Hey students of mine/anyone who likes cool videos…here’s a super awesome easy to follow vid.  Now the million dollar question…how does this apply to handstand?

Sit-up / Curl-up Anatomy (by MuscleandMotion)

Molly working on beats…they’re gettin there! A few more photos from NECCA workshop weekend on their way :)

First photo from handstand workshop at NECCA this past weekend :). More photos to come as I get them uploaded!

I’m seeing them more and more.  It’s like people have decided to improve upon the tried and true “watch youtube vids” method of aerial training.  As much as I love culling the herd of people willing to try this, I feel the need to speak out.

There are some things you can learn online: cooking, for example.  The internet is a wonderful resource where I can put up a video that shows you how to make a casserole.  Because, as we all know, if you mess it up you can order Chinese.

Even Yoga can be learned online…to a certain extent.  I balk at that idea a little bit, but you know, whatevs.  If you love watching a yoga video online and going through the movements and having fun doing whatever version you end up doing, that’s great.  Maybe you’ll pull a hamstring.  

I have noticed, however, that only the very stupid try to learn a back handspring online.  Somehow people realize “hmm…maybe I should actually work with a coach on that one.”  There is some instinctive realization as you prepare to jump backward through space, that perhaps the consequences here may be intense and severe.

Somehow, that instinctive reaction does not kick in for aerial training.  OR maybe it does, and no one watches these online tutorials and attempts them.  Perhaps (please god), people post videos explaining how to do a trick, and people watch but don’t attempt until they’re with their teacher.  God that would be awesome.

If you’re interested in aerials skills like trapeze or silks, or if you are an intermediate student that thinks you know enough to pilfer tricks offline (any coaches worst nightmare), please read on.

Aerial training is safe.  It is a fun recreational activity for you to enjoy under the supervision of a professional teacher/coach.  It is that persons responsibility to keep you safe.

Aerial training is also an activity that carries heavy consequences for messing up.  You may be strong, you may know what you’re doing…but you do not always know everything your teacher or coach is doing to keep you safe.  The person on the computer screen cannot help you get better because they cannot see you.

So please, realize there are people out there who are going to post instructional videos online.  That’s cool, and some of them may even be totally qualified instructors…but you should not learn that way, because, like doing online yoga, there’s no one there to tell you if you got it right. Only with aerials, not getting it right can have really tragic consequences.

Back at NECCA teaching workshops. Having a blast, pics of workshops to come :)

Link above to a cool article on stretching and the fascial web.  I dork out on stuff like this hardcore ;)

Circus Artists will all get injured sometime, in some way shape or form.  It’s not an “if”, it’s a “when.”  How you deal with it is super super important.

Let’s take a look at the average circus artist injury cycle!

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1) Injury X happens. You may or may not notice because you train a lot and your body is always sore. And you are so awesome and strong and resilient that it must just be a little thing.  You decide it will feel better tomorrow.

2) A couple days pass. X still hurts. You sagely decide to “take it easy,” which doesn’t really result in any behavioral changes except perhaps more theraband work or rolling on a lacrosse ball.  At most you take a day off, but still do abs.

3) A week passes. X still hurts and has gotten worse. You use your massive intellect to determine that maybe something is wrong and so you decide to ask someone about it. You ask your friend who says maybe you should take it easy so you don’t “really injure it.” This sage advice creates a behavioral change…you replace your conditioning with stretching the injured area.  Maybe you even take two days off…but still do abs or stretch or something.

4) You no longer remember how long X has been hurting; you officially call it “awhile.”. You begin referring to it as “my tweaky X.”. Since it has normalized into chronic constant irritation you return to training as normal.

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Sound familiar? We have all done this. You may be doing it right now. It is the most retarded solution on the planet…it’s not a solution actually, it’s just a weird mental justification for never dealing with an injury.  I cannot offer you a solution to this pattern…but I will offer the following (non-medical, not intended to treat or diagnose or help you in any way at all) advice.

~The first 24 hours after any injury are the most important.  This sucks, because on the timeline above, you don’t do anything until way too late.  You can vastly curtail the effects of an injury by treating it appropriately and seriously in the first 24-36 hours after.    As silly as it might seem, I treat every little tweak as if it is a bad injury. (ice, rest, pint of ice cream.)  This doesn’t make me a wimp…this means that small things don’t develop in to big things because I catch them early.

~As discussed in “Don’t be stupid (part 1)”, you shouldn’t be in pain.  You should be sore from working your muscles…but that’s not painful.  Pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong.  You should fix that…you owe it to your body.  If you don’t treat it, your body will start to create compensations.  You know that ankle you “tweaked?”  In two weeks your knee will be compensating for it, taking stresses to wasn’t designed to handle.  In two months your pelvis will be out of whack.  All because you just couldn’t take 3 days off of tumbling.

~Seek treatment.  Not from a friend.  Not from that coach who seems to know a lot (aka me).  If you’re in pain for more than 10 days in a specific spot, you are officially out of your depth and should ask someone qualified.  Not because every small thing is bad…but because the one time that you catch a herniated disk before it gets bad will make it worth it.  You will save months of recovery time (if you’re older than 22…under 22 you’ll save weeks.)

A side note:  Health insurance in the USA is a joke.  I know it sucks, and I know getting something checked out is a pain, and most of the time they tell you to ice it and rest it.  But if you are a serious circus artist, you need to have it, and getting someone qualified to tell you to ice it and rest it is important…because one time they’ll tell you it’s broken.  At least get something that covers you for PT and sports medicine.  And a doctors visit for that weird pain in your neck.

Madi almost does an awesome windmill! Hehe. We work on this skill a LOT; for me it is the quintessential Int silks drop. Yay Friday night silks class! You guys are getting fun :)

http://circusgeeks.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/kiev/

So that link will send you to a FASCINATING account of a hand-balancer who visited the school in Kiev…by reputation the best hand-balancing school in the world.  I read it and thought it was super interesting.  

His blog is also way fascinating and inspiring…I’ve been lazy with mine lately and want to be more awesome like he is :)