10 rules which will help you buy the right aerial silks/hammock.

In this paper you will learn:

1. Who can use aerial silks/aerial hammock for exercise (from what

age)?

2. How to calculate the aerial hammock length suitable for your

room (5 m vs 6 m vs 7 m aerial hammock)?

3. How to choose the length of aerial silks right for your room?

4. The minimum height of a room for an aerial hammock/aerial silks

to be used.

5. Do I have to buy a rigging set (and what should it be)?

6. How long will an aerial hammock last?

7. What is the difference between an aerial hammock and aerial

silks?

8. How to ensure your child’s safety during exercising?

9. Can an aerial hammock/aerial silks be hung outdoors?

At what age can you exercise?
Even children can do aerial dance.
Safe equipment (aerial hammocks in particular) can be well used
for the youngest ones to play.
We recommend regular exercises and workout for children over 8,
whose backbone and muscles are better developed.

Be careful:
If you have problems with your backbone or a history of body
injuries always inform your instructor about it before classes.
Find out if the instructor will discourage you from the workout or will
suggest alternative exercises.
Listen to your body and do not force it to exercises which overload
your body.

Persons who suffer from hypertension/hypotension, epilepsy,
thyroid gland diseases or pregnant women should first consult
a specialist and inform the instructor about their condition
before classes.

1. Younger children – we recommend aerial hammocks
dedicated for children, perfect for:
- relaxing (you can either sit or lie in the hammock),
- playing,
- easy exercises
Go to: Aerial hammock – children set

2. Older children – aerial hammock or aerial silks:
- doing more complicated figures using aerial silks or aerial
hammock
- stretching (aerial silks offer more possibilities)
Go to: Aerial hammock – children set

3. Adults: aerial yoga hammock, aerial dance hammock/silks:
- persons who want to do aerial yoga can find sets of exercises
which can be done at home
Go to: Aerial yoga hammock
- aerial dance hammock/ aerial silks – perfect for exercises and
stretching
Go to: Long aerial hammock/aerial silks

1. Low room e.g. in a block of flats (2.5 m – 3 m high):
a) 5 m aerial hammock
- to be hung from the ceiling or door frame (5 m = 3 m for the knots
while 2 m is the actual height for exercising)
- About 3 m from 5 m of fabric are used for the knots, so after
rigging you can comfortably sit and/or do reverse positions in the
aerial hammock as it is hanging ca. 80 cm – 1 m above the floor.

b) 6 m aerial hammock
- for ceiling mounting, rooms over 2.5 m high
- it will enable doing reverse figures and standing positions because
it will be longer than a 5 m aerial hammock.

2. A tenement house or a house (3.5 m – 4 m or higher rooms)
- 7 m aerial hammock
An aerial hammock is available in a set (length as requested)
Go to: Aerial hammock set

You can also make your own aerial hammock of the desired length:
buy fabrics per metre:
Go to: Fabric per metre

and accessories
Go to: Accessories

IMPORTANT: Hang the equipment at least 1.5 – 2 m away from the walls and furniture

1. Low room e.g. in a block of flats (2.5 m – 3 m high):
- 2.5 m high room – at least 3.5 m long aerial silks (room height x 2 plus at least 1 m)
- 3 m high room – at least 8 m long aerial silks

Short aerial silks are better for muscle stretching and strengthening, tangling and static figures.

2. A tenement house or a house (3.5 m – 4 m or higher rooms)
- 3,5 m high room – at least 9 m long aerial silks

Aerial silks can be used for muscle stretching and strengthening, tangling, knots, static figures or “drops” without sliding/falling.

3. Higher rooms

- length: analogically to previous calculations

In rooms higher than 5 m you can exercise dynamic figures and drops (according to the room height)

We recommend choosing longer aerial silks.
The more fabric, the more tangling opportunities, and the fabric lying on the floor will not disturb.

IMPORTANT: Hang the equipment at least 1.5 – 2 m from the walls and furniture.

You can hang aerial silks in any flat/house, remembering that their length should be suited to the room height.
Shorter aerial silks can be used for exercising figures which do not require sliding down or falling.
Drops can be exