Cirque du Me!

Cirque du Soleil has always awed and amazed me with their ridiculous tricks all the while displaying unreal grace and artistry. When I heard about a new studio in town offering Aerial Arts classes, I jumped at the chance to bring the mothers of Jax Stroller Strength to try our hand at a Cirque du Me show!

Bittersweet Studios (located on Southside near Beach Blvd) offers 4000 square feet of alternative fitness classes from poles to aerial silks and caters to any ability level. Every class begins with a warm up, though the exercises will seem more like a traditional fitness class with things like burpees, plank hold and V-ups. Once your muscles are ready go and you are out of breath, the real work begins.

The silks are made of the same material as gymnastic leotards and are attached to a sturdy beam about 15 feet high and hang down to the gymnastics-like floor. You learn how to loop them around your wrists and how to hold your body weight which is pretty challenging. The average woman usually has a stronger lower body comparitively and it only takes a few minutes on the silks to realize the importance of the warm up exercises, which are designed to strengthen your chest, arms and shoulders as much as your core. As you get more comfortable, the instructor teaches you to flip, split and straddle the silks.

It is definitely trial and error and who better to witness the bloopers than your best girlfriends? We all agreed it is way more difficult to think upside down but luckily Summer, our instructor, demonstrated, spotted and offered one-on-one attention making everyone feel comfortable. The hour class flew by before I had even a moment to focus on being graceful or artistic. Whether I looked good or not, I had so much fun and hope to go back soon which shouldn’t be a problem since Bittersweet offers over forty classes per week. Mention you read this post and get HALF OFF YOUR FIRST CLASS! Be sure to tell them you heard about it from Jacksonville Moms Blog!