Self taught front aerial

[pi-xx]

Hi everybody !

I'm a self taught gymnast and i recently got my front walkover, dive front walkover and standing side aerial. With that said, i think that the natural continuation is to learn a front aerial but as it is a pretty dangerous skill,idk if i'm ready to do it.
My front and dive front walkovers are great but my landing is not always very stable. Moreover,i don't have my front handspring ( i only have a gymnastic mat and so i only can do it from a stand bc i don't have a lot of space, and i think that,for some reasons, standing front handsprings are hard).
Considering the skills i have, do you think i might be ready to try a front aerial ?

Thanks

 

[GymnsticsLife]

I would work on making your landing better on the skills listed. Personally, I would like to be able to do a front handspring before getting close to a front ariel. If you dont have much space it would be hard to do a front ariel anyways.

 

[pi-xx]

Hmm i have been told that it would be hard to do a side aerial if i don't have much space but i managed to learn it only by standing so i thought that i could do the same for front aerials,like learning them from a stand..but I will try to have my front HP first then ,thanks for replying

 

[GymnsticsLife]

Hmm i have been told that it would be hard to do a side aerial if i don't have much space but i managed to learn it only by standing so i thought that i could do the same for front aerials,like learning them from a stand..but I will try to have my front HP first then ,thanks for replying

Front aerials are a lot harder to do standing than side, but definitely possible. Goodluck!

 

[pi-xx]

I see..i think i'm gonna wait a little then thanks again for replying !

 

[Aussie_coach]

I would strongly recommend that you don't teach yourself skills like front aerials at home. This skill puts a lot of pressure on your legs and back if done incorrectly, which can at best lead to overuse injuries and at worst lead to a very serious acute injury.

Why not join a tumbling class.

 

[pi-xx]

Because in France, there's no really open gym or things like that. If i want to do gymnastics in a club, the options are quite narrowed . In fact, i'm quite advanced in my tumbling,like i can do some good skills,but not pro neither so i would have the choice either to join a group where i'm going to be with like 10 years old ( i'm 19 so..no) or there is a group which is more "gymnastic for fun" for adults and i don't want to spend my weeks doing forward rolls with a bunch of 40 years old. I'm not being pretentious or whatever but the 2 main options i mentioned are really not for me so...home is like my only solution.
Thanks for replying anyway

 

[Aussie_coach]

Have you considered an Acro/Tumbling class at a dance studio. This is where you would be more likely to learn skills like front aerials.

 

[pi-xx]

Yes that would be perfect but in France studios are not really teaching acrobatics you know,that's more an american thing..I've never seen french dancer doing acrobatics ! but i think i'm gonna learn a front aerial to a sit, that's way less difficult and less dangerous so i'm gonna go for it , thanks all for replying

 

[Tumbellina82]

Landing in a sit is not less dangerous. Landing on your feet you can bend your ankles and knees to absorb the impact. Landing seated you are just taking those major joints out of play. All the force is going to go through your spine. That means it has to be a far more precise landing to avoid injury.

I think you should check out those adult rec classes. I'd guess there will be quite an age spread but mostly younger, and a range of abilities too. That's my experience in the UK and Australia an I don't see why the demographics in France should be so different. I wouldn't assume they will all be total beginners either, unless there is somewhere else retired competitive gymnasts would go in France if they want to keep their skills up. Since they are mixed ability I think it is very doubtful that you will all be doing the same thing at the same time. Classes usually work on basics after the warm up and strength conditioning, so that will be stuff like handstands, forwards and backwards rolls, cartwheels and round-offs. But even there you don't have to have everyone doing exactly the same thing. They would probably get you doing variants appropriate to ability.

 

[pi-xx]

Actually it's an illusion, you're not really landing on your butt.. your feet and your arms are actually taking the shock !

I'll check for a class but i'm not sure ..anyway thanks

 

[Tumbellina82]

That's true if you do it correctly but whether you have the aerial sense and control to pull it off on a skill you've never done before and are trying to self teach is another matter.