Conditioning for Aerialists - Yoga
Now there are few activities as fun as aerial, (possibly a biased opinion but you probably wouldnt be reading this is you didnt agree!) but it is a good idea to compliment your aerial with other exercise. And yoga is an obvious choice for lots of reasons.
It is an all over body workout, helping develop strength and tone. It is resistance training similar to aerial in that you are using your own body weight to work out. But unlike all the pulling that happens in aerial, yoga involves lots of pushing against the floor which helps works those opposing muscles. A bit like when your instructor tells you to "work the negative" in a pull up.
Regular yoga increases your flexibility. There is no denying that flexiblity makes your life easier in aerial. The right yoga class is a really good stretch which enables you to use the full range of your muscle tissue. Often stretching is thought of as passive stretching ie where you hold a stretch with some external pressure either from the ground or a someone else. But a yoga flow class such as vinayasa provides the body with an active stretch which takes the muscles through a wide range of motion, ideally without pain or restriction.
One of the massive advantages that yoga has over aerial, is that you can do it anywhere. So we encourage you to get your leggings on and join Maisie for some yoga. But this is no ordinary yoga class, it has been designed by a yoga teacher/aerial yoga teacher/aerial trainer extraordinaire to help you develop the strength and flexibility that you need for aerial. This is a lot of focus on the shoulder girdle which is obviously a key area of important for aerialists hanging from things! Don't be fooled thinking about birds and whalesong, you'll deserve your savassana by the end of these workouts.
