“Hell yeah, I can totally do this!” My thoughts as I signed up for my first Aerial Fitness class….”Holy f*cking shit.” My thoughts as I left my first Aerial Fitness class.

I was not expecting it to be that difficult, but once the class started it hit me that… DUH, every aerial acrobat I have ever seen was ripped beyond belief. And why wouldn’t they be? They have absolutely nothing to anchor them down except the silk. And that bad boy is only anchored by one clip. It sways with every tiny movement, and you have to use all your muscle to stabilize yourself. Not to mention, using all your muscles to lift your body to preform the simplest aerial tricks.

AIR Foundation

February 14 – 10:00AM

Instructor: Ryan Castillo

This was my first class, and my girlfriend Jesse and I decided to go for a little early morning Valentine’s Day experience. How adorable, right!? The room was filled with evenly spaced blue and green silks hanging from the ceiling. Ryan told us to find a silk that came to waist height, so Jesse and I found two right next to one another and started to stretch. We had no idea what we were in for.

Class started with a brief warm-up to get our hearts going and then a casual 3 minute plank session. 3 MINUTE PLANK SESSION! Was he trying to kill me? Pretty sure he was. Barely 10 minutes into the class and I’m dripping with sweat and almost crying. (I now understand that the majority of aerial fitness comes from the core, so this made sense, but it still almost killed me.) For the next 45 minutes I endured one of the hardest workouts in my recent healthy endeavors.

Ryan was a great instructor. He pushed the class incredibly hard, but had a soothing tone in his voice that encouraged me to keep trying. And try i did!

It was reassuring when I looked around the class and saw the same struggle from the ret of the participants. I wish I could explain the movement we went through in a way that would not confuse you, but this is a class that MUST be experienced. But when you do, don’t get deterred because the struggle is real! I’ll let you know how my next experience goes.

 

April 29 – 6:00PM

Instructor: Amber Ellis

Nope, don’t you worry, class didn’t get any easier this time around. I’m gonna go ahead and tell myself is was due to my small trip ‘off-the-wagon’ after I injured myself.

I hurt my knees on a St. patrick’s Day trip to Miami – no, not in that way. Get your mind out of the gutter! – And took a little time off from excessive activity until I figured out a solution (Btw, in case you were interested in the cure was- foam rolling! I’ll write a post on this later…).

However, I enjoyed this class so much more than my first experience.Amber is English and has the cutest accent. I loved listening to her directions and found the tone in her voice so incredibly calming. Even when I was about to crawl into the fetal position on the floor she coaxed me back on the silk to try again. We also tried a lot of aerial variations. The majority of the first class was spent on the ground, but now I was flipping around and using the silk as a tool for aerial acrobatics.

I realized I have to make this a monthly experience so I can continue to try my hand at such an intense workout!