Kerri’s Classic Core Sequence

Use this killer core sequence as a warm up to get your body ready for aerial or as conditioning for your core strength and endurance for your aerial practice!

We all know your core muscles are a critical piece of aerial, but do you have a consistent and effective way to warm up and train your core? In this blog post, I review my go to core warm up that you can do every day in order to strengthen the muscles you will use to keep you going when its time to get in the air. This sequence will directly translate to aerial inverts and can help you achieve your goals of straight arm or leg inverts. Of course, this won’t happen if you do not do these exercises consistently and in conjunction with other strength training. This warm up is one piece of bigger puzzle designed to make you stronger and increase endurance.

Let’s begin on the floor!

  1. Rock and rolls
    • Bring your knees to chest and curl into a ball
    • Roll back and forth on your spine
  2. Warm Up Your Hanmstrings
    • Sit in a pike with your legs in front of you
    • Reach for your toes and fold over
    • Take as long as you need here
  3. Sit with your knees pointing towards the ceiling and feet flat on the floor
    • Put your palms on your knees and slide them back until your fingertips come off the back of your knees
    • Move back and forth from your palm to your fingertips 20 times
  4. Sit up tall with your hands above your head
    • Slowly round down onto your back and lift your knees up into an L shape
    • lift your booty up and down slowly and controlled
    • Lift your bum straight up 20 times
  5. Now straighten your legs!
    • Lift your booty and pelvis up off the floor 20 times! You got this!!!
  6. Lift your hips up
    • Bring your hips up and to the right and touch the ground
    • Bring your hips up and to the left and touch the ground
    • Repeat 20 times!
    • Remember to relax your head and neck
  7. Flex your feet!
    • Bring your arms to your legs and touch your toes
    • ….20 times!
    • Remember to keep your legs long and strong and flex your feet
  8. Hollow body hold
    • Lower your legs down together in front of you and hold for 10 seconds
  9. Straddle to pike
    • Lift your legs back up in the air in a pike
    • Open your legs up to straddle and repeat 20 times
    • Keep your toes pointed and knees straight
  10. Straddle pulses
    • Keep your legs in a straddle and pulse outward
    • No bouncing! Use the strength in your legs to pulse your legs
  11. Pelvis lifts
    • Maintain your straddle and lift your pelvis up off the ground
    • Repeat 10 times
  12. Hold your straddle!
    • Bring your arms behind your head
    • Use your core to do 10 crunches
    • Remember to keep your legs long and strong with pointed knees!
  13. Straddle Ups
    • Keep your straddle and lift your pelvis into a straddle up
    • When your toes touch the floor on either side of your body bring your booty back to the floor
    • Repeat 10 times
    • You can push your hands into the floor to help you here
  14. Straddle to pike
    • 10 more straddle to pike here
  15. More crunches!
    • Bring your hands behind your head and bend your knees and tuck them into your chest
    • Lift the pelvis off the floor and your head and neck off the floor to compress into a ball
    • Inhale down and exhale lift!
    • Repeat this 20 times and remember to keep your heels squeezing towards the booty
    • Don’t let your knees drop away from your chest
  16. Hold your crunch!
    • Hold your lifted pelvis and chest off the floor for 20 seconds
  17. Last excercise!
    • Bring your arms to the floor and bend your knees
    • Lift your knees to your forehead and use your hands pushing into your knees to help
    • Keep your body squeezed into a ball the whole time
    • Repeat 10 times

Do this killer core warm up every day to get your body ready for aerial, yoga, or any other excercise you’d like. This sequence not only helps you strengthen your core, but to gain endurance to train longer and more effectively. This core sequence is KILLER, especially the first few times you do it. Have patience with yourself, and don’t hesitate to pause the video when needed. You can start out with less reps of each exercise as you work up to the 20 sets that I suggest in this video. Slowly but surely, you will get more accustomed to this workout and your abs will be able to support your through your whole time up in the air!

Enjoy the process!
Come train with me in person at one of my Sweet Retreats aerial intensives at Casa Chango Mexico.