Adventures in Alternative Workouts: Trapeze

This past Saturday, my sister-in-law and I took a free trapeze taster class at the Aloft Loft in Chicago. And it was a lot of fun! There were about 10 people there and two instructors. After a warm-up and stretch, they explained the proper body form for hanging on the trapeze bar. And then ... it was time to get up on the bar!

I should explain that I hate being upside down. It makes me feel nauseous and uncomfortable and honestly is a little terrifying. So trapeze is perfect for me, right?


Anyway, the first "move" we did was just jumping up on the bar, getting into the correct form, and then swinging our legs. That was it (for the first move). Sounds easy enough, right?

Well it does until you are standing under a trapeze bar, looking up at it, willing yourself to just jump and grab it. With a mini-audience. The bar wasn't really that much higher than my extended fingertips, but I still crouched down, moved to jump ... and stopped. Crouched down again ... I think on my third attempt I finally actually jumped and grabbed the bar. It really wasn't that hard physically.

The next move we learned (it may have had a name) required us to get on the bar again, but then swing our legs up, wrap our knees around the bar/rope (in a very secure way) and hang upside .... and then swing. This was probably the worst for me, because it required hanging upside down. I don't mind being upside down temporarily on my way to another move. But just hanging there? Ugh. So if I do pursue the life of a trapeze artist, that's something I'll have to overcome.

Next we did a couple moves that I liked, because I didn't have to be upside down for very long:

The Mermaid: 

This is not me

The Bird Nest:

Also not me.

Anyway, so despite my issues with hanging upside down, I really enjoyed the trapeze class and actually did a lot better than I thought I would. And I wasn't even that sore the next day (my sister-in-law was) so I might be in better shape than I thought. (Notice I said "in better shape" and not "in shape.").

Of course an 8-week class is $200 and we're really trying to rein in the spending. Hmmm.