Moving Up

Ok, so I haven't really been as active on here as I had originally anticipated.  I got on here tonight wanting to post some thoughts, and then it occurred to me that I need to start making this a more serious venture.  If I want to properly document my journey.

So, to catch up from the last time I wrote, I'll just state that I have all the basic beginner moves down.  I can easily, and readily, do the fireman, the martini, the stag/attitude, the Hollywood, and do basic combinations of these (so, like, a fireman into a stag, or a martini into a fireman...)  I can do the open leg front hook, the back hook, and I'm forgetting something here, but I can do it :P

More recently I actually climbed the pole, which was huge for me.  Can't even begin to explain  how great I felt when I did that!  My thigh grip is increasing, to the point that I can now hole a basic pole sit for a few moments. 

I added handstands to my warm up and can now hold them for extended periods, I can do the "L" with my legs and lower back.  When doing the handstand up against the pole I can complete a decent bow and arrow, a decent handstand Gemini, as well as a pretty rocking middle air split.

****Update Over****

I started to get pretty frustrated the past few days.  I have reached a point of mastery with the basic beginner moves, so the next obvious step is to begin my advancement into the intermediate beginner moves. 

This made me feel like I just started.  Like I took a huge step back and was at square one.  Yeah, I can do all the firemans, open hooks, and climbs I want, but there is this long and daunting list of moves I can't do yet. 

Intermediate moves I'm attempting to master (this is NOT me)

I have a basic inversion, kind of....I mean, I can do it, but staying that way is going to take practice.
I already stated that I can do the handstand stuff
OH, and I can do the reverse attitude and the open hook slide.

But, yeah, long list of "to do" here.


I was getting a little bit irritated.  Today I was dancing and decided to attempt a v spin.  I refused to go into that with the split grip hold, as it makes my lower arm feel like it'll snap in half (need to work my triceps more).  So I just used the reverse baseball grip and actually pulled it off.  It was a HUGE mood booster for me!  I loooooooove doing something new and it working!

So that's how my hand placement was.  My legs weren't that high up (not yet) but my toes WERE pointed!  Years of dance class as a child, that stuck with me, you point your toes!  ha!

With the success of the v spin and the reverse baseball grip, I decided to go full insanity and attempt the cradle spin.  Oh man it was a mess!  BUT, I actually, kinda, did it, in the sense that my body was OFF the ground and sideways.  The first attempt was actually my best, my others were....well....hahaha...oh my.  Less cradle and more falling down :P 
Here is Robyn Rooke demonstrating:

Ok then!  Long post, but it's been a long time since I last updated on here! 
Hopefully I'll be posting on a more regular schedule now :)