Acrobatics: Building Core Strength

I want to learn to throw myself around. I want to learn handstands, and flips, Power moves and all sorts of other tumbly/jumpy/flippy type things.

As well as learning all the technique, I'm gonna need to actually be able to support myself whilst my balance is all askew. unfortunately this is one of those areas where technique alone won't quite cut it, and I'm not of the biggest build. If I want to hang horizontally off a chinese pole, I need some core strength.

I don't want to join a gym, I want to do this at home, cheaply and efficiently. I'm not an iron pumping meathead. nor do I want this to take over my life. Contact Juggling is enough right now At the moment, I have fashioned weights out of bottles of water, and along with loads of sit ups and push ups, they're doing fine. I still feel like I'm missing something though. some muscle group I'm forgetting, or even think I'm exercising it when I'm not.

So, what exercises would you suggest/recommend for building up some core strength? I reckon I'm gonna need Abs/oblique, Lats, Trapezium, rhomboids, deltoids and erector spinae, (That's enough giggling from you, Dave ) ...Have I missed anything?

This will not only be useful for me and everyone else that wants to learn some flips and such, it'll also help those people that want to push their parkour, or the physical limits of their spinning (Staff acrobatics anyone?).

I'm also waiting for someone to say "Pilates!" However, this a Rubbish answer, and is quite obvious. I want specific exercises, people!

A good excercise for core strength I've found is a body curl. You need a pull-up bar but they are useful for loads of excercises and you can get one for a tenner from argos.

Hang with your fingers pointing forwards and slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Bring your knees up to your chest and then slowly rotate your body up till your back is horizontal to the floor, legs between your arms. Drop slowly back to the starting position. When you get good try it with your legs straight throughout. Works both upper and lower abdominals, and the hip flexor muscles, so a great way to strengthen the core. The hangs will improve your static pull strength too which I imagine would be useful as well.

Handstands are a GREAT way to build muscle...

A good one for your abs is with heavier poi... horizontal stalls off to each side on a horizontal plane making sure you stop them with your abs, turning them the opposite way helps this. Back when I could be bothered doing that as a warmup before I did poi it actually gave me a 4 pack and poi was the only exercise I was doing.

I'm no expert and I'd take a guess and say its probably not the best for your back if you've got spinal issues or hell, it may well even give you some... didn't do any damage to me, though. Only reason I say that is that sometimes it will crack your back... though a few yoga movements do it in exactly the same way anyway.

Chris: Nice one. that's the sort of thing I'm after. I reckon a tree in the park will work just as well as a pull up bar

MNS, I like your approach. However, I think I need to put a bit more effort in than that... I already do a lot of dancing and juggling, so muscle tone is not the problem here, it's the quantity that is.

Although handstands is a good suggestion... push ups in a handstand position against a wall sounds fun...

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=X15VRzQHq2U

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=sxLRJLpZI_...=1&index=19

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=PhXoM-5vHT...=1&index=20

specifically core: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=2JP1AWxT7m...=1&index=21

abs: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk_CBS4ONuU

Nice videos, mcp.

And LTC... my approach works better than you'd think, perhaps not as well as some other approaches but it takes less time (especially if you were about to poi) I use 200g poi and I had one pair of poi that were 400g.

I switched from my 150g (normal practice size) to my 200g because someone lost my 150g ers for me on an adventure and my forearm size has actually increased visibly since.

Theres a range of motions that will help you get the most of out of the heavy poi... full arm antispin flowers with as many petals as possible are good. The horizontal stall thing around your ears targer biceps more... I had a period in which I really enjoyed testing out to see which muscles were working while I did poi... was great for my physique, but then I lost interest in it and never really had an interest in actually working on my physique, or really caring about it... it was more a "Hah! Look at that, a developing 6 pack!" Why I bothered to blabber on about that was partially because I couldn't stop myself from blabbering but also because I wanted to point out that it actually does work, even if its not as great as some other methods it was waaay easier for me to stick with and if I had any drive at all to improve my muscle tone thats the only way I'd ever be able to do it... I don't have the patience for a lot of other methods.

Use the other options first and if you find yourself unable to stick with them, perhaps you could give this one a try.

and in our new house, i'll be doing some capoeira, and core strength exercises, and handstands n stuff...

fancy moving in?

Roughkutz

oldschool,

:R

MNS - club spinning was originally an exercise, not a dance, so many of the basic movements we use in modern club and poi spinning (since the two share much in common) are derived from strength training. The original Indian clubs could get rather weighty... Very wide, and made of dense woods. Full-arm circles with these monsters will give you an appreciation for even your "heavy" poi! ^_^

EJMAS has reproduced several articles about gymnastic club swinging, including some from the 1800s -

http://ejmas.com/pt/ptart_treat_0501.htm
http://ejmas.com/pt/ptart_ymca_0401.htm
http://ejmas.com/pt/ptart_dick_0101.htm
http://ejmas.com/pt/ptart_lewis_1101.htm
http://ejmas.com/pt/dandfclub.html

And here's a silly-looking one for the baton-spinners out there (sorry, short staff) - http://ejmas.com/pt/ptart_lewis_0901.htm

LTC - if you get a pull-up bar, or can fashion one out of your environment, you can also make a sling for yourself that you can use for inversion exercises. I (last night) made one from an old bedsheet, and it's rather sturdy - you can do upside down situps and other trunk workouts, as well as some more creative things like upside down pullups.

