Note: a zebra is a person with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that frequently leads to hypermobility, chronic pain, and other issues. Training a zebra often has overlaps with folks with other hypermobility and chronic disorders or conditions, and it is my hope that this blog (and series) can be helpful to both students and teachers dealing with their own or someone else’s chronic conditions.
This is part three of HtTYZ Straddle Inversions (Part One and Part Two). For the sake of this post, I am assuming that your zebra is capable of inverting with foot assist into a frog position (if not, go back to parts one and two).
Once your zebra gets themselves into a frog position (knees bent but splayed) with good shoulder engagement, have them start working two things (simultaneously–you don’t need #1 to work on #2, as both will help each other in a happy positive feedback loop):
- Keep training that frog inversion until they can do it without pushing their feet on the bar/silks. The process doesn’t change, it just means working as hard as they can with abs and shoulders/arms in the press of the inversion to not touch their feet. This is a mental as well as physical challenge, but there’s no trick: it’s just a matter of practice.
- Start working on inverted straddle holds.
Inverted straddle holds will help both with basic core strength, but also with body awareness and stability (both of which zebras typically lack).
When many aerial students (especially ones with poor proprioception) start trying to hold a straddle, they think that it is supposed to be insanely difficult, and will often let their core sag and their butt drop. Not only does this not look pretty, but they have just made holding the straddle infinitely more difficult than it needs to be.
There is a point for everyone where holding a straddle while inverted is almost easy (I say almost, because it is still work, it’s just a lot less work than holding it in any other body configuration). That place is a bit different for every body, based on center of gravity, length of arms and legs and torso, size of breasts and belly, and general skeletal structure. No two bodies are going to have the exact same balance point in inverted straddle. That said, there are some “feelings” to look for.
In a stable inverted straddle, shoulders should absolutely be engaged and arms should be giving a small amount of push against the apparatus. Not a lot, but some. Holding an inversion should be active, not a passive hang.
The core should be drawn in toward the interior of the spine, the obliques should be pulling across in an X-shape around the belly-button to hold stability, and the lower abs/tail should be curled in (but not collapsed) and pointed vaguely toward the face. It helps to have your zebra tuck their chin toward their chest, looking at their hands (both for maintaining a curved spine in the inversion and just in case they let go so they don’t fall on their head).
Legs should be straddled–wide, but not too wide. This isn’t meant to be a front open split (which most people, including me, can’t do anyway). It should be an active but easy straddle. Push the legs open with the muscles of the hips and glutes, but don’t over-push; the idea is to not let your zebra’s legs come in to rest on their arms because they’re unengaging their leg muscles, but also not to strain hip flexors or groin muscles from pushing too far. Honestly, it also becomes harder to hold a straddle that’s too wide because it overbalances the weight of the legs away from the core. A good rule is that your zebra’s knees should be past their elbows toward the face–and their feet should be at least at (if not behind) the head. This is not a position that the zebra is going to be able to evaluate terribly well from the inside–you’ll have to help them from the outside (or, if you are the zebra, get a friend to take a picture).
It’s also important not to fold too much at the hips. Too much fold will drag the legs down below (not past on the horizontal line, but below on the vertical one) your zebra’s head and cause the spine to over-curve and the abs to become so squished that they stop working. Their straddled legs should be parallel to the ground, toes pointed, quads and hamstrings and glutes engaged. This can also cause shoulder strain by dumping weight into the shoulder joints instead of actively holding it with the core. Something has to carry the weight, and we want that to be all the abs instead of the shoulders.
Finding the precise balance point is a matter of trial and error, ultimately. These cues can help to reduce the possibilities, but this is a thing your zebra just has to find for themselves. And they’ll know it when they hit it. The straddle will go from “oh God it’s awful” to “OH, I got this” pretty much instantly when they find it. If you’re spotting your zebra, use their sacrum (what Lovely Pilates Instructor calls the “butt-triangle,” which is super helpful to me) as a good bracing point for your hand. Provide them with the resistance they need to find that spot, but don’t try to completely hold them in place.
Once your zebra knows where they’re going, the idea of getting there becomes much, much easier. (Next week, the fourth and final part!)
Circus Out of Joint 