Aerial Straps Training: Beginner to...?

Hello everyone, I posted in the 'Equipment' section but i'm not too sure many people frequent that subforum.

I have started training Aerial Straps, I will be posting videos of my progress, however, I haven't been able to find any resources online though and I was wondering if anyone might be able to point me in the direct of websites, forums, dvds, books etc.

I'm not too worried about information on how to train the strength for them but the technical information on skills etc.

It's a long shot but if anyone knows of any and could share that would be amazing.

Thanks in advance

As far as I know there is not much info about straps training on the net. The straps skills consist of stuff from rings, together with some specific moves you can only do on straps. You also have the 1 arm tricks, which is usually not done in gymnastics.

Basically, if you build up some ring strength, most of the skills on straps are a piece of cake. Crosses, planches handstands, back and front levers are all pretty normal on straps and all support moves are very much easier because you always have the strap on your forearm. The 2 arm roll up is basically an easier version of press handstands together with some technique, though it hurts like hell in the beginning hehe. Then you have some other roll up versions which are hard to explain together with a bunch of figures that are not too complicated. However it is hard to explain how most of them work, so your best bet would be to find a coach or learn from watching clips. Most of the simple figures are pretty safe to attempt yourself as few of them really put you in any danger. There is of course some very complicated techniques in straps like the drops, 1 arm swings, etc, but these should not be attempted without a solid basic.

Then you have the 1 arm work which is very specific and quite hard to learn. Basically you have 3 positions; the meathook, which is the piked 1 arm hang, the straddle 1 arm hang where the arm is between the legs, and the flag(or back meathook) where you arch and hang from 1 arm with the body extended. The two first are pretty easy to learn as you can just practice holding them on 2 arms and gradually let 1 arm carry more weight. You should have pretty strong skin the cats before you start these ones. Practice also to hang in a pike from 1 arm with your shoulder strongly depressed. One of your first goals when you can do the 2 first positions should be to learn a 1 arm leg lift into the straddle hang. This is much harder on your shoulder than on your abs, so be careful with this.

The flag position is hard to learn without proper coaching, but in general the way to learn it is to go from an inverted pike hang on 2 arms, and then extend out towards 1 arm and arching heavily. In the beginning do it low so your legs can hit the ground if you fall. Also, hold on with both arms until you get a hang of the position, then you learn to remove the arm and lean front to balance yourself. Dont worry about keeping your legs nice in the beginning. Arch and bend as you need to get a feel of the position, then as you get better you fix the form. Its good to have a decent back lever before you start this one, though it is by no means neccessary.

This became a lot of text. There is of course much more to the discipline which cant be explained too well on here, but if oyu have no coach, I would advise you to look a lot around youtube, build some ring strength, get comfortable with 1 arm leg lifts, and learn to press handstand. =)

Hope this helps a bit!

Thanks for your post Handbalancer, that helps a lot, i'll keep training as I am and keep trying to do skills that I see on youtube.

I have tried a one arm straddle up and you are so right that it is hard on the shoulder not the abs, i can do 20 one arm HLL on wall bars without stopping but it didn't even feel like a similar movement!

Here is the video of my first week, could you tell me if the position I do at the end is the meat hook? Thanks for your time and your reply!

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The 1 arm leg lift is very different from 2 arms. You have much more to stabilize as you are hanging from only 1 point. You should work up to them slowly, but they build killer scapulas. Because im pretty strong on 1 arm in straps(along with 1 arm handstands) I practically did not need to train at all to get a 1 arm pullup for example.

Negatives is a good way to get some strength in there when you got the positions down solid. The thing you did i usually call a tucked meathook. Work it also with legs extended. As i mentioned, learn to lower yourself slowly as you get comfortable in the position.

One thing i should have mentioned is that you should probably start to work on false grips. You do it by wrapping one extra time under your hand and cocking the wrists. It hurts a lot in the beginning though if the straps are rough. From this you can of course learn to go from hanging movements to support movements.

Keep us updated on your straps and I will try to give you some advice as you progress.

Thanks Handbalancer,

I was curious about the False grip as i've been struggling to workout how to hold on, I try 2 different grips in the video, one with the loops and one without, which is the one to try to get the muscle up with?

Thanks for your help!

The fedec page doesnt have anything on straps yet. Hopefully they will update it.

The false grip is exactly like the one you use in support positions, except you hang. This forces you to cock your wrists heavily so that the strap does not slip off. Get used to hanging like that and do some pullups. It usually hurts in the beginning, like most tricks in straps. Wait for your first 2 arm rolls without protection hehe.