Use plenty of dynamic motions in your workouts - it isn't just building muscle mass, it's building muscle range. For instance, instead of doing just pushups, go into bridge position after each pushup and back again - you'll work a lot more muscle groups. Also do a bunch of back bridge exercises to really round out your workout, as well as improve your flexibility.

I need heavier poi, I've gotten used to these ones and I now use them for general practice most of the time...

Richee -> Fire capoeira! Nice find.

took me a long time to get the sand out of my dreadlocks then....

Ed come see me and I will core you up. Hardcore.

Doing crunches and stuff is a good thing to include but is really only using your abdominals (rectus abdominus). The purpose of strengthening these a lot is generally to get a six-pack. Doing lots of sit-ups isn't actually useful, unless you need to sit up in bed. Over and over again. Fifty times in a minute. Whatever. Although for aerial it becomes more important, but is only one part of your core. And if you can do more than ten or so crunches in a row, then you need to be taking more weight. If you're building strength, you want to choose a load that you can lift no more than 8 times before your muscles decided to cop out on you, eventually taking this down to 3 or 4 repetitions. Try doing them with your arms vertical up above you, then even holding weights.

Just remember to mimic the movement you want to do: If you need endurance, i.e. to do a movement over and over again, then by all means do it over and over again!

This is becoming rather comfusing because there's just far too much information to write out for you here! We need demos. We need a workshop, in fact.

Yay core! I love my core muscles. You should love yours too. Rectus abdominus is one of the major core muscles. Then there's your obliques on the side, and under all that you'll find your transverse abdominus which wraps around you like a corset, and protects your spine. This is what doesn't realy get challenged with sit-ups. Neither do the erector spinae muscles in your back which keep you from falling face-first into your breakfast cereal.

The somewhat annoying answer to your original question is that, really, you shouldn't have to do specific exercises for your core. Core training should be part of any other training you do. Your core muscles need to be conciously engaged at all points when you work out. Eventually this will come naturally. Think of them as stopping the movement from transferring to the wrong place, by keeping the trunk rigid. For example, if you did a should press (pushing up) without engaging your core, your back would arch rather than staying straight. I used to find when I did lat pull-downs (same movement as chin-ups) my stomach muscles would tire before my lats, through the sustained effort at keeping me straight. Just look at the way a lot of guys doing chin ups curl their backs; because they're not using their core to keep it straight.

When you do press-ups, make sure your core is engaged. Pull your belly button towards your spine, tucking your hips under slightly, and imagine the corset around your waist, tensing everything up... quite hard to explain without showing and checking but you get the idea of it anyway.

If you really want to you can do a plank, which is like a press up position on your elbows. Make sure you're straight, and hold... tough core challenge.

Also make sure you're exercising you back, or you'll end up looking like lurch. The best exercise for this is where you kneel on all fours and lift one arm and the opposite leg, out in front and behind, then swap. Make sure your back stays neutral (not arching)and that your shoulders and hips stay square. Do it super slow, up to a straight line then back down. Keep your core engaged!

This is all a bit jumbled and not really everything you need to know but I'm getting terribly sleepy and there's far too much. Maybe I should make you a vid of cool stuff to do, would be a lot easier. Get a yoga ball! Then I'll make you a vid. Yoga balls are the shiz. And cost about a tenner. WELL worth it.

That really was long and not very comprehensive...

What exercises are you doing with weights?

I agree wholly with the above.

and also...

swim: low impact and fantastically aerobic and also (apparently) uses nearly every muscle in your body.

Zazie: Go for it.

Video of that sort of thing would be useful.

Zazie, you're awesome!

*THAT* was what I wanted.

I lost some interest for a little while, but I think I'm gonna get back into it all again.

With the weights... um... best I can do is describe it, really. Lifts that go across the body for working the pectorals... Lifts over and behind my head to work the traps... Starting with a weight behind me (sitting down) twist, pick it up, and move it to the other side across the front of your body. at the other side, grab the other weight and go back. start again (Obliques, I think?)... bending forward and lifting for some lat working... push ups with feet elevated, lots of sit ups and crunchy sit ups without touching the back on the floor... Dips whenever I find a suitable railing or whatever to hold myself up on (The railings in the garden are great for this)... holding weights and doing squats for some thigh action... Basically whatever I find tiring, I keep going with.

That's about it really. Like I say, I have no one telling me what's right or wrong, so I've just been going at it like that, really.

You gave me an exercise or two to add to my repertoire, and made me think about stuff that I had overlooked. once again, you're awesome.

Hopefully we can catch up at a festival somewhere, or if you visit Brizzle...

Thank you

RIGHT I've got 5 days off work and nuffink planned on Monday. Zazie's first venture into recorded exercise media... Maybe I'll make a DVD. LOL. And wear spandex. Just for you.

OH YES SPANDEX

Now I have ridiculous images of high french cut leotards with like 2 different pairs of leggings underneath plus legwarmers...

that was really specific...I think my mother's fetish for aerobic workout videos has tainted me.

Medicine balls are a good way of adding resistance to rotational movemements to increase strength. Try lunge-position woodchops to get get everything working together. Add dynamic elements like jumping 180 or 360 between sets if that's the kind of strength you're after.

Also, maybe use a balance prop or two if you don't already? Slacklines, balance boards, rollabollas, tightwires, unicycles and so on.#

EDIT: You can, of course, use anything heavy to act as a 'medicine ball'. Use as much resistance as you require. Though I'll back Zazie up saying that if you can do more than 8-10 reps before failure you'll want to be trying something heavier if building muscle and limit strenght is what you're after.

Mmmm... Spandex...

And if you could pour water over your head whilst your doing it...

Go on! Be that girl who, on a saturday night, is looking for the fight of her life...

Mmmm, Flashdance...

Not that kind of video Ed.

Haha.

Oh bugger it's Tuesday.

Ed - take up bouldering. You've got an awesome indoor centre in Brizzle as well as real rocks - good for core and forearms. Might chap your dainty little hands a little but I'm sure your mum will enjoy the friction.

Hes right you know (well, I have no proof on the mum bit, but the rest is sound), be careful though you might get hooked!

Yeah.

Climbing in general is a good workout. Hard bouldering is a really good workout....

Well if you want to do all the flips, flings and stuff, besides toning up and building muscles, might I advice some yoga to help you be more agile. On the other hadn, you said you danced, so flexibility might not be an issue.

Something I found quite helpfull: when praciting your spinning punt some weights on your ankles and wrists. First of you might feel of balanced, but when you get used to this, and you go spin without them you feel much lighter. and it might help you shake of the feeling that you are to heavy to do a cartwheel or whatever. (it's mostly psychological) most people can do these things, they just have to want to enough to go for it.

I do Wu Shu to improve my core. It's amazingly good at it, tai chi also works, in fact for core exercises it's even better.

Wu Shu has also given me a really helpful stance basis which allows me to move in between stances, sides, and motions with ease and through areas that a lot of people don't utilize often. I think I have a very martial style of poi which i like, it helps to add discipline to your training.

Wu Shu also includes aerials at later stages. I'm just getting into this and hope to be able to do full on aerials (cartwheel with no hands) by the end of the year. I was about to start doing an acrobatics course (which i would certainly recommend you do if you want to get serious about throwing your body about) but unfortunately i dislocated my shoulder a couple of weeks ago. So no i'm back to rebuilding it slowly... but don't worry, I'll be doing flips and stuff in no time!

Hope that helps and if you are actually serious about doing flips and stuff I would highly recommend Wu Shu.

do you know my girlfriend gwen?
she lives round the corner from you, and also helps run the albany, ( the albany has hoist-type things to help practise flips etc)
she is an old school circus performer and has lots of of no-nonsense knowledge about such things, she also goes to spin jam fairly regulary and would be very happy to give you some tips, just keep your eys of her spandex!!!
i train in a judo dojo, the judo players use medicne balls and arm-only rope climbs as a small part of their core strnegth work and the are seriously stong chaps!

one of the easiest ways to help core strength is sex and enjoyable to!

One of the best things to build strength for acrobatics is, Acrobatics.

Lots and lots of basic acrobatics.

Handstands
Tuck to Handstand straddle to handstand pike to handstand.
Forward and backward rolls
Handstand forward rolls
Backward roll to hand stand
Cartwheels both legs.
Headsprings

There is different type of musculation...
If you want to do acrobatics, you must to have dynamical muscles and not pure strenght and enduring muscles like weightlifters muscles. So do impulse exercices and don't forget stretching. The strechtching is your assurance into acrobatics, if your are flexible your have less chances to injure yourself.


Dynamical muscles is a combination of strenght and flexibility to have enough amplitude to do the acrobatics. There is also different kind of training for different kind of practise. Handstadn needs a good upper body strengh and flexiblity. aerials acrobatic needs to have very good impulsive thighs.

I disaggre with electricblue... It's very important to muscle and stretch your body before starting acrobatics. An another point is that's not a good idea to do core yourself at home... Because you will certainly do mistakes and mistakes with your body... like in french " Je n'ai pas besoin de vous faire un dessin " ( I don't need to do a draw to explain it )

But i agree with electricblue with starting acrobatics with a lot and a lot of basics.