Fitness Hiatus

I have been on a fitness and blogging hiatus the last 3 weeks due to surgery. For the past 12 years, I have been having a lot of pain that has gradually increased. I always knew something was wrong. I'm not quite at a point where I feel ready to go into great detail about everything, I've just been letting the reality of it all sink in. I'm still at a point in my personal life where I am trying to figure out how to approach this and how to talk about it and how I perceive these answers to my long sought questions. It has been quite a journey and I am trying hard to slow down and take my time by listening to my body in my recovery process. After 3 weeks, I returned to work yesterday. I am trying to incorporate using my desk cycle for activity. I brought my desk cycle home with me and fully anticipated using it during my recovery however, I was only able to use it once. The first time I tried using it was too painful and I decided it was best to rest. I also had high hopes of returning to teaching my aerial classes next week but after the last few days of trying to get back to a somewhat normal existence, my body let me know that dream is just too soon. So I am taking it easy and gradually building back up my activity and tolerance. I think the biggest hurdle of all is how tired I have been getting. So far I have done yoga once last week and used my desk cycle (consecutively now for 2 days!). Tonight I plan on doing some at home conditioning exercises using resistance bands, mini stability ball, and maybe a little pole dance warm up. I just wanted to put something out there for my followers to let you all know I am still here- just taking it easy right now.

Aerial Silks Teaching Technique: The Mid-Class Warmup?

Hamstring injuries in aerial are becoming a common theme lately.  Most people acquire some form of hamstring injury either from activities not related to aerial that exacerbate when adding aerial fitness to their routine or during aerial training when key muscle groups are not properly warmed up or have had the opportunity to cool down.  I have developed a theory I would like to implement into my teaching strategy that incorporates the concept of post warm up cooling phase training.  The cooling phase is when those nice and warm muscles go cold during an aerial class. 




It's been my experience that during classes we tend to repetitively focus on particular skills and muscle groups that pertain to distinct movement of the class agenda.  When we want to add some "flavor" to the skill we're newly mastering by combining it with our bank of moves we've already become proficient in, there runs the risk of tapping into skills that use muscle groups that have not been worked over the course of the previous 30-40 minute instructional class time.  A classic example of this would be to drop a split during a double foot lock when you just spent the last 30 minutes focusing on foot locking and not engaging the muscles that should be warm when going into a split. 




This idea has got me thinking about approaching teaching my classes a bit differently.  Instead of the 20 minute start of the class warm up, would it be possible to stagger the warm up throughout my 60 minute classes?  To utilize aerial skills in conjunction with a foundational buildup of creating a consistency for maintaining a warmer body?  How would a class like this flow?  I would have to re-write my entire teaching curriculum to meet the requirements of touching base with each muscle group thoroughly before engaging those areas in the desired aerial skills.  Or would it work just as well to shorten the 20 minute warm up and then integrate those missed elements with a class wide off the silks instructor lead range of motion check in when everyone goes through a series of body rolls and movements similar to the more intense pre-workout warm up?  This ROM check in can include more intense static stretching that precedes the upcoming high risk injury moves. 


Implementation Practices
I decided to try to implement this into my class last night. While I had good intentions, I ended up moving right into the class curriculum and forgetting to have a mid-class warm up EVEN after I told my students what I had planned.  I think implementing this new process will take some careful planning on my part.  Some ideas I will play around with include using timers on my phone to set specific intervals throughout class where we need to stop everything we're working on and re-engage and focus with a range of motion check in.  I'm also going to take some time over the next few weeks to re-write up my class curriculum to include specific stretches to compliment the skills being taught in class.  I think this is a good starting point and will definitely keep you all posted on the results of my progress for this project.

#FortheLoveofPole February 2018 Challenge Report Card

This past month I decided to host my own version of a pole challenge on my Instagram.  Since February was a short month, I figured it would be easy to tackle a challenge and commit to daily pole workouts.  My challenge rules were to pole dance for a minimum of 15 minutes every day.  From the start, I knew I was going to be unable to participate for 4 days as I was going to be on a ski trip.  So to recap my motivation and efforts, I averaged 13/24 days of participation or 54%.  If this were the standard letter grading scale, I'd have an F on my report card. 


I think what matters most is how I am coming away from this challenge and how I feel.  I feel like the ski trip really killed my motivation.  I started out strong and then slacked off.  Despite this month being fairly busy, I think my participation was decent.  There were a few nights where I opted to be lazy as opposed to doing the challenge.


What I'm taking away from this challenge:

• I got back into poling after having been on an unintentional hiatus since July of 2017.  (Way too long to not touch the pole!)
• I was able to explore some dance techniques and movement to step outside of my traditional go to dance moves.
• I had fun.
• This challenge left me feeling good about my dancing.
• I got in some great cardio!

Overall, I think what matters most about doing these online challenges is that you are able to do them at your own pace and do them as a fun way to stay in touch with your pole.  It's easy to get bored and flake out on your fitness. I never intended to go so long without dancing on the pole.  As I'm entering  a new month, my fitness goals will be on hiatus due to some necessary medical treatments.  I'm hoping to take this next month for recovery, self-love, and healing.  Thank you to everyone who participated with me in my February #FortheLoveofPole challenge. 

March 2018 Pole & Fitness Challenges

🌼💐✨ March Pole and Core Challenge ✨💐🌼March pole and core challenge with @dredee1983 starts this week! This month's challenge focuses on core strength and is designed to help all levels progress with core strengthening needed for pole moves. This challenge can also be done if you don’t have a pole (so feel free to tag non-pole friends too!) To play, follow the steps below: 1. Repost the flyer and tag two friends to play. 2. Follow the host and tag in all your entries! Example videos will be posted 2-3 days before each day. Some of these exercises may not have names and there will also be a couple different options for each day so for this challenge you should check @dredee1983’s videos before each day to see that particular exercise and pole move. 3. Post a video of your pole moves and exercises for each odd numbered day of the month. Use the hashtag #marchcorechallenge, and don't forget to tag the host in all your entries! I am not awarding prizes for this challenge but will still be choosing winners for anyone who completes all the exercises and/or pole moves!✨🌼💐🌼✨

A post shared by Andrea (@dredee1983) on Feb 27, 2018 at 10:11am PST

March starts tomorrow, ain't that crazy?! Join My #polechallenge to make time fly and get new #inspiration . . . . . #dance #dancer #poledance #poledancer #pdchallenge #poledancechallenge #challengedbypoletast #polefitness #girlsthatlift #girlwithmuscles #inspo #badkitty

A post shared by Therese Lindberg (@poletast) on Feb 28, 2018 at 9:23am PST

¡¡Reto de marzo!! ¿Vamos?? ¡¡Etiquétanos para verte!! March challenge!! Go!! Tagg us to see you! #polesportloversmarch #pslchallenge #pole #polesport #polesport #poledance #polefit #fit #fitness #polechallenge #march #marzo #reto #polereto #4semanas4trucos #tricks #figuras ##figures #4weeks #sport #deporte #instachallenge

A post shared by Pole Sport Lovers (@polesportlovers) on Feb 28, 2018 at 12:21am PST