The Importance of Cross-Training

Cross-training is one of the best ways to build overall strength for your aerial practice and prevent injury.

Ever wonder how professional aerialists, athletes, and performers avoid injury? Spoiler alert: they train in multiple forms of exercise and not just the one they specialize in. Science tells us that cross-training in a variety of endurance, strength, and flexibility workouts is one of the best ways to build overall strength and prevent injury! Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of cross training and how to incorporate it into your aerial training routine.  

While there are many potential causes of an injury, one of the most common is overuse of a particular body part. If you are consistently doing the same motion over and over, it can lead to an overuse injury. Cross-training helps to prevent overuse injuries by changing up the types of movements you’re doing, and the muscles and body parts being used.

Cross-training also helps to improve overall strength, flexibility, and mobility, all of which are important to keep you moving for decades to come. Switching up your workouts helps build strong, flexible, and durable muscles and joints. It can also help you correct any muscles imbalances in your body you may have developed from your favorite form of exercise; this is great news for our aerialist friends who forget to train both sides. By intentionally working all the muscles in your body and challenging them in different ways, you’ll not only improve your overall strength but also improve your aerial performance.

So how do you add cross-training to your regular workout routine? An easy way to do this is by taking a group fitness class like barre, yoga, or any of our other land-based classes! These low-impact workouts target muscles that are often under-utilized and offer lots of opportunities for stretching. They’re also gentle enough to do on a rest day. Adding one to two land-based workouts a week is a great start!