Have you ever arrived at aerial practice and just wanted to fast forward past the warm-ups, stretching, and conditioning? Well, I certainly have (on several occasions). Thankfully, I’ve had many caring instructors who kept me in check over the years. Although, I didn’t understand how important warming up your body was then, I certainly do now. Warming up prepares and encourages the body to increase blood flow and oxygen to our muscles, protecting them from the workout ahead. It gently lets the body know that particular muscles will be needed later.
The first step is to raise your heart rate. This can be achieved through exercises like running in place, jumping jacks, and high knees.
Next are the warm up moves for your forearms and shoulders which you are sure to need in your aerial practice. Below are moves I always include before every practice to warm up and protect my body.
SHOULDER SHRUGS 10X
Pull Up Bar / Trapeze / Lyra (Aerial Hoop)
- Hold the bar with palms facing away from you.
- Transition your weight into your hands and bend your knees so your feet are behind you.
- Engage your shoulders by keeping your ears away from your shoulders.
- Without bending your elbows, move your shoulders up and down slowly.
Silks
- Choose a grip: double crochet, single crochet, regular grip (if you choose to do regular grip, you can do these from 1 climb up if you would like).
- Transition your weight into your hands and bend your knees so your feet are behind you.
- Engage your shoulders by keeping your ears away from your shoulders.
- Without bending your elbows, move your shoulders up and down slowly.
FOREARM STRETCH
- From a seated kneeling position hold your arms out in front of you, palms up.
- Lower the palm of your hand to the ground (fingers pointing towards you).
- For a deeper stretch slowly bend your elbows towards you and lift the palms of your hands from the ground.
These two warm ups are especially important to aerialists because we constantly put weight into our arms, hands, and shoulders. In everyday life we constantly put weight into our legs but rarely our arms; so it’s important to warm up our shoulders and forearms with these two simple moves.
Once you are warmed up, go take a look at some pull up bar abdominal exercises you can do from home. No pull up bar? Try out these floor ab exercises!
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This article was written by Zoë G. Zoë has been an aerialist for over 10 years. She is also a senior in high school, sister, and amateur ukulele player who can recite the alphabet backwards. Currently, she is the co-captain of her school’s robotics team, an avid reader (of books and web comics), and a bit of a podcast enthusiast. She finds hearing and reading other peoples’ stories captivating and impactful, especially during this time of social isolation.
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