Flying without the Hassel - it is possible

This past Saturday the Magees were flying through the air and we didn't even have to worry about the hassle of checking a bag, long security lines, or waiting last minute for a seat assignment. That's because we weren't flying on an airplane....we flew on a Trapeze.


I am a daily subscriber to the Groupon.com which sends out daily deals for businesses in the Denver and surrounding area. In July, one of the deals of the day was a 1.5 hour trapeze lesson at this place called Frequent Flyers (frequentflyers.org) which is in Boulder. It sounded interesting and at $16 you couldn't beat the price so I bought two coupons for myself and Chad. My friend Malia ended up buying one too, but with our busy schedules we weren't able to coordinate the lesson until Saturday. This worked out great because it was Malia's birthday weekend so we thought we could count the lesson in as part of our celebration.

After filling out the necessary liabilities paperwork at the front office of Frequent Flyers, we were then allowed into the trapeze room. What we were greeted with was not what I was expecting to see:


When I think of a trapeze I think of the circus. I envisioned wearing a harness and having to climb up a platform where I would then be taught how to catch a swing, how to swing on it, and then build up the courage to let go and hope the person on the other end catches me. Of course, there would be a large net if I fell. In this room I only saw four swings and four thin gymnastics mats underneath. I began to have my doubts - how am I going to fly through the air if there's no net to catch me?

We started out with a warm up to stretch the leg and arm muscles which had a little yoga mixed in there and we met the four instructors that would be working with us that morning. Then we split into groups of four and took our turns on the bar. The class, as it turns out, was more of an introduction to the art of aerial dance using a trapeze bar rather than the standard high flying trapeze we are so accustomed to seeing in circuses. We practiced getting on and off the bar, sitting and swinging, and the "animal series" which was a set of poses involving contorting your body in various positions like the sloth:

and the monkey:


Then at the end of the class they put up two of the four bars and had us take turns using the other two to practice moves which basically involved building enough momentum to swing from them hanging by your hands. I have to be honest I did not think that this would be much of a workout but by the end of class my hands and shoulders were sore and I was out of breath from running back and forth, building speed to "fly."

The Frequent Flyers group features a variety of classes for adults and kids age 5 and up. They have everything from Fabric, Lo-flying and Circus Trapeze to stilts, aerial fitness circuit training, aerial composition, aerial sling and even aerial burlesque. You can register for all the classes online and even book private lessons and birthday parties. I thought the class was a great workout and a fun and different way to exercise and all the instructors were nice and encouraging. So if you want to earn your wings and fly without the hassle check out their website: frequentflyers.org and get airborne!