Check out this facebook group http://www.facebook.com/groups/222210887869097/

It is a group for aerial straps and you can find some useful information. Sanglier is by the way french for someone who does straps(and also for boar, hence the picture hehe)

Handbalancer said:

The fedec page doesnt have anything on straps yet. Hopefully they will update it.

Oh man, I didn't even look at them. I saw silks and trapeze and assumed they'd be in there...

Thanks for the link Phrak, I had discovered that page in my quest for resources but as you guys have discussed, sadly no straps yet.

That Facebook group looks great, thanks for the link Handbalancer!

I'll adjust the height of my straps tonight and try out some Muscle Ups with the loop grip.

I have tried some roll ups already not quite succeeded but my arms are bruised all over, especially the inside of my elbow, so I feel I know a little of what you mean, lots more pain to come but i'm up for it

Hi Handbalancer,

Big thank you for clarifying the correct hand position for Muscle Ups on the straps, I went down that night, raised the straps a little and tried a muscle up and a spinning muscle up. Could you have a look and let me know if these are correct. I have a fairly strong false grip so I didn't find it difficult to pull with my wrists curled hard, my main concern is that leaning the straps on my arms through the transition is incorrect technique. Obviously this will decrease as I get used to it.

Thanks again for your time.

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Cool! I want to get more into straps as well, eventually. I have a pair of canvas straps, but I don't like them cause my sweat, blood and ripped flesh made a crust on them so they're even rougher than before. So I'll get Kevlar ones, they're a LOT nicer.

Thanks for posting the FB page for the straps, it's awesome! And good luck for your straps training!

Awesome info. Glad to see this thread.

MIcheal,

We have been working with aerial silks for about a year now. They have move give than the straps but are still a blast.

I took aerial silk classes at the Lone Star Circus school in Dallas, Tx and they really helped. I think you have more circus schools in Europe than we have here in the states. They are a good resource.

Keep the videos coming. They inspire me to play on the silks more.

Billy Cook

Hey all, thanks for all your kind comments and input, really enjoying playing around on the straps. Hope you enjoy my videos.

Here is another video from week two, new skills: Kip to Support and Spinning Iron Cross.

For Handbalancer or anyone in the know, still looking for general form checks and also curious if there is anyway to easily manipulate where the straps are on your arm?

I have tried again with rolling up the straps but really struggling with technique, I just can't keep my arms locked straight and I think it's the way the straps sit on my arms rather than strength.

Here is the video:

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Just a little bit of video from my work during week 3. Working on Piked Meat Hooks.

If an MOD reads this could you move this thread (yet again, sorry) to the Training Log subforum, it seems out of place here now.

Hey Michael,

Great to see that you have the motivation to learn straps by yourself!

Just bear in mind that like Rings, straps can be very unforgiving on the elbows and shoulders if you try to move to quickly or use improper technique.

My background is gymnastics and circus. My main circus discipline is Corde Lisse (or Aerial rope), but I have spent some time on the straps so I'm sure I can be of some help if you have any questions

Straight of the bat it is good to note that the main difference between Rings training and straps, is that in Rings we want to stay clear of the strapping, but in Circus straps, most of the time we have to lean into the straps (because of the way the straps sit on the wrist - we usually cannot "turn out" like we can on the rings).

With your kip to support, try and really push down into the ground with your hands and aim to finish with the arms close to the body, not past shoulder width.

WIth your spinning meathook:

- Get the wrapped hand right up close to your hip bone - resting on it if possible. This allows you to "hang" a lot easier and requires less strength.

-Keep the free arm next to the ear (just like a handstand)

- And most importantly - try to extend the torso as much as possible. If your thoracic spine is tight and you are folding over the ribs (by not extending) you increase your chances of getting the dreaded "rib pop". Very painful and takes a long time to heal!

Keep training, posting videos and I'll do my best to help you out!

Jules

Hi Jules,

Thanks so much for your advice! I will take it on board and try to post a video showing the changes. It is very encouraging to have you post here so thank you. There are no resources at all near where I live so any and all advice you can offer is priceless to me! I would love to be able to perform one day in the future.

Here are some clips from my fourth week of straps training.

Playing with some tucked planche, working different meathook positions and completely failing to do roll ups. I'm trying to learn roll ups with my arms already wrapped as though I was doing the second roll up (I was afvised to do this by someone on the facebook 'sanglier group'. I don't know what i'm doing wrong but I am pretty far from getting it, no rush though i'll get there one day.

