I am obsessed with working on my handsprings right now. On Monday, I did a ton of them and wasn’t very successful at the end. I thought it was because fear was creeping in so I asked Paulafor a spot. Paula says “you have done a lot of those today, are you sure you aren’t getting tired?”. I responded “no way, I feel fine”. I prep my bracket, kicked my leg and then safely bailed. The light bulb went off. I was exhausted. And because I was exhausted, I was getting really lazy. Because I had successfully executed them, I thought I could just bust through the beginning without putting in the true effort and doing steps 1, 2, 3 correctly. I am so grateful Paula said something because not only was I training my body to learn poor form, I could have injured myself because of my poor form. Monday was a great reminder that NOT everyday is going to be the best pole or aerial day, but it will still be a great experience as long as you show up and learn something. I was reminded to slow down and that focusing too much on one type of move can be detrimental (this is why our curriculum always incorporates multiple grips and tricks so we don’t overdo it).
As always, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. One of the coolest things about being an aerialist is our body awareness is heightened. Use this amazing skill that you have been developing and know when to push hard and when to stop.