OK – raise your hand if you’ve ever reserved rehearsal space for yourself, hung your apparatus, and then spent the next 75 minutes noodling around four inches off the floor, stretching endlessly on the floor, or gossiping with Jane at the desk. Sound familiar? Yep – I thought so. Here’s how to organize your training so you maximize improvement, save money, and leave feeling awesome about the work you’ve done. Onwards!

My Struggle with Training (Cue Sad Violins)

Those of you who see me on a weekly basis know how painful the past month has been – my wheel instructor has been away and left me to fend for myself (sniff…). The first week was fine, I was super productive during training, and wheeling hard. Week two? Still good, but I found myself getting a little chatty with everyone in the space, and maybe I opted out of some moves I didn’t feel like doing that day (I’ll do it TWICE tomorrow!). Week three was le poo. I was all out of motivation, hard things were still feeling hard, and I spent more time mindlessly rocking and singing “Baby Got Back” than I did actually wheeling. Training FAIL! So, I made myself a little listie that got me back on track in one session – BAM! (Because I love ya’ll, I’m sharing it with you! See below!)

How To Structure Your Acrobatic & Aerial Training for Maximum Results

1. Give yourself a specific goal. If you’re not working towards a specific goal (a show or act creation, for example), it’s tough to keep the motivation flowing. Give yourself something really concrete and important to work towards, even if it’s only stringing together a couple of moves – everybody starts somewhere! 🙂

2. Train with a friend or two! It’s more fun, you’re less likely to slack of in front of others, and it’s often cheaper to train with a crew. Also? They will tell you when something is not pretty.

3. Know thyself. For me, 60-90 minutes of focused training is perfect. Any longer and I start singin’ bad 80’s rap, and nobody wants that. Figure out your optimum training time and stick to it.

4. Video. It may be depressing to realize that wrapping one leg around your head twice doesn’t look nearly as awesome as you thought it did, but at least you know. Also? Your knee is bent and your foot is sickled. 🙁

5. Make a list. Now, I know you’ve been keeping careful notes of what you work on in class (you are, aren’t you?). So, make a Work Sheet! Include your vigorous warm-up, moves you’re comfortable with, moves you need to work on, conditioning, and deep stretching.

A little gem of wisdom I recently got. Ask yourself: what’s the one thing that, if I trained it consistently, would make a huge difference in my circus work? Got it? Ok, why aren’t you training it? I don’t know either. Get on that TODAY, Dear Dangler!

NOW, a wee giftie from me to you! Click here for a free template to get you started (no opt-in required), and the next time I see you working out, I want to see you actually working out! Big love and pull-ups, Laura
 

 

 

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