Your first look at the latest fitness trend might have been on Instagram (#AerialYoga), where pics of gorgeous, gravity-defying yoga poses have been proliferating. But you don't need to be an acrobat—far from it—to learn and love aerial, or antigravity, workouts.
The classes really started gaining traction in the form of yoga a few years back
and began attracting newbies and devoted yogis alike. The gist: Hop into a silky sling-like hammock, which is draped from the ceiling and supports your full body weight. You'll maneuver the fabric so that you hold poses (like headstands) or perform tricks (swings, back-flips) inside it, or you'll use it as you would a TRX suspension trainer, to support your feet for exercises like push-ups or your palms for triceps dips.
So it's easier than ever to hit a hammock class—and not just for the fat burn and huge boost to your fitness level. Here's what really sets aerial workouts apart from the grounded alternatives. (Aerial yoga is just one of a few new wacky yoga styles that you need to try.)
1. No skills (or shoes!) required
Let the ACE study test subjects serve as examples: Sixteen randomly selected women, ages 18 to 45, proved you can go into aerial workouts pretty much cold and still get the hang of things. Most aerial yoga studios have classes for first-timers, and AIR offers a "foundation" class for those just starting out.
2. It's one of the best ab workouts around
"A benefit of taking your routine off the ground is that you lose your point of stability; you'll start to engage your core immediately without even realizing it,"
"It honestly has been the most effective ab workout I've seen in a while." Indeed, not only did the women in the ACE study trim an inch, but there is also this anecdotal evidence from Dalleck: Almost all of them commented on feeling as if their core strength improved dramatically over six weeks.
3. You'll flip for the thrill of it
Imagine how much fun it is getting to play acrobat for an hour. Suddenly you're doing gymnastic tricks that you might not normally try without an assist from the suspension silk. "The fun factor is what gets our clients to stick with the classes,"
4. Mat poses become easier to master
Been working on your headstand or forearm stand in yoga? Forget kicking up against a wall and consider this: "The silk wraps around your body and supports you in certain difficult poses like inversions, giving you the experience of how a pose should feel," Duggan says. In other words, taking a few aerial classes might raise your game in your regular yoga classes as well.
5. It counts as cardio too
The ACE researchers figured there would be full-body firming. "Study participants increased muscle mass and decreased fat mass all over, so it's likely that aerial yoga provides strength-building benefits," Dalleck says. (Expect to see definition in your shoulders and arms especially, Duggan says.) But the scientists were surprised at just how cardio intensive this form of yoga can be. "At the outset of the study, we didn't necessarily anticipate that the physiological responses to aerial yoga would align with those of other, more traditional forms of cardio exercises, like cycling and swimming," Dalleck says. They found that the calorie burn—320 calories in one 50-minute aerial yoga session—is in fact comparable to that of power walking.
6. It's zero-impact
Whether or not you have knee problems, adding some low- or no-impact workouts is great for you ,and aerial classes are exactly that easy on the joints, Dalleck says.
The Content
Introduction to Aerial Yoga
Where does Aerial Yoga originate?
Top 10 Health Benefits of Aerial Yoga
Aerial Lunges
Without the hammock: High Lunge
Bridge with Feet in Hammock
Layback in the Cross Position
Plank with the Feet in the Hammock
Pike and Pull with the Foot in the Hammock
Floating Savasana with Assisted Foot and Back
Star Inversion
Low Lunge in Wrist Wrap
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