Cross Training

Hi friends! It’s been a while, I know. Whoops. What have I been doing, you ask? I’ve been training! I also started taking aerial classes, and man am I having the time of my life.

But Melissa, that’s pretty random. Why are you taking aerial classes?

The short answer is, its fun! There’s something about being upside down on an apparatus that just feels right. I feel so free, and Bobby (my circus coach) says I look more at home that way.

The long answer is that I’m going to join a circus at some point soon!

Melissa…what?

Yep! So my friend Wilder comes from a family of artists. His dad is an opera singer, and his mom is a dancer. They have a family friend named Connie who does dance classes and performances with people with disabilities. Connie went to a conference one day and met someone names Lisa. Lisa is the founder of a circus called Omnium. Omnium Circus has a show called I’mpossible, where people of all abilities and backgrounds perform their various talents. Connie introduced me to Lisa, and Lisa took a liking to me. She asked if I wanted to join the circus some day soon, and I said yes. Now I’m taking circus and ballet classes with the end goal being that I join the circus soon.

The thing about aerial art is that it looks smooth and effortless, but its really really hard. It demands a lot from your core and arms. My arms are strong, but my core isn’t. Or at least, not as strong as my arms are. So my arms are left doing a lot of the work. Now, that doesn’t mean that my core does nothing. I can do a lot because my core had some baseline strength, and my arms compensate for the rest.

That said, my core is getting really strong really fast. Flips and levers ask for a lot of strength and control, which is coming along. There is much more work to be done, and many more things left to learn, but so far I love it as much as I love climbing.

So, are you going to quit climbing?

No of course not! Aerial art is just another thing that I do now. I will join the circus, but I also have El Cap to do, and the Olympics, and so many more climbing goals. Aerial is amazing cross training for all of that. Along with the aforementioned core and arm workouts I’m getting, I’m also working on my mental game. Aerial acts are done off the ground, and in an actual show you can be as high as 20-30 feet! That means learning your routine inside and out, and knowing it so well that you could do it in your sleep. It also means learning to trust your body. You have to know for a fact that your body will do what you trained it to do. This carries over to climbing by making me trust my hands way more than I did before! If I can hang off the trapeze with my legs folded over my arms with just one hand, I can also hold myself on a wall with my feet assisting me (or without them, honestly). There’s also the fact that you learn how to catch yourself to get yourself out of potentially dangerous situations, so you learn to trust that you can do the same thing while climbing. As a result, my overall climbing has gotten way better. I’ve learned that I can trust my body more, and take better falls, so I feel more comfortable making harder or scarier throws. Of course, it also helps that I get a full body workout by doing all the aerials. So while I love the aerials and will absolutely join the circus when I’m ready, I love climbing way too much to give it up. I also can’t wait to see how much more my climbing will improve with all this aerial training.

But talking about it is one thing. Take a look for yourselves!

This is a video of the beginnings of a routine that Bobby created for me. This apparatus is called a dance trapeze, and in this video it’s attached at to something overhead by a swivel (there’s more to it but that’s the basic idea). The swivel, along with the fact that it’s held up by a single point rather than the ropes being separated at the top is what lets it swing and spin.

Melissa is showing the beginnings of a routine that Bobby created. The routine is being done on a dance trapeze. It starts with Melissa spinning around on the dance trapeze. Next she gets on it by grabbing the ropes and flipping up onto it backwards. Then she gets into a pose where she’s facing towards the ground diagonally with her feet going upwards towards the sky and her upper body pointing towards the ground, and her body is only being held up by her arms that are behind her. That’s when Bobby enters the frame and spins her slightly. She then uses the ropes to turn around and sit on the trapeze, where she uses one hand to hold herself up and the other one is outstretched while she leans back and looks behind her. Next she leans back and drops down until she’s only hanking by one hand and her ankles that are on the rope, which leads her to grab her ankle and use that to hang upside down by one knee. After that she reaches both hands up and back onto the bar, takes both feet off so she’s completely on her hands, and leans over the right hand and hold that position with one hand. Lastly she comes down onto the floor while still holding the trapeze and uses that to swing around one more time to end the act.

And here are some photos of the other apparatuses that we use during our sessions:

This one on straps. Straps are somewhat easier for me to use because I have more arm control than I do on the other apparatuses. The core has slightly less work to do because my lats are strong enough to take over for it when needed. That doesn’t always work, but so far it’s been pretty reliable.

Melissa is mostly horizontal holding herself up with straps in front of her while another one is behind her attached to her foot. She is using the straps to point her upper body upwards, which is causing her back to arch into the shape of a C.

And this one is the lyra. The lyra is a little harder for me because my lower body has to be more engaged. The curvature of the ring makes it easier for me to orient my hands in a way that helps me keep my lower body under my control. My arms are still the main control point for me, but the lyra forces you to ask the rest of the body to participate. I should add that the lyra makes me feel pretty. It brings strength and gracefullness together in a way that feels the most aesthetically pleasing when I use it.

Melissa is hanging diagonally down off a large, red ring. She has her feet oriented upwards and has one ankle wrapped around the side of the ring that is holding her lower body up and straight. Her head is a little bit off the ground and one arm is held out closer to the ground, while the other is holding herself up on the ring.

Here is another example of the dance trapeze. The dance trapeze combines the raw strength and power of the straps with the beauty and grace of the lyra. It’s slightly harder for me to use than the lyra is, but it still adds a level of elegance that makes the performance really pop.

Melissa is hanging by her arms on one of the ropes of the dance trapeze. She has her right leg bent and her left leg out behind her. She is looking up and smiling as she does this.

Aerial art has only been in my life for the last month, but it’s already made a difference in my life. I feel like I finally found something that plays to my strengths while also adding an element of grace and beauty that I’m not used to having. I highly recommend that you try it for yourself if you can.