Aerial Hoop : how to do exercise without realising you're doing it

On Tuesday 4th September I think the whole city was sensing the slight air of disappointment at going back to school, college or work. Honestly, I never used to mind going back to school because I am a bit of a nerd. Anyway! The Leeds Girls Can Ambassadors team had a little bit of a treat planned to give us something fun to do on a Tuesday evening. Leeds Aerial Arts very kindly hosted a lesson for us in beginner’s aerial hoop. Aerial hoop is literally what you would imagine seeing at the circus, acrobatic tricks done on a suspended hoop.

I really did not know what to expect. All I knew was that I shouldn’t really eat too much before I attempted any acrobatic moves for obvious reasons. We arrived and were greeted by Lorna our very friendly and fun instructor. Lorna took us through the basics of how to get on and off the hoop properly. You had to hold onto the hoop at the bottom and tuck your legs in above yourself, hooking one foot onto the hoop. Then, you placed your legs over the hoop so that you were hanging upside down like a bat. From there, you walked your hands up the hoop and sort of sat up onto the hoop so that you were sat on it.

From there, we learnt loads of cool tricks. We learnt how to do a push out split, gazelle, secretary amongst others. I would try and explain what they looked like, but I think it might be better to just show you the photos. We really surprised ourselves with what we were able to do. A little bit of upper body strength was beneficial but everybody was much stronger than they realised. Ellie wasn’t feeling at her most confident (this is a huge understatement, she was holding onto the hoop so tight that she was shaking) when she first got onto the hoop but by the end she was learning how to spin into a move.

More than anything we had an absolutely hilarious time, trying to get ourselves into various positions which required flexibility. Dani and Shannon were amazing! We think that they look like twins anyway (they’re not related) and they were doing moves on hoops side by side and it looked like a performance.

By the time we left we felt like we were pretty much qualified for the circus. No, that’s a lie. But we had a really fun evening, it didn’t even feel like exercise. If you are Leeds based I would highly recommend that you give Leeds Aerial Arts a try. If you’re not in Leeds, there will be a studio near you hopefully!

This was my last official Leeds Girls Can event in Leeds for a while as some of you know, I am leaving Leeds for a few months while I go off travelling. I might be returning to Leeds, depending on where my Master’s takes me but it was the perfect way to end my time in Leeds for now. I will really miss all of my Leeds Girls Can ladies but I look forward to meeting more people on my travels and telling them about This Girl Can. I’ll see you soon Leeds!

Em x

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