The straddle up, also known as a wide leg inversion, is one of the most basic elements that we do in aerial and one of the most challenging because of the amount of strength and muscular coordination it requires. If you’re struggling with your straddle, welcome to the club.
The path to straddle success boils down to repetition and pelvic height. Even an attempt to straddle up with solid technique that doesn’t make it to the top of the inversion will still build strength so long as you shoot for maximum height. Use a short arm preparation and curl the pelvis upwards. Try to puff out your chest through your straight arms to create an inverted neutral spine. Use the pole(s) above as a height target for your hips to lift to. If you can’t quite make it to the peak of the inversion, train a controlled descent until then. Practicing coming down will strengthen the same muscles.
There’s not just one correct way to straddle so you can find your best fit based on your goals. The difference between them is the entry rather than the peak position. Each should climax at a 180 degree straight line with the legs (rather than a triangle) in a neutral spine, the crown of the head pointing to the floor as much as possible and pelvic floor to the ceiling creating a T-shape with the body. Generally the tail should be on either side of your body and not between the legs. All of these straddles can be trained from the ground with wrists wrapped or from a simple grip.
It’s a ballet term which means extending the leg into straight line. Likewise, stand with the legs turned out from the hips in your personal best turn out, then pull up into a short arm position and draw your knees into your arm pits with bent legs ending with straight legs.
Many teachers start beginners with the developpe straddle, allowing a bit more success at the start to encourage the student to keep at it. It’s the easiest of the four because the bent legs make your lower half a shorter lever for the hips and upper body to lift. It’s a great way to isolate the pelvic curl part of the straddle. For students who have a limited range of motion through their sacrum, practicing small curls with bent knees and turned out hips can help build strength and flexibility through the sacrum and lower back.
That being said, I rarely have my students train this version. In order to make progress, the habit of bending the legs must be broken at some point because this version doesn’t build strength the same way that straight leg versions do. It’s also very uncommon for professional aerialists to straddle up with bent legs. I train my students from a turned out position from day one because it’s possible in the first couple months of training. If you’ve trained the straight leg version, the developpe straddle will always be accessible to you. Even though it’s not a piece of cake, I have them struggle through for the short term. The good habits that come along with is worth it in my opinion.
Similar to developpe, stand with the legs turned out from the hips in your personal best turn out, then pull up into a short arm position and draw an upward “V” with straight legs.
Stand with the legs neutral with the hips, knees and toes pointed forward with your feet together. Pull up to a short arm as you pike the legs towards your chest and split your legs into a straddle as you tip back to the inversion.
The pike straddle is advanced because of the angle of the legs. It requires the shoulders, core and pelvic floor to be strong enough that the hip flexors, specifically the quadricep muscle rectus femoris, don’t take over. The hamstrings must also be flexible enough to execute a comfortable forward fold. This version done incorrectly will overtrain the hip flexors. Many of my peers prefer this version because it’s a two-for-one pike training which is required for skills such as meathooks.
Hang with straight arms and begin the ascent by engaging the shoulder blades towards the spine, curling up the pelvis and lower back to arrive at the peak position. Any inversion from a straight arm position is a high difficulty skill only trumped by single arm inversions. When short arm straddles are no longer difficult for my students, we move on to straight arm versions of any and all of the straddles.
