Training Outside of Class

This is also a really timely topic since we have uprooted ourselves from our studio. We no longer have daily access to our own studio and apparatuses. Our schedule is much more haphazard with a lot more flexibility, but also a lot less predictability. We are still passionate about aerial, but our aerial lifestyle looks very different now than it has for the past 15 years leading up to now.

The biggest changes for us have been continuity between training sessions and motivation. When we were in the studio everyday it was easy to pick up right where we left off the previous day, but we can’t do that anymore. We also were hugely motivated by our in-person students. Helping them troubleshoot skills, finding new progressions, remembering forgotten skills, all provided great inspiration for our time on the apparatus.

Before we get into this, please remember never train on the apparatus alone.

We each have a very different approach to facing the challenge. Clayton doesn’t do well with training plans and so he takes a much more philosophical approach. On the other hand, Jordan loves having a clear plan to follow. We’ll talk about both approaches.

What things should aerialists always train every session?

Train what brings you joy. Keeping my joy alive is always at the front of my mind. I was raised to believe that we must always be working hard. And that we have to earn our breaks and earn our opportunities to have fun. This mindset often turns the things I love into chores. And there is nothing less inspiring to me than doing chores.

So, I always make sure I am doing something that brings me joy on the apparatus. Oddly, it may not be obvious. Identifying what brings you joy may actually take some time and experimentation. For me, I learned that mimicking skills I see feels like work. I learned simply being on the apparatus and incorporating it into some form of play is key. I’m always rolling around on it or just hanging on it, pressing myself into it or slumping across it, twisting and finding straight lines. While I am doing that, I am paying attention to what things feel fun to me and then I repeat those things.

This approach isn’t for everyone, and like everyone else some days on the apparatus aren’t always joyful, but enough of them are that I am always excited to get back on the apparatus. This approach also has led me to find my own style and discover new skills. While I do get a workout on the apparatus, I am at risk for not building new strength or keeping up with trends on social media.

Train what you want to get better at. That focus will naturally change as your life changes! When I was newer to aerial, I would often train specific skills and I would always do conditioning at the end of each session. This is a great approach and because I came to aerial without much strength it served me well for many years. It meant that I was keeping track of the skills I wanted to be able to do, and the skills I wanted to get better at, and I made training plans to get myself there. I consistently built strength and I was able to do more and more each time. This approach kept me motivated and focused for many very fun years.

But once I reached a certain level of experience I began to run out of projects I was inspired to work on. There is plenty I would like to get better at, but I’ve never been interested in anything painful or risky. And since aerial is also my full time job, I found that the balance I needed was to tap back into the joy of being in the air just for the sake of it.

So I have recently shifted my structured goals to complementary disciplines like strength training at the gym, and my aerial training sessions look more like experimental play sessions. These days I tend to just get in the air and do the things that feel right for me that day, with no specific goals beyond making my body and mind happy. This approach is working great for me right now and I am inspired to be on the apparatus.

In my complementary work I’m focused on balancing out my body, so for me that means building more strength and power in my legs and with more focus on pushing to balance out all the years of pulling. This has been a great motivator for me and it makes my time on the apparatus feel different each time since my body is now changing in new ways.

What’s the right balance between training on the apparatus and doing ground training?

Within a class, I always have ground warmups and moments to break down skills into parts that can be trained on the floor, but I also keep in mind that our recreational students want to be on the apparatus as much as possible.

Within my own training sessions things look a little different. I am still focused on joy. Too much planned conditioning on the ground and my training session begins to feel like an obligation. I am always moving back and forth between the apparatus and the floor. To be honest most of my floor time is rest! Because I am up on the apparatus and playing I tend to go for longer periods of time and often hold awkward shapes as I ask myself what would be fun to do next. This means I need lots of rest between turns on the apparatus.

My joy does know discipline. If I find something that is cool and fun, I latch on to it and I work with it with everything I’ve got. This means that I will train pathways on the ground, use weights and resistance bands, sliders, balls and sticks all to dig my teeth into the thing that is bringing me joy.

I also do strength training at the gym, but I am almost entirely focused on the PT and pre-hab side of things.

The right balance depends on the person and their goals and lifestyle. But there are a few non-negotiables in an aerial training session, in my opinion.

There should always be a thorough ground warm-up that gets the blood flowing, the heart pumping, and all of the joints moving. The first thing anyone does on an apparatus each session should be simple and easy. I see the first time up as a continuation of the ground warm-up. That first touch of the apparatus is intended to bring simple movement slowly into the air while connecting with how your body feels in the air. This is a great time to connect with the apparatus as a partner for your upcoming session.

Then during a training session there should always be some ground time mixed in. This can be just for observing your training partner or watching videos of yourself to see what you want to focus on during your next time up in the air. Being on the ground is such an important part of aerial training, so however it helps you focus in the air is what you should do. Some people love to roll around and do shapes on the floor, others like to just sit and visualize. Whatever works for you is what I recommend doing. But having some down time during each training session is very important to give your body and mind a chance to process what has happened in the air.

What’s something everyone can do outside of class to become better at being creative with their aerial practice?

Think like an advanced mover, even if you are just a beginner or someone who can do the hardest skills. You can think like an advanced mover just walking down the street or when trying a new type of movement. Advanced movement thinking is always trying to answer questions like what is my body doing right now? Is it doing what I think I’m telling it to do? What have I learned about how my body moves? How much time did it take me to learn these things? How can I apply what I have learned to a new situation?

What this means is if you see an opportunity to try a new movement, take that opportunity, but don’t forget that even though you may have tons of experience at one movement style, you are a brand new beginner at something new. But you can use your movement knowledge to improve and improve much more quickly than someone who doesn’t have advanced movement thinking.

The more you understand about how your body moves the better you will be at expressing your creativity on the apparatus.

Explore other movement disciplines. Especially if you are very experienced as an aerialist, go find something you can be a beginner at and see what it teaches you. It’s easy to get stuck in familiar pathways, and trying something different is a great way to introduce new ways of thinking and moving to your body and brain.

Watch aerial videos not to learn how to do the skills, but to see the aerialists’ unique ways of moving and sequencing skills together. Watch videos of different movement forms, and be inspired by how their body communicates through movement or stillness.

Think about the skills and sequences you’re working on, and visualize them in your head when you’re not in the aerial studio. When you watch videos or scroll social media be on the lookout for other aerialists doing those same skills and sequences, but doing them differently than you. Again, this is not to copy what they are doing, it’s to be inspired to think differently about something you have a certain way of thinking about.

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