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Hey Dude,

The reason you cant roll up is because the straps are sitting up near you armpit. The shoulders have to move forward and currently the straps are blocking them.

For a beginner i recommend setting the strap just above the elbow (on your upper arm). Then as you start to roll up, you arms will go back slightly past your hips (kinda like the tuck planche). Then its a matter of learning the right time to "roll" the arms while bringing them to a crucifix position. Hard to explain, but check out Igor Zaripov's "Softness of Steel" on youtube. That should help you out a lot.

Also dont start the roll up from crucifix, start from support and then lean the shoulders forward past the straps. This is also good practice to learn how to place the straps. If you keep the hands close to the body the strap will want to go higher up. But if you keep the arms aways from the body, the strap will stay around the elbow. Play around with it and see if can understand what I am saying.

Hope that helps,

Jules

I was away with work for a week so missed a week of training on straps (although I managed a bit of ring strength while I was away.

Here is a little bit of work from tonight, working some straddle stuff, getting comfortable in shoulder stand and trying to develop the strength to lift up into meat hooks:

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I also had someone kindly contact me through my Youtube channel with some advice which i'm posting here in case anyone uses this thread to learn from in future, thanks again to handbalancer and Jules and this advice came from "vandanproductions" on youtube:

"1) On the meathooks:Think about the opposing arm as an extension of the body. The arm that is reaching should do just that. It should move the body and extend as far as possible (a little farther over the head) to provide a contra to the weight held on the other side of the straps (the legs). Since we're studying youtube, look at Zaripov and how the opposing arm is active and engaged, pulling the body as one unit into position:

2) On the rollups: The straps looks a little high on the arms. It could be an issue if you're trying to wrap a little high on the straps. maybe lower your rigging a bit or grab a mat to stand on while you wrap. The straps should wrap right above the elbow. Again, look at Zaripov's control as he places the straps right where he wants them:

3) Just a general: Work slowly and cautiously. Because you're wrapped into the straps, it is easy to get carried away and get locked into a position you don't want to be. Stretch and strengthen your shoulders. Work your skin the cats and train your full dislocate. These will protect your shoulders not if a full dislocate occurs, but when. Lots of planches: front, back, and side. Work the core like it owes you money. Don't forget to have fun! FEDEC just had it's conference for straps this winter, so look for a manual coming within the next year at http://www.fedec.eu/resources.1637.html"

I'm following you for tips

That is a great set of tips.

The reason you cant press your legs past your hands is that your shoulders cannot engage!

Before you begin, place the free arm up against your ear (like in a handstand), then the wrapped arm must be "pulled down", by depressing the scapular. (Just like the two arm shrugs on a bar or trapeze.) From this position, keep head neutral (dont throw it back), raise the feet to the hands, and then with the shoulder pulled down and into the socket - you can now activate the lats and then pull the arm down to finish the movement.

I hope that is clear It was so painful to watch you try without the shoulder pulled down. It's like trying to open a door with your foot in the way! But your determination is awesome! Keep up the good work!

Jules

Nic Branson said:

I'm following you for tips

Cheers Nic, nice to know I'm not just talking to myself here

jules said:

That is a great set of tips.

The reason you cant press your legs past your hands is that your shoulders cannot engage!

Before you begin, place the free arm up against your ear (like in a handstand), then the wrapped arm must be "pulled down", by depressing the scapular. (Just like the two arm shrugs on a bar or trapeze.) From this position, keep head neutral (dont throw it back), raise the feet to the hands, and then with the shoulder pulled down and into the socket - you can now activate the lats and then pull the arm down to finish the movement.

I hope that is clear It was so painful to watch you try without the shoulder pulled down. It's like trying to open a door with your foot in the way! But your determination is awesome! Keep up the good work!

Jules

Thanks Jules! Yeah lots of good advice, much of which you had already said but wanted to post it here for the sake of full disclosure .

Thanks for the tips, the video is pretty embarrassing but don't want people to think its all plain sailing. Lateron I was using my other arm by my ear as it kind of occurred to me after a few attempts. I was trying to retract my scaps as in a front lever but I may just be too weak at the moment, I'm going to focus on coming out of the meat hook really slowly and see if the helps thanks for all your tips! I'll keep training and keep following your advice!

Straight one arm hanging shrugs with a hold I have found helpful for that.

Hey no worries dude,

And dont feel embarrassed! The only time you're allowed to feel embarrassed is when you get stuck doing roll ups! :oops:

Jules