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Honor the Circus in You: July Girls’ Outing

Updated: Oct 28, 2019

Hey guys! As many know I had my July Girls’ Outing. It was to Aerial CLT, feel free to check them out on your own time. It’s always exciting, yet nerve wracking, to see who will show up to my events. Most of the time people will text me personally about their intentions, but this time it all relied on everyone making sure they went to the Aerial CLT website and reserved their spot for the drop-in class.


Sidenote: If y’all have a better name than “Girls' Night” I am open to suggestions, because my events are gearing towards more daytime activities so I need a more versatile name!

Day of the event...


I woke up and got dressed in my most athletic clothing. I have athletic leggings and whatever that athletic material they use for a tank top on. Aerial CLT tells you to make sure your legs and back of knees are covered as well as your torso.


I drove over to the studio they have in Uptown and walked in. When you first walk in the silks are over to the right, there’s about five of them hanging from the ceiling. If you look back, past the front desk, the lyra and trapeze are in the back. It’s all open. You can see anyone at any stage that they are in, in their aerial journey.


We have finally arrived and we're ready to have some fun!

I marched over to the front desk and told them my name, which is when they charged my card that’s on file from my registration. After that I walked over to these cubies that they have up against the wall and placed my belongings in it. Then proceeded to walk over to take a seat at a mat. Shortly thereafter my sister walks in and goes through the same steps, and takes a seat next to me.


There are 9 women altogether. We’re separated into two groups; 4 newcomers on the right and 5 regulars on the left, with just the one instructor. She has us all do some warm up exercises which are like a preview of what muscles you can expect will be getting used the most. After the warm up she gets the regulars working on their next pose.


Sidenote: Everyone is given a sheet of paper as records of where you are in your aerial journey. It will mark off what you’ve learned/mastered. That way you can take it to any class and pick up right where you left off, no matter the instructor.

Once the instructor is done getting the regulars started she comes over to us. We’re split into teams of two. Myself and my sister make one team, and the other two ladies [who are there on their own accord not because of my event] make up the other team. Each team has a mat and set of silks.


The instructor goes about showing us a basic hanging maneuver. First starting with the proper way to grip the silks and then going into a hanging fetal like position. We each copy her and then we’re given free time to practice it by alternating with our partners. This is the way the entire class went. She showed us a maneuver, we'd practice it with her, then she’d give us time to work on it while she switches over to the other half of the class to continue instructing them.


Eventually we learn how to tie our foot up in the silks to give us some support instead of using our upper body strength. Some maneuvers require us to use our arm strength while others allow you to rely on leg strength. I’ll say there were at least two that I couldn’t do try as I might. The instructor even advised myself and my sister to use some type of chalking powder they have. It makes your hands almost sticky like so that it gives you a better grip, but at the end of the day if you can’t hold your body weight you can’t hold it.


All upper body strength here

At the end of class the instructor encouraged us to get our phones and take any videos or pictures we wanted on the silks, which i really appreciated. We were doing really cool things and they looked beautiful so of course I’d want to capture it on camera. Not to mention I have this big thing with locking a memory in. I’m a little old fashioned that way. Love polaroids and I finally started keeping photo albums.


Once we got our photos out the way we had a short cool down and stretching routine to complete. After which we were given our personal worksheets for what we mastered so we can come back again to master some more!


My sister and I after our lovely workout!

How did I feel about the experience?


It was exhilarating! For one I was trying something new AND I liked it. I felt beautiful and elegant. It helped that the wall mirror was right there so you could see yourself getting into the poses. Then being able to actually hold those poses. Second, I like classes more than working out on my own. I never know what to do and although I like cycling and even Zumba it's not something I can commit to. This? This I think I can commit to. At least I hope so. I did buy some more classes for me to attend. Lastly, I was getting a real workout in. I was using my upper body and core a lot. The class had me sweating and although it doesn't feel like you're doing a lot YOU ARE. I went home sore and woke up the next morning with some real post workout aches.



What have you done to go #BeyondYourWindow recently? Share on social media with the hashtag, comment below, or send me a private message!


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