Hello Dear Danglers! Greetings from my boudoir, where now pretty much everything happens – classes, meals, blogging, snacking, sleeping, more snacking, admin, ice cream, you get the picture. Raise your hand if you’ve jumped into an online class! ME TOO! What should you know about virtual training? What supplies might you need (besides cheezy snacks and wine)? Is there etiquette you should be following? All this and more coming up on…. Blogging From My Boudoir!

Supplies, Props, and Snacks

During our Time at Home, you may be sheltering outside of your usual environment (with your folks, for example). Don’t have access to your usual fitness toys? Not sure what you need anyway? Never worked out at home? Here are some things that will be helpful!

• A tablet or computer to stream class – the bigger the screen the better. Technically you can use your phone, but you may find that the minuscule picture is too tiny to really be useful.
• Enough room to move. I am teaching out of my NYC apt – if I can find space, you probably can too. You’ll want at least enough room for a yoga mat, and bonus points if you can scoot furniture you might kick out of the way. Nothing says fun like a broken toe during quarantine!
• A yoga mat. You can use a blanket or a towel in a pinch, but a yoga mat really is so helpful.
• Yoga blocks! You can sub two thick hardcover books of similar size – I like Harry Potter books for this! #potterhead
• A strap or thick pull-up band. You can also use a bathrobe tie, a men’s tie, or a belt in a pinch. I really love thick pull-up bands, especially for stretching; if you’re Of a Certain Age like mahself, you may find that the tiny amount of extra give makes your stretching more productive & comfy.
• Peanut! Not the kind you eat (although you might want those too), the kind you use to un-kink your muscles! You can also use the ole sock n’ balls (2 tennis or lacrosse balls tied in a sock) or MacGuyver one out of a pillow case. Here’s a great Jen Crane instagram post on how to do that!
• A foam roller. It’s not essential, but it can be really nice to have.
• A rolled up towel and/or pillow. Sometimes you need a little extra support in a stretch or move, and sometimes your bony bits dig into the floor – a little something soft can really come in handy.
• Hand weights! You’ll generally want a set of light weights (2-5 lbs) and a set of heavier weights (8-10 lbs). No weights? Get creative! What’s in your pantry? Grab some cans of food, a couple jugs of laundry detergent, a gallon of milk or water, or (my personal favorite) a bottle of wine! (kidding….mostly….)
• Sliders. There are a number of amazing circus conditioning exercises that require us to slide along the floor (plank to pike, for instance). You can use dedicated exercise sliders or a couple of paper or plastic plates if you’re on carpet. If you’re on a hardwood floor, socks or a hand towel work just great.
• Pull up bar. If you can invest in a pull-up bar right now, DO IT. There are lots of options, including over-the-door models like mine, or more permanent installations. A word of caution: PULL-UP BARS ARE NOT APPROPRIATE OVERHEAD ANCHORS FOR INVERSIONS. Do not do it. Bad. No. Stop. If you’re dying to train inversions, you can look into dip station body weight parallettes – they’ll keep you close to the ground, but allow you to practice compression and light inversion skills. BE CAREFUL.
• Snacks and wine! I’m not even kidding. After that class, you break out a little celebration snack (or four) – you earned it.

Etiquette in the Time of Corona

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it should give you a good start.

• Mute yourself as you join the class. If you’re having technical difficulties, ask the teacher to mute you.
• If your class involves feedback (or you’d like it to), try to make sure you have adequate light (back lighting is a toughie), and make sure as much of you is in frame as possible. Also – give your lens a little wipe!
• If you’re not sure, find out how your coach prefers to deal with questions – some like it when you type them in, some prefer you to un-mute and ask.
• You can choose whether to leave your video on or not! This whole business of suddenly having personal spaces become very public can be really disconcerting. You can choose to leave your camera on, or turn it off or put a piece of opaque tape or a post-it in front of it. You should know that, unless you disable them, your video and mic are visible/audible to others from the moment you join the class.
• Be understanding! If your teacher has some technical difficulties, if you do, or if someone else does, just remember that there is a big old learning curve as we navigate this strange new world. If you feel like something really interfered with your session, reach out to your teacher and see if there are options to join another class. If you took a class early on and things were weird or a hair kerfluffled, consider trying again – we’ve all learned A LOT in the first two weeks!

It looks like we’ll be in this virtual training space for a little while. When you’re feeling ready, dive in! While it doesn’t replace our aerial classes, it IS a fantastic opportunity to let our bodies heal, train our weak spots, stretch our tight bits, prehab, rehab, and support our local circus studios. I’ll see you online! Love and (virtual) pull-ups, Laura

PS – I’ve added a crap-ton of new classes because WHY NOT! Everything from conditioning, stretching, dancing, peanuting, mobility – ya’ll, we’re doing it ALL! I’d love for you to join me!!!