My approach to Acro Training might surprise you...
I get the feeling that there are some different assumption around how more advanced acoryogis train.
Of course the approach to training will differ from person to person.
But over the years I've landed on a pretty consistent method that works pretty well for me at least.
And maybe it will be different to what you expected.
Firstly I typically plan training sessions to be 2 to 2.5 hours long.
I've found this is the sweet spot for getting enough done, and not getting too tired and overworked (this also of course depends on my schedule before and after training etc.).
Also I prefer to do 1 on 1 training sessions so they can be fully focussed and uninterrupted.
I also do group training sessions, but my preference in those is to work with 1 dedicated partner.
If I want to train with multiple people I will go to a jam, or set a clear intention for that training session to train with multiple people, but that is not my normal approach.
Usually the training session starts with about 30 minutes of dedicated warm up.
This can of course vary depending on if I've done something before and am warm, but even then I often try to warm up specific areas and muscle groups anyway.
I always spend some time on wrists, some time on shoulder opening, legs and then handstands.
I find handstands are great for whole body activation and engagement, plus training balance and focus right before doing acro.
After warming up, we start training, and here's what might surprise you...
In the remaining 1.5 - 2 hours of the training session we typically work on only about 1, 2 or 3 different specific skills.
In my training session today for example, after the warm up we spent about 30 minutes working on hand to hands.
Low and high L-base jump entries, and standing hand to hands. None of these are new skills, so I just consider this calibration and warming into our acro practice.
Then we basically for the next 60 minutes worked on 1 specific skill... inlocates.
This meant repeating the progressions over and over, and refining the movements and technique.
Plus making some full attempts at the skill towards the end.
We also film many of the attempts and progressions and review the movements and try to increase our understanding of what we are doing and what we need to correct.
Our training from the outside perspective probably appears very boring, as we look like for the most part we are just doing the same thing over and over again, haha.
But this in my opinion is such a necessary and valuable approach to training, and it is what I recommend to others who really want to improve in acro.
Mastery comes from doing something until you understand it inside out, doing it over and over again until it becomes muscle memory.
This has happened for me in inlocates, my technique was pretty inconsistent a few months back, but just by regular repetition and refinement it has now become very solid and consistent in what I'm doing.
So I personally see the benefit from this approach to training.
There is of course some caveats to this in the sense of, if you start to fatigue you should stop and move on to something else or take a break.
Plus if you are really struggling and not getting any benefit from reviewing and refining a movement, then maybe it's beyond your current skill, and doing it over and over might be demoralising, so not advisable.
But in general I think most people could benefit from a more focussed approach to training and spending a lot of time on a single skill.
If you have a different approach to your training or a different idea, please let me know I'd be happy to hear and discuss :)
