“We all understand that setting goals can be helpful. If you want to achieve a specific thing, having the goal will allow you to figure out the steps to take to get there. But it can be trickier with aerial because there are SO many skills to choose from. How do you know what to choose, what you need, and what’s realistic for you in the short and long term? “

“It’s hard to strike a balance. I’ve always struggled with that because I am someone who gets hooked on things that I enjoy.”

“It can feel like the only option is to follow a fitness program in order to cross train, and while there are a lot of good fitness programs out there, most don’t take into account the specific needs of an aerialist.”

“So why are straight arm inverts even important for your aerial?

You definitely don’t need them in order to be an aerialist. But the level of strength they give you sets you up really well for more advanced aerial skills such as meathooks or certain types of flare. And so if you have big goals for your aerial, working towards more straight arm strength is potentially quite valuable for you.”

“June has been an intense and busy month, but also the most rewarding of 2024 so far. I have been performing aerial again while navigating recovering from an injury. Before I started performing I had a job that was solely online, so any time I hurt myself I just took time off to rest. It’s a completely new experience having to go against what I’d normally do, and try and find a way to be able to safely move my body so that I can make a living and at the same time not make my injury worse.”

“I’ve been on a bit of a mission to try and make compression strength more accessible and easy to understand, as well as training it in a way that is actually useful for your goals. I want to help people to learn good technique for different exercises, but also to be able to figure out what works best for their body. Because it’s never one size fits all when it comes to training anything. “

“I’ve just come back from a 5 day aerial intensive in Sligo, Ireland. I’ve done intensive training many times before, but this was a little different for a few reasons. The main reason being that I went with an injury.”

“Kicking things off with an important question: Do you prioritise mobility training in your aerial practice?

Mobility is a word that gets thrown around a lot, and often it’s misrepresented in Instagram videos of people showing cool things they can do because they have good mobility (I used to do this), rather than movements and drills to help you achieve said mobility. But whether or not it’s fashionable right now, my belief from my own experiences as a coach and circus artist is that it’s relevant and important to include in training.”

“Flexibility. That thing we always think we need more of no matter how flexible we are. But also the thing that often gets pushed to one side. Why do we even need it?

While most of us would probably define someone as being flexible if they can do the splits, having good flexibility actually means being able to do the things you want to do each day with relative ease. We all want to wake up every day without aches and pains, and feel good when moving around.”

“PSA: Leg lifts are not the only way to build compression strength!

I actually spent a long time thinking that seated leg lifts were the only effective way to improve my compression strength. While they certainly have their place and are beneficial when trained correctly, they’re not the be all and end all for building compression strength.”

“I wish I could say I never get injured. That I’ve figured out some special secret to never getting hurt, whilst also being able to train as much as I want and make all the amazing gains…

But this is not the case.

If you do any sort of physical activity, injury is part of the journey.”

“This started out as a post for social media.

I wanted to try to communicate what makes how and what I teach unique. With the constant increase of coaches appearing online, it’s super important to know what sets you apart. Equally, it’s good to know this so that you know who you’re not suited to work with too.”

“What’s holding you back in your handstand practise? Are you afraid of being upside down on your hands? Or afraid of kicking up too hard and falling over? Or afraid that once you’re in a handstand you might lose balance and fall or not be able to hold yourself safely?

If you’re thinking “yes, that’s me”, you are definitely not alone. Fear is such a real emotion that we can experience when it comes to something like handstands, especially if you’re learning them for the first time as an adult.”

“The Audacity Project had been on my radar for a while, something I was kind of curious about but never thought I’d be in a position to actually do. Despite feeling major imposter syndrome and having feelings around starting performing at my age, I realised this was the exact thing I now needed to help me take the next step into a brand new career.”

“I used to have some beliefs around fitness and training that actually weren’t really true and certainly weren’t helpful with regards to having any sort of longevity in my training.

So I want to share my old beliefs with you in the hopes that it offers an alternative view to how fitness and training can actually be fun, sustainable and nothing but a benefit to our lives.”

I’m on a mission to make Compression Strength as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. And I’m continuing to explore my “compression obsession”, sharing my thoughts around why this unique type of strength is so important, not only for training bigger skills in certain movement practises, but also for long term health and well being.

One week after deciding I wanted to do more in person coaching, Lift Fitness appeared on my Instagram. A mutual friend of the gym owner had shared a video of herself training there.

It was a PT only gym, something I had never heard of before.

I had always said I’d never go back to working in a gym of any kind, but this space was offering something completely different.

I was full of resistance towards journalling for years. It was one of those things that I logically knew could be incredibly good for me, but emotionally didn’t feel ready for.

The human body is absolutely amazing and can adapt at any stage in life. You don’t need to have a background in sport or to have been super active as a child, to become physically strong and capable as an adult.