Keeping Your Balance – Aerial Tutorial

The first thing I teach, after teaching How to Get on the Hoop, is how to keep your balance.

Finding your balance is very important both physically and mentally. You need to learn how to find your balance in each position on the hoop (as in life :) ) and so this is a good way to start.

Also, when you take 1-2 minutes to find your balance, you actually prepare yourself to start practice. It's like the mental process you go through when you warm up.

This balance that I bring on this tutorial is similar to the Navasana pose in yoga:

photo was taken from Wikipedia

You sit on your sitting bones, which is the lower part of your pelvis:

photo was taken from the website yoga.about.com

So here's the tutorial, please let me know what you think:

xxx
Emily Cage

The Ball – Pike – A beginner’s position

The Ball - Pike Mount - is a beginner's pose.

That was my nemesis when i just started learning aerial hoop.

The hardest thing with this position is that in life we are not used to make our abdominal muscles to work in this way, so please, don't get upset if this doesn't work for the first time.

Practice again and again, do only part of this exercise if you can't do all of it, and i promise you that in time you'll get there.

*This video contains annotations so the best way to see it is on full screen mode and not on i-pad, i-phone etc. because annotations need flash.

If you have any questions, i will be glad to answer!

 xxx

Emily Cage

Still Posting On This Blog

I have noticed that many of you still visit this blog, so i'll be posting my tutorials and articles here as well as on my website www.flyandfit.com .

I would love to hear comments from you guys!

xx

Emily

Moving

Hi everybody,

Just dropped in to let you all know that you can find me from now on on my beautiful website:

www.flyandfit.com

You can find there a lot of info regarding aerial acrobatics, more videos, articles about aerial acrobatics, yoga, nutrition and a lot more!

So come on and visit me!

xxx
Emily

 

Very Excited About Get Bent

Hi Guys,

Just dropped in to tell you that the new CD i ordered "Get Bent" by Fit & Bendy just got to my studio, can't wait to try it and tell you all about it!!

I will write a post about it soon.

Have a great week!

Emily

How to Get Stronger for Aerial Acrobatics - Post for Beginners

Hi everybody,

When I started learning aerial acrobatics I got very frustrated because I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't lift my body or my legs because my abs (Abdominal muscles) weren't strong enough and my biceps / triceps weren't strong enough and... I kept getting blisters on my hands. IT HURT!

I felt like I would never be strong enough, but I kept fighting. I kept trying to do what I could over and over again, and I won't lie - it took some time, but I got stronger. I did it on my own, and it worked.

As I got stronger, I started to understand what the main exercises are that made me stronger:
* First of all the warm-up - a good warm-up makes you more flexible and stronger. I added some strength exercises to the warm-up, and it made a lot of difference.
* Than there was the straddle, or trying to do the straddle.
My first teacher told me to try to do the straddle 10 times every time I practice, and this made my abs stronger, so even if I couldn't manage to do it perfectly, or even do it at all at the beginning, I still had a good practice and got stronger.
* Than there was the exercise that I've posted on this video at the end of this blog - it looks very simple, but try to do it 10 times, and you will feel your arm and your abs muscles. This is a very good practice for beginners.

So, in conclusion, if you are a beginner, most chances are that you need to get stronger. Don't be frustrated, this can be achieved through hard work and persistence, but I promise you that you'll get there!

 Go ahead and comment on this post.

xxx
Emily Cage

The Bridge - Aerial Tutorial

Hello everybody,

Today I would like to write about The Bridge. This movement probably has many names, but we call it here in my studio - The Bridge.

The bridge is a movement that looks very easy but it is a bit misleading. When you see it you think to yourself that you need to pull yourself up using your hands but no, you are suppose to PUSH yourself up using your abs and your back muscles. Your hands should help of course, but this is what holds you in this position, not what brings you there. This is why I wouldn't recommend a beginner to do this movement, but to someone that already has some strength, especially abs and back.

I would recommend first to try to do this movement just standing on the floor with straight legs, hold on to a banister at your waist height and do the whole movement. First sticking your bum out and than push your way up to curving your back as you hold the banister. When you want to come out of this, your bum leads the way. First you let your bum down, and than the rest of the body.

It is very important to keep your legs straight the whole time, because this is what keeps your stability.

Here is the tutorial for this movement, please write me and let me know how you call this in your country :)

All the best and have a great week!

Emily Cage