Sweat and toil

Last week I had a class with Pantera.

It was one of those moments, you know, when someone walks into the room and all your pole moves get up and walk out.

'Can you all hip hold?' she asks. We all nod. And normally I can. Hell, normally I can do jazz hands in hip hold while ringing a bell and singing Ave Maria, but not today, oh no. Today I can attempt hip hold and slide straight to the floor laughing all the way, because if I didn't laugh I'd cry or at least bang my head repeatedly on the pole while rocking back and forth in fetal position.

Tricky little buggers these moves. Sometimes you think you have them and then suddenly they're gone without so much as a fond farewell.

My Knee Hold is the best illustration of this. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it is high on my lower leg, other times low down. Sometimes it is even on the the other side for crying out loud. What's all that about, eh?

Anyway, the lesson was awesome. I went just for the experience and it was a fantastic one. It also showed up all my flaws in my core strength. You'd think teaching Pilates would mean mine was sound, and it is in Pilates moves, but lifting straight legs up into an End Over is a whole different matter, and let's not even go into lifting into a Shoulder Mount (grrrrrrrr!) from sitting!

The end result is that I will be training a lot harder and correcting the sloppy technique I've fallen into. No more jumping into inverts, it's all lifting and folding from here on in!

I'm sweating at just the thought!