It’s been 6 months since our little one was born and no thanks to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, I’d never felt comfortable about going to the gym or signing up for classes. So what’s a young mom to do to try whip herself back into shape? Lots. There are plenty of exercises for one to do at home (thanks YouTube!) but aside from the usual fitness routines, I’d like to share with you all about my current favourite form of workout which is so fun and easy to do, it honestly feel more like play 🙂
Presenting… my Flowzilla ropes from OctoMoves! I got a sweet 10% discount with the code TENOFF 🙂
It arrived in this cardboard box with a nice drawstring pouch so you can take it anywhere, and use it anytime.
So what exactly is it?
Flow ropes are essentially weighted ropes that you work out with. The feel of it is vastly different from using skipping ropes for example. It reminds me of fire poi, where I love that WHOOSH sound that comes from spinning. To give you a better idea of this flow art, watch this.
So the idea is that anyone, young and old, can simply pick these up and start rolling. Rokas, the dynamic founder of OctoMoves, has created a series of lessons online so you can start from there if you’re new to flow arts. But if you’re someone who’s done poi spinning before, you’ll be able to find your footing quite quickly since these skills are pretty much transferable.
So that’s yours truly busting out her ropes one hot minute after the delivery person dropped it off. I’m no expert and don’t claim to be… this is simply to show you how easy and calming rope flow aka rope rolling can be. It is extremely therapeutic; once in the zone, rope flow gently makes me aware of my breath, my body, my centre of gravity. So while I pick up my ukulele and play to feel better after a long day, this is the physical component which helps balances things.
I chose the Flowzilla (doesn’t it remind you of Wonder Woman’s lasso?) which I’ve named ‘Kundalini’. Naming your rope is something that was suggested by Rokas. I suppose it does lend some power to it, once you give something a name. It makes your rope truly yours and you’ll feel more ownership towards that.
As you can see on their website, there’s a nice selection of different ropes so you can pick which weight/ colour best appeals to you. It also allows you to customise the colour of your rope end bindings. I’m a strong proponent that you’ve got to love how it looks so it inspires you to keep playing with it.
Being a typical Libra, I was in a bit of a dilemma because the OctoMoves red Phoenix ropes look gorgeous but they’re also the heaviest on the scale. So bearing that in mind, I picked their Flowzilla to start with. I figured that its weight worked for me; I’d be able to do more reps for longer. And once I’m more proficient, I can get the red ones. So yep, it’s all your choice really.
In my experience, their customer service was fab and shipping via UPS was surprisingly fast, though I had to foot 28.60 francs for import fees. For the price you pay, you get a really good quality rope to whip yourself into shape, online lessons from a good teacher, and being a part of their movement on Facebook. I see my set of flow ropes as an investment. They roll well, look sublime, and will last a lifetime.
To conclude, I really can’t recommend these enough. They’re the bee’s knees 🙂 I’ll be checking out the OctoMoves site to learn more transitions and moves over the weekend. Meanwhile, here’s a clip of the real pro in action. Perhaps this will inspire you to also keep your fitness in mind, especially during these crazy times of quarantine!
