole Progress: Inverts

I haven't been writing in a while, so much has happened in the past few days though. I was just getting bored at my extended "vacation" meaning off-peak season but somehow, fate has a way of surprising me with new twists and turns. I'll start my update with my favorite thing in the world aside from makeup - POLE (wait! it's Pole then makeup, I mean makeup, then pole, er.... okay I love both of them in equal overwhelming amounts!)

Ever since I'm already in Beginners 2, we've been prepping for inverts and we do lots of them every class. My first invert ever was the cross-ankle. It's pretty scary, sometimes it's a hit or miss thing for me, depending on how my body's like or the pole's like but on a really good day, I get it done quite right and I hope for more good days like this.

The cross-knee is my favorite invert, probably because it's where I'm most stable. This trick starts from front cupid and it works well if I get the pole really clipped at the back of my knee and I push with my straight leg and have more skin in contact with the pole.

Just sharing how proud I am of Danah, who did the cross-knee too very gracefully. I told her she could do it with perseverance and patience and courage.

The side cupid is a trick that starts from a side climb that also requires lots of strength from the knees as it's what holds me in that position. It hurts yes, but the pain and bruises go away with time.

The Superman is a very painful trick, yet this is one of the first tricks I ever learned. I'm glad I'm able to do this trick now without spotting, with (less) pain and hold it a few seconds longer and actually look like I'm not in pain as I'm doing so. I'm beginning to like this trick though.

Of course, there's always the Gemini, the trick I wanted to master since day 1 but somehow had the difficulty doing so. My pole tricks have a way of surprising me. One time I'm sobbing by the fact that I can't do a trick and what did you know one time I really could do it. Oh where were we? Oh yes, the Gemini.

This was after we had to take the mats away. My mat came out last and I asked if I could have my picture taken doing a Gemini with my mat still there. Yay! It's so funny too because I write with my right hand but somehow when I do my inverts, I'm left-handed. We're starting to do this invert without a mat now, since we have to get used to be doing inverts without mats and that means we have to learn and master proper dismounts and recoveries.

I actually have a pole album and it's cool how I get to see our progress as we get better. Hopefully by the end of the term I could perfect my inverts and do a few more like pole sit, yogini, rocketman, and develop back flexibility for me to be able to do a liberty and arm strength to scissor climb. And when I have my own pole, I'll be able to post videos of my routines and all. Yay!