Shrugs on Aerial Hoop are a useful and productive warm up drill that we do every time we get on the apparatus. There are a lot of different shrugs variations. This tutorial will cover the most common variations we use.
Shrugs have become controversial in the aerial world, since the “shoulders back and down” cue can be overdone. In order for the arms to go overhead, the shoulders do need to elevate somewhat. If they are jammed too far down it actually creates impingement in the shoulder joint and can lead to injury over time.
But, it’s also possible to have the shoulders too far up! When gravity pulls on our bodies in space, it will cause our shoulders to elevate as our body weight goes down. A better description is that the shoulders should stay in the best place for the health of the shoulder despite the effect of gravity pulling the body down to the floor. This means the shoulders need strength to resist gravity. In general, we use shrugs to help students find the in-between place, where the shoulders are somewhere between fully elevated and fully depressed
Become an Aerial Fit Online member to access the video for Shrugs. This in-depth video will explain how to properly train this skill. It also includes cross references to the most important Building Blocks, Common Mistakes, Related Drills, Ground Drills, Variations, Next Steps and Sequences.
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Some of the most important aerial hoop skills, related movements, and prerequisites from our aerial video tutorial library that students should be very comfortable doing to succeed at Shrugs.
These are the most common mistakes we see with students when they are learning how to do the aerial hoop skill Shrugs and detailed directions on how to fix these problems to make the skill look and feel easy.
These similar aerial hoop skills and aerial drills are helpful to troubleshoot and help with problems. Students don't need to have mastered the Shrugs to work on these related skills and drills. These drills may help your students make important connections and answer the question "What am I doing wrong?".
These are some of our favorite ground drills for aerialists for Shrugs. They can be used as part of the ground warm up or as part of the aerial class teaching progression.
These are different variations of Shrugs. Students should be very comfortable with the current skill before working on these different or more advanced variations. They can be used for further exploration, managing students with different levels and adding variety to aerial hoop choreography.
These are the next steps we teach to our aerial hoop students after they’re comfortable with Shrugs. The next steps can be started right away and they lead toward specific future goals which are often the most advanced aerial hoop skills.
These are some of the more advanced hoop skills that build on the strength and control taught in Shrugs. They are not the next immediate steps, but rather long term planning goals.
These are aerial hoop sequences, transitions, and combinations that include the aerial skill Shrugs. They are fun, creative, and challenging sequences from our aerial video tutorial library.
