Remember Cat's Cradle?

If you enjoyed cat's cradle as a kid so much that you wished you could play a life sized game, you may want to check out New York Trapeze School. The trapeze school, perhaps most famous for its flying trapeze classes, offers a variety of aerial arts classes at its two Manhattan locations. For my first time, I opted for a static trapeze class.

The static trapeze is basically a single monkey bar suspended from two ropes. Truth be told, if I didn't have brunch plans that day, I might have tried the silk ropes class that's offered a bit later instead, but I've had trapeze on the brain lately and was itching to try something - and not flying. (One day, yes. Not this time, though.) Static trapeze sounded cool.

When I arrived, there was a flying trapeze class getting started. As I watched that, I signed easily one of the most intense waivers I've encountered. No surprise there.

The static class had four participants: one very talented woman, two too young kids (like 4 and 6 or something rediculous) and me. There was one trapeze, so we all took turns. Our instructor had us each warm up by doing pull ups and then hanging from the bar to do sit ups. Then she taught us how to get into various positions according to our ability.

As wierd as my cats' cradle metaphor may strike you, that's really what it felt like. Other than the first pose I tried, the gazelle, I've forgotten the names of the moves, but they each involved tangling myself in the ropes. If this sounds painful, it's because it kind of is. Holding the ropes where I wanted them took a lot of strength. Also, rope burn is the name of the game. At one point, I got into a position that involved hanging upside-down, wrapping my legs around the ropes so they were around my feet and then straightening so I was hanging from my feet. I yelped (the damage done by the previous night's stilettos exacerbated the burn), but I did it.

The class was more intense than I had expected. The instructor spotted us as much as we needed, but she didn't go easy on us. And, because we were sharing the apparatus, when it was your turn, you just had to go for it. I liked that. I enjoyed the class in general, pain aside. I spend a of time building strength largely for strength's sake. In trapeze class, I got to use that strength and really put it to the test. I tried way more than I thought I would the first time around and I'm curious to try it again.

I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-