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If a toddler were to challenge me to an arm wrestling contest, I'd lose. I'm not talking about a highly agitated toddler - I'm mean ANY toddler could beat me. You may be thinking to yourself that perhaps I should stop challenging toddlers to feats of strength. By doing so, this could easily become a non-issue. But the issue is, my most favorite thing on Earth is Pilates Cadillac / Trapeze work.  This is my Stott Cadillac / Trapeze table. This was the photo from my table's listing. I have to use the photo from when I bought it as when I try to take a photo of my table, in my dark unfinished basement, it looks like I work for the Spanish Inquisition. I don't, I just aspire to the the most upside downiest girl ever. Inversions are wildly fun and physically challenging. My trainer and I spend a good bit of time working on them. I love that I can work with her in the studio and bring home new routines and practices. These practices keep me busy for weeks on end and at this point, I actually have a pretty sizable collection of things to practice on my own.  Back to my baby arms - Inversions, especially certain ones require a great deal of upper body strength. For me to start in the position on the left doesn't usually work in my favor unless I extend one leg backwards to the top bar for leverage That's not me, by the way. There isn't anything this woman can't do - she's the most amazing practitioner with an insane amount of control and upper body strength. I love her work. Check out her video here The thing is, I have never had upper body strength - I actually remember in middle school having to take a PE physical where girls were tested on how long they could hold a "Flex Arm Hang" ... I was 12 years old - my coach grabbed me by waist, lifted me up to the bar, removed his hands and I immediately came right back down with him. After staring at me for a moment, he grabbed my waist, lifted me up, told me to stop messing around, removed his hands and I immediately came right back down. I had to run laps until all the other girls were done because he didn't believe I couldn't do them. I actually think I was the only girl with a 0 second score. From his perspective, he knew I was incredibly athletic. Every single year, I held the school record for Hanging Leg Raises - I could hold them out forever - I could hold that position until they told to me stop, without batting an eye or breaking a sweat. I received 0 seconds on the Flex Arm Hang and ran an extraordinary amount of laps every single year until I moved onto High School. Thankfully humiliation came in other forms at that point. I don't think I could handle another Flex Arm Hang assessment. Those days are over - I am officially kicking off a program to build my upper body strength. My goal is to be able to do 15 Pilates reverse pull ups and 15 Pilates hanging pull ups by my 46th Birthday. I don't mean in total over the next 4 months either - I mean at ONCE on my 46th Birthday. Let me just put this out there as well, upon my 46th Birthday, no toddler will ever be able to beat me in an upper body challenge of strength again ...  Except maybe for this one. I'm fairly sure that's a medal around her neck.
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