CirqueFlex

NEW SESSION TIMES AVAILABLE!

CirqueFlex is now running sessions on Tuesday nights with some brand new availability!

If you need help achieving your aerial, strength or flexibility goals, now is the time to join in as we begin our new training cycle!

Book in today at https://app.simplymeet.me/cirqueflex or send through a DM if you have any questions.

Can't make a Tuesday night work? Send through a DM and we will find a time that works for you!

One of many behind the scenes shots from today’s photoshoot! Many more to come!

As performers and athletes, our ego is essential. We use it every time we go on stage to ensure that we perform at our peak level. It makes us take pride in our effort, strive to win a competition or aim to be the best. Without it we wouldn’t have chosen to be performers or athletes and we certainly wouldn’t be striving for greatness within our chosen sport! While our egos are incredibly important and productive on the stage, they can be detrimental when they show up at training

The ego makes you feel like you have to look perfect in your training, like you have to be the best in the room. On stage, this is great, but in training it stops you from enduring the struggle that brings results physically and from allowing yourself to make mistakes that allow you to progress mentally into becoming a better athlete or performer

The ego usually has one of two impacts on your training:

Type 1. It makes you feel inferior which means that you’ll either get stuck doing the movements, skills or weights that you know well and therefore you’ll never progress into anything above your current level or you’ll just stop showing up for fear of being judged (I’m looking at you, person who won’t take their first aerial session because they don’t think they're strong enough)

Type 2. It makes you feel like you have to be superior which means that you’ll end up pushing yourself into higher level skills or weights before you’re ready and therefore you’ll never solidify your foundations and you’ll likely end up getting injured because you’re not training safely (I’m looking at you, aerialist who is currently scrolling Instagram for the 100th big trick to add to their saved posts list)

So instead of falling into these traps and stalling your own training, next time your ego rears its head in the training space take a deep breath, leave your ego at the door and give yourself permission to suck; you’ll never become great at something if you don’t give yourself the chance to be terrible at it first.

Let me know below whether your ego response tends to be type 1 or 2! We all have an ego, the first step to combating it is to figure out how it affects us!

Happy Training!

There are two types of goals.
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Last week we talked about being specific in setting an outcome goal; a goal that involves a desired end result like being able to do a chin up or a one arm inversion. Setting this goal is an important step but if this is the only thing that will mark achievement then you’re going to be waiting a while for any sense of satisfaction.
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Process goals on the other hand are goals that are all about whether you have done the work that you need to do in order to progress towards your outcome goal. They are short term indicators that you have put in the effort or gained the tools that will allow you achieve the ultimate aim.
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These goals could include buying a chin up bar or getting a gym membership or showing up to training 3 times that week or booking in with a coach or writing up your training plan.
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They are about the quantity not the quality. They are a yes or a no in a checkbox and if you did those things then you can feel satisfied that you have achieved what you needed to that day or that week.
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They allow you to feel continuously motivated and build habits without putting pressure on yourself about how quickly your body is progressing or tempting you to overtrain because you already know exactly what you have to do; no more, no less.
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So, if you look at your goal from last week, what is one thing that you can set as a process goal for the week?
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Let me know in the comments below!
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Happy Training!

Photo Credit:

We all want to be fitter, stronger, more flexible, better at aerials and the list goes on but these aren’t goals; these are ideas. They are thoughts that will always leave you dissatisfied, unhappy, never progressing and always comparing yourself to other people.
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This is because you can’t achieve them. There’s nothing to achieve. What does it mean to be more flexible or to be stronger?
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You can get more flexible in a single session simply by warming up. If you can do 3 push ups today and 4 push ups next week then congratulations, you’re now stronger! But that’s not enough, is it?
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Of course it’s not, because then there’s the 5th and the 6th and the 20th push up that you still can’t do. There are still chin ups and pistols squats and single arm straddles and 50 other exercises to conquer.
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All of these ambitions are great but they are never ending and too multi-faceted to ever give you a sense of achievement.
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This is where specificity comes into to equation. All this means is that you ask the question: what does strong/flexible/better look like to me?
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Is it getting a flat split line? Is it getting 10 straight arm inversions in a row? Is it having proper leg extension in your tricks? These are goals.
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Goals have a moment where you will be able to do the actual thing and know that you have achieved that goal. This is what will give you that sense of growth, satisfaction and pride. So be specific and choose selectively what you put your energy into!
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Still not sure how to set your goals for 2022? Book in for a free online consultation with CirqueFlex today and we will spend those 30mins figuring out exactly what it is that you want to achieve and how to get you there so that you can start the new year off right!
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Happy Training!

Throwing back to a photoshoot in 2016 with the incredible

I don’t believe in wrong. There is no wrong hand placement when doing a trick. There is no wrong technique in a strength exercise. There is no wrong job opportunity to consider.
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Wrong is the word that allowed fitness trends to encourage switching off our lower back and upper trapezius muscles until we realised that a whole bunch of instabilities and overuse injuries will arise if we do that.
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Wrong is the word that sends students out into the world unable to think critically and create because they’ve been drilled to repeat textbook answers and versions of tricks.
Now, before you all start yelling at me, there are unsafe practices.
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It would be unsafe to drop from an S wrap that wasn’t locked across the body. However as long as you don’t attempt a drop from this position then it’s a perfectly valid position to explore; it’s simply unintended.
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It is a small change in vocabulary that can have amazing results for students and performers by allowing them to explore their own creativity while learning.
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Whatever they are doing may not be what you intended for the class but if it’s safe then why not let them explore the position and see where it can take them?
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Many of the greatest innovations, not only in the artistic world but even in the scientific world, have come about because of a mistake, a stumble, an error. Antibiotics were discovered simply because a man didn’t wash his dishes.
So, as long as care is taken to ensure that safety is considered and established, why not take more time to explore the unintended?
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Happy Training!

Photo credit:

So, you’re not allowed to work and you’re not allowed to train, what do you do now?

If you’re a goal-oriented person who is used to being in work mode all the time then this is probably a problem for you. My recommendation is to rest as hard as you train

When you train you don’t just show up at the gym without a plan or intention, you have an aim so here is my rest checklist for you:

Sleep: Get a full 8-9 hours of sleep and allow your body to repair your body. There’s a reason you feel so bad after a terrible night of sleep. Imagine how good the reverse will feel!

Refuel: Eat all of the good food! Give your body all of the nutrients that it needs to function at it’s prime. Bonus points if there are leftovers that you can use throughout the week to make it easy to fuel your body properly on busy days

Have fun/get social: do an activity that brings you joy and gets you out into the world. This will recalibrate your hormones and nervous system while also improving your creativity, mood and mental health

Treat your body: get a massage, get on the roller, have a bath, sit in a spa, just do something that makes your muscles feel gooey and relaxed. Treat them well and thank them for all of the amazing things they’ve allowed you to do over the past week

Enjoy some peace: let your brain have a 5, 10 or 30min break from all of the stimuli that you overload it with on a daily basis. Turn off the electronics and enjoy some quiet. Read, meditate, journal or just sit outside with your morning coffee and listen to the birds

The point is to perform joyful and relaxing activities so that your body can repair itself. Don’t like the activities listed above? That’s okay, go explore and find your own!

Let me know below; what’s your favourite way to rest?

Still have questions on how to apply rest to your training? Comment below or message me directly and I will answer every single one!

Happy Training!