Aerials, or air steps, are flips and tricks that people do when they are dancing. One of the craziest examples ever of aerials appears in the movie Hellzapoppin. Watch the movie if you have a few minutes. It's totally insane. Joel and I do not teach this level of craziness when dancing. For one thing, we are not teenagers and neither are most of our students. But from watching the film you can see that this kind of dancing attracts a lot of attention. It is also very physically demanding.
In aerials, both partners are sharing the work and relying on momentum to counterbalance gravity. Guys should not feel like they are man-handling the women--it's an equal partnership and we both have to do our part.
Although each move uses its own set of muscles, all aerials require a strong core (back and belly) and strong arm muscles. These moves are not endurance moves. They require one sudden burst of energy followed by rest. So when you are training for aerials, you eventually want to work really close to your maximum capacity for a short period of time.
However--you must start somewhere. Most of our students do not walk in the door ready to start a high-intensity plyometrics program. Before you start even thinking about aerials, you have to build a stable foundation.
Foundational exercises
If you are not a regular exerciser, start off with some basic arm, back and belly exercises like planks. Most people know what a plank is, but if you don't, go check out ACE fitness' description. Although some people may want to hold their planks for two minutes or more, that doesn't really help you train for sudden, explosive moves. Hold your plank still for up to 30 seconds. For an extra abdominal kick, try rocking the plank back and forth about 10 times, rolling over your toes.
A side plank will help stabilize the sides of your abdominals, but you may have to start out keeping the lower knee bent until you develop more core strength.
For your arms, try pushups. Many women I know can do 15 pushups on bent knee but not a single one on straight legs. If your goal is to do aerials, make a concerted effort to do the pushups with straight legs. Even if you can only do one per set, and then work up to two per set. Aerials take a lot of arm, chest and back strength, and pushups will help give you the support to protect yourself from injury.
In any kind of dance, all the power from the lower body comes from your glutes. The best butt exercises known to man are squats and lunges. Many times, when I squat with clients, they tell me they feel it in their knee or quad more than in their glute. If that's the case, push your butt further back and make sure that your knee cap stays right over your heel instead of pushing forward over your toe.
Progressing
Once you have a strong foundation in the core, arms and glutes, you can start trying to develop some power in those muscles. What I mean by power is the ability to generate a short burst of intense effort. For example, jumping is a power move. It is not a sustained activity that you do for and hour at a time.
Power moves
- Arms: A power move for your arms might be a clapping pushup. I know, I can hear you laughing right now. Two paragraphs ago, you were working up to a straight-leg pushup, and now I expect you to do a clapping pushup? If that's too much of a stretch, consider a "jump pushup," in which you push yourself up with enough force that your hands lose contact with the ground, even if just for a split second.
- Medicine balls and sandbells are also very handy "power" tools because you can throw them without hurting yourself. Unlike with a barbell or dumbell, you can throw a sandbell at your spouse and they can throw it back to you. If you do it very quickly and with a weight that wears you out before you repeat the exercise 10 times, then it is a power move!
- Legs: Jump squats, jumping squat-thrusts (also known as burpees) and jumping lunges are all power moves. You can also jump on to or down from a plyometric box, aerobic step, or Step 360. As you progress into these plyometric moves, I highly recommend that you work with a certified personal trainer, because the likelihood of injury greatly increases when your feet leave the ground.
- Core: I like to be careful with the core. I don't try to progress people too quickly or have them do crazy moves that are going to lead to back injuries. If you want to progress beyond the plank and side plank, I highly recommend the TRX suspension trainer. The TRX is a very simple piece of equipment, basically two straps with two handles/foot loops and one anchor end that you secure to a stable point overhead. You can put your feet in the loops to destabilize your body and suddenly pushups, planks and side planks become a major strength and balance challenge.
- Stability ball: TRX aside, one of my favorite core exercises is an inverted pike on the stability ball. You put your feet on top of the ball with your hands on the floor in pushup position, then contract your abdominals to roll the ball, and your feet, forward toward your hands, making an inverted-V shape with your body.
Cross-Training
Many people like the idea of aerials, but they can be a little surprised by how much core strength it actually takes to execute these moves. Even if you are a regular exerciser, you are likely to feel some muscle soreness with any unfamiliar movements. If you don't exercise much at all, even simple aerials can leave you hurting for a week.
My advice to anyone who is interested in flashy tricks is to commit to a regular exercise routine. Do some sort of exercise most days of the week. Do a mix of things, including high-intensity aerobic intervals, low-intensity sustained aerobic activity, and resistance training. Once you progress into the power moves, allow your body several days to recover between workouts--so don't do the plyometrics more than twice per week. To get a personalized routine catered exactly to your needs, work with a certified personal trainer.
For more info, check out the American Council on Exercise Exercise Library.
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