Sunday, September 1, 2013

Aerial Hoop

I recently made a new friend - a girl called "Del", and she's into Aerial Hoop. If you don't know what that is, it's hanging off a big metal hoop that's suspended from a convenient ceiling, and contorting yourself into various poses in what is hopefully a pleasing and acrobatic manner. It's sort of gymnastics in the air, with a soupçon of trapeze thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, the hoop swings, and also potentially spins, depending on how it's hung.

Always keen to try a new form of exercise which won't bore me to tears, I went along today to a taster session run by Cloud Aerial in Manchester. The venue today was in the back half of "Wobbleyou" a fitness studio on the edge of the ridiculously hip Northern Quarter. There were three hoops, hung in different ways and at slightly different heights (it'll become important) and a couple of poles, as this was a mixed taster session. I had a little go on the pole whilst I was there - it's very slippy and nowhere near as easy as it looks.

But onto the hoop. Or not, in my case. In two hours of huffing and puffing I managed to get my legs over the thing, and towards the end I was building  up enough confidence to let go with either one leg or one arm, and managed to achieve "Candlestick" (both legs and one arm on the hoop) and half a "Delilah" (I got my leg dangling off the hoop, but didn't have the confidence to release an arm as well). I'd like to add - I only managed this on the lowest hung hoop, I couldn't even get my leg onto the higher hung ones.

What we've discovered from this (as if I didn't know already) is that I have absolutely awful, almost non-existent, upper-body strength. This is not at all a surprise, but it is a disappointment - I used to have fair upper-body strength - my job used to involve lifting quite a lot of heavy equipment, and I used to be good at it. All that is long gone, and now it appears I have the flexibility and strength of a wet week old kitten.

But I had a great time today, and if you're thinking of having a go, then I heartily recommend it. I'll be going back, and in the meantime, I'll be doing everything I can to build up my upper-body strength, and my core muscles, and my aim next time will be the same as today - to get on and off the hoop, unaided, and without hurting myself - but next time, I will succeed!

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