Hang on! The Right Way
Hello everyone and happy Sunday!
Students are always asking when it will be time for them to move up. Usually, even if you know a lot of skills, lack of strength is the number one reason we don’t allow students to move on to the next level. As you get to higher levels, you start learning more difficult skills, and we need to know that each student is capable of climbing on the apparatus, completing the skill safely, and being able to get back down from the apparatus. Now, we know that new skills do not always go as planned the first time around. What we are also looking for are students who have the strength to come out of a skill safely in case something goes wrong.
Recently, to the dismay of my students, I have been incorporating some upper body strength exercises at the end of class. The biggest and hardest one is chin up hold! This is an exercise that can be done on any aerial apparatus! I follow Laura Witwer, of SassyPants Aerial, and she very recently wrote about the importance of hanging on an apparatus correctly, as well as how to perform the holds properly.
Laura Wither talks about the “gargoyle” hold and why many students do it even though it makes them lose stamina!
Check out her blog here: https://www.laurawitwer.com/2019/03/07/keep-me-hanging-on-the-arm-position-thats-killing-your-stamina-and-my-eyeballs/
You’ll have a better understanding of the exercises we’re doing in class and why!