Improve Your Body Awareness
HEY! I've moved!! Check out this post and more at my new website, AerFit.ca !!!
Lately I have had a huge interest in anatomy, physiology, and physical training in the context of circus, and I suppose fitness in general. Body awareness is one of the most important aspects of becoming an Aerialist. Someone with little to no fitness ( or creative movement) training or experience will not have a good awareness of their own body; where it sits and moves in space, how to understand direction in regards to movement, and their own limitations regarding strength, flexibility and endurance. This puts this person at a disadvantage as they are more likely to injure themselves, or get frustrated with movements they don't understand or are unable to achieve. I have placed a lot of importance on developing my own body awareness, and also to support my students in this task as well.
There are a few things that make the task of improving body awareness a bit more difficult as an aspiring aerialist...
You invert a lot
Someone not used to inverting is going to get very disoriented when they are upside down. Left is right, right is left, down is up, up is down! They might not know where to look, or what sensations to expect. They might end up feeling dizzy or nauseas or light-headed as the blood rushes to their brain. They might feel tingling in the extremities as the blood leaves these areas. When your head is facing the floor and you have this unknown thing supposedly supporting your weight, it is hard to trust and let go. Not only that, but you are in a room full of people you probably don't know very well, and now your shirt is flying up, your face is getting all red and gravity doesn't flatter anyone in that way. There is A LOT to think about.
You spin a lot
Spinning is either super fun, or really horrible and terrifying. Do you close your eyes? Keep them open? Different positions make you spin faster and some slow you down. If you aren't sure what to expect the sensation can be dizzying. Nausea is common...
Heights
Fear of heights is extremely common and for Aerialists this is no exception. You must learn a new trick or wrap, climb up to sometimes dizzying heights, and remember to wrap correctly while simultaneously holding on for dear life, and trying not to look down.
Luckily as a beginner, you will find you get a lot of support and patience when it comes to the above things. No teacher will make you climb to heights you are uncomfortable with before you are ready, or spin if you are feeling sick, and they will spot you and support you when getting used to being inverted. And, as you learn about and start to work with all of those muscles you have forgotten about ( or didn't know existed) you will gain confidence in your ability to fly.
So how do you improve your body awareness?
- Move as much as you can. Practice moving every. single. day. There is no wrong way to move... dance, do aerial conditioning, run, walk, cartwheel, swim, jump rope, play tag.
- Watch yourself in a mirror. Move your body in front of a mirror and watch yourself closely. Watch the different parts of your body, paying attention to connectedness in movement, extension, rotation, alignment etc...
- Record yourself on video. Choreograph a little dance to a song and video tape yourself. Notice how maybe your movements look different to how they felt. Notice how much space you take up.
- Get a good coach. A good coach will be there to spot you, to remind you of your alignment and technique, and to teach you how to be aware of your body as you move.
- Listen to your body. Drink when you are thirsty, eat when you are hungry, rest when you are sore, take care when you feel pain. Honour what your body tells you!
- Know your body. Learn the names of the muscles and bones. Learn the vocabulary of movement. What is does lateral mean? How does external rotation feel or look different from internal rotation? Below I have outlines the major muscle groups used in aerial ars that you should focus heavily on when training your body awareness.
Core
Core, core, and more core! Your core is a large group of muscles that you use for trunk flexion and extension, balance and stabilization, posture support, and for holding all of your precious organs in place. You will find dramatic improvements in your performance, posture, and injury prevention when you train your core adequately. The core consists of your abdominals, your obliques, your glutes, and I would even say your Latissimus Dorsi and the erector muscles that support your spine.
Hip Flexors
The Hip Flexor muscles are exactly what they sound like, a group of muscles that support the flexion and extension of the hips and legs. Strong and flexible hip flexors mean improved inversions, fluid movements with the legs, stability in the hips, protection of the knee joints and lumbar spine, and better splits. The hip flexor group consists of the illiopsoas (sometimes referred to as psoas for short), the adductor muscles of the inner thigh, the tensor fasciae, among other small stabilizing muscles.
Arms & Grip
Obviously upper body and grip strength are a huge part of training in Aerial arts, but honestly a lot of it comes as we progress. I only recently started heavily focusing on training my upper body apart from doing Aerial as I feel I have hit a personal plateau in my training. However, as a beginner, you will find that you develop quite quickly just by conditioning on the apparatus. Training these areas separately never hurts though! Muscles to focus on: Biceps & Triceps, forearm & wrist flexors, finger & grip. You need upper body strength in order to climb, suspend yourself for any length of time, pull yourself up, and grip the fabric.
Shoulders & Back
Shoulders or a severely underrated and often ignored part of Aerial Arts and, being as complicated and mobile as they are, are very susceptible to injury. I am only going to briefly describe them here but I will do an entire post soon on proper shoulder alignment, as well as ways to improve shoulder strength and flexibility. You use your shoulder strength and mobility to rotate and maneuver your arm in relation to your torso, but also for any pulling or pushing or lifting motions you might do. Your back is also a huge part of any pulling or pushing motions which are very common in circus arts, especially pulling/climbing in Aerial. This group of muscles includes your deltoid, trapezius, pectoralis minor, lattisimus dorsi, among others.
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