My trapeze experience
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 05:51AM I'm trying to live an interesting life. I have limited resources, but I use what I have to do the things I don't want to regret not doing. Like flying on a trapeze. Or is trapeze a verb? Either way, I wanted to do it. After Jen mentioned she was signing up for a class in Seattle, I began researching options here in Michigan. The only thing I found was several hours north of where I live, but I called up my sister and pretty soon we were signed up. I had no qualms about it for the few months leading up to our class, but about week before I started worrying. Maybe I should have built a little upper body strength. What I'm not flexible enough? I was really worried about the possibility of inadequacy and I started sweating it.
On Saturday we drove up north, arriving a little early. On the way we discussed who else might be in the class with us - my hope was for a bunch of middle-aged women having a girls weekend. While we waited for class to start, we sat at a nearby table where we overheard a little girl mention something about the trapeze to her mother. Em whispered to me, "I think that little twig is in our class." And then I wanted to barf. Children? I hadn't even considered the possibility of children. Slowly people started to arrive and it was all adults... dropping off their kids. Yep, seven of us in the class---me, Emily and FIVE CHILDREN! One may have been 14, but the rest had to be between 8 and 12. That first little girl told us she was nine. NINE! That is twenty fucking years younger than me. I told Em I didn't want to do this anymore. I was about to be humiliated and why would I willing go through with that?
But trapeze. Interesting life. No regrets. I had to go through with it. Turns out those kids were really cool. They were as nervous as we were and we all had a good time together. First, warm up and stretches.
(That smile says, "holy shit what the hell am I doing here?")
Then we practiced our form on a small bar that hung just above the ground with a cushy mat underneath. I not only managed to hold myself on the bar, but I managed to kick my legs up into a knee hang. I was feeling much more confident! Then it was on to the real thing. This is when things got serious. I thought we'd ease into it - first try just swinging, then try the knee hang, then try the back flip into the net. Oh no, we were expected to do (or try) it ALL on our first attempt. Um. Shit.
(The ladder was maybe the scariest part, but after a few climbs it wasn't so bad.)
Emily went third after two of the kids, and I followed in fifth. We kept that rotation the whole time. It was a very well-oiled machine---with just three instructors they managed to rotate four safety belts between us, get us hooked up to a safety line, unhook us at the top and rehook us to the safety line up there, hold us and send us off the platform, control the safety line, give us directions the whole time, and get us back off the net safely. It was impressive.
(That's me telling hottie instructor Paul that I was a little nervous.)
Emily, the whole time, was a star student. I, on the other hand, was an embarrassment. The way I've explained it is that if I had been the only student there, I would have been very impressed with myself. I did better than I thought I would. But compared to five children and a former gymnast, I was pretty shitty. And I felt it the whole time.
(It took me awhile to trust Paul to hold me up there until I was ready.)
My first swing, I couldn't even get my legs up onto the bar. I got distracted and was doing it all wrong. I also ran out of momentum before I could do the back flip down to the net. The second time was pretty good, in fact, my best one of the whole day I think.
Then they got progressively worse again because by the fourth and fifth times, I had used up all my strength. I got to the top of the platform and admitted I wasn't sure I could hold myself up on the bar for more than a second. I managed to do it, and even get into the knee hang, but I couldn't hold on long enough to triple kick and back flip off. I had to just fall into sitting position. Lame.
(Oh safety net and harness, you made me feel safe and secure the whole time.)
With about 15 minutes left in the two-hour class, I had to walk away. I was beat and knew I wouldn't be able to do another swing. I was proud though because I could have easily quit an hour earlier, but I pushed through, and I'm glad I did. It was a really cool experience, but also painful.
Let's inventory injuries:
- Blisters on my palms (from grasping the bar)
- Bruises on the backs of my knees (from the "knee hang")
- Rug burn on my knees (from crawling across the net)
- Horribly sore muscles all throughout my whole body, especially my shoulders, arm and pecs
- Numbing in my lower arms, hands and fingers
- The muscle above my left boob is huge and swollen. Isn't that weird?
I'd do it again though. Only two things I'd do differently: I'd beef up a little beforehand, and I'd bring someone who wasn't a damn rockstar. Emily totally showed me up. Somehow I ended up with no photos of myself actually in the full knee hang, arms extended, so I'll share one of Em. Actually, it's my favorite photo of the whole day because she looks like she's just soaring.
So anybody want to trapeze with me next summer?
[Thanks to our husbands for taking all the photos.]
Family, My anatomy, Travels, Work it out
Reader Comments (5)
Wow! What a neat experience!
You are simply awesome. I am proud of you and love that you took initiative to do this! :)
How freaking awesome! Good for you for going out and trying something different, new and exciting. It's awesome that you have people to share those experiences with you. If you go again, I'm so in. :)
Rock star! Even if they weren't signing you up for Cirque after your first lesson, huge props for being brave and trying something new!
I went (twice) to a trapeze class when the school was still in Baltimore. It was a blast and a tough workout. While I thought I rocked it out in the first class - I was definitely terrible in the second class. They expected some non-human strength and flexibility.
If I'm ever in your area, I'd love to take another class!