Last day of my twenties...

Yup that's right, I'm turning 3o tomorrow. Woohoo.

Do I care? Mostly no, but a little. It's like a New Year, but different.

Anyway, this is where I'm at with flexibility at the moment
http://www.polejunkies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1407&p=2828#p2828

I'm really, really getting into Pole Junkies at the moment, it's brilliant. I've been offline from pole forums for a while now but I'm getting back into it and I'm really going to keep it up this year.

Did an online workshop with Alena Downs today which was great. Simple things like - how do you grip the pole when you spin? emphasis on the top of the hand or the bottom? Can make the difference between slip grip (sliding down the pole too fast) and death grip (can't move). By concentrating more on gripping with the muscles in the palm of my hand, my spins on a static pole are lasting for a few more rotations which is great.

Also some exercises for the boomerang. I can't get my legs horizontal, let alone in an upwards V and Alena explained which muscles (the psoas) control it and some exericses to strengthen it. One of these would be sitting in a V on the floor, hands in front, and lifting the feet. Well, I can't lift my feet at all and so she said put one leg folded in (like half lotus but on floor) and lift foot. On the left side this is fine. On the right, my dodgy hip reveals itself - it hurts and clicks and I can't get it off the floor. Hmph. Not really sure what to do about that for now.

Some work on basic inverts too. Am getting them much better now I'm moving my hips round the front of the pole, something Alena confirmed is correct, and will help me with my air invert too. Woohoo.

So, I'm not far off the splits, which is nice. And I've got some progress pictures as a marker.
Also got some really nice nude photos taken by my rather talented boyfriend. Something I said I wanted to do. :)

So, this year I am determined to:

• Increase my core strength (And indeed general strength; Alena said today it's not just core, it's all the other muscles around it too, need to work on all of them)
• Get the handspring/ jacknife etc reliably
• Get the knee hold reliably and from up the pole
• Reliable Scorpio
• Spinning scorpio
• Strong invert
• Aysha (please?!)
• Feel more confident with my floorwork
• Work on my iguana mount
• Get a cross ankle release back up to the pole (from legs off the pole, I can do a CAR situp)
• Try twisted grip