I see a lot of beginners in acroyoga don't really do much warm upbefore playing, and in stark contrast I see the more experienced acroyogis tend to do quite a serious and deep warm up beforepracticing.
Take it from me, it's not because I love warming up, quite the opposite, haha.
It's taken me many years of sports and understanding my body and it's limits that has lead me to understand the true importance of warming up.
Obviously when you're very young you can get away with less warmup, I remember I would play explosive highly dynamic sports like football with barely any warm up when I was still 20.
But soon after that age I couldn't get away without properly preparing my body anymore.
Acroyoga whilst it can be practiced mindfully and with the breath still has a lot of potential for over exertion, strains and muscle and joint injuries if youaren't properly warmed up and prepared to practice.
So hopefully you agree on the importance of properly warming up beforepractice, but what does that actually mean?
Well that is what we are going to cover now...
A proper warm up needs to fully prepare your body for the activity it is about to perform.
This means if you are a base:
You will be using a lot of pushing action in both your legs, feet, hands and arms, plus stabilisation muscles in those limbs too, you also get core activation.
Then your hips, groin and spine come under a bunch of tension too, especially in the hamstrings and back fascial line of your body.
Therefore your warm up should prepare all those parts of your body.
So doing some jumps, push ups, squats, core activations, and stretching dynamically into the back line of the body, like axe kicks, pulsing forward folds etc. will be great.
Keeping the stretches and activations dynamic and not static is really important, because you are trying to prepare your body for dynamic motions not static stretching.
When I personally warm up I do all of the above and more, I work in lunges, different kicks and squat movements, pullups, headstands, handstands, shoulder hangs and way more.
My warm up routine for acro takes me about 30 minutes usually, and I've worked up a solid sweat by the end of it.
If you're a flyer you need to focus more on core activation, front and back, plus opening up and stretching your back bends (front fascial line) and folding (back fascial line) plus twisting motions and of course inversions.
I would also add for flyers rolling and building some kind of falling practiceinto your warm up is highly recommended too.
Over time I have come to learn to enjoy my warm up practice, I try and make it fun and dynamic using foam rollers or medicine balls and other props I find around me to switch things up and keep it interesting.
Another way is to do some partner stretches or share your warm upsequence with someone else.
Ultimately warming up is incredibly important for maximising your practice, and avoiding injuries and ultimately keeping your body healthy and in the best state for your acro! :)
P.S.
If you want to really improve your acro practice, learn more, or attend one of our retreats and events, then these are the best ways I can help you :)
1. You can learn about our product The AcroBack and order your very own here:
2. If you're interested in learning more about our personal acroyoga coaching online then you can find all of the info here, and book a free chat with me!
3. If you want to stay updated about our retreats, festival, and workshop events then our AcroSpirit Community Facebook Group is the best place to check.
Cheers,
Cas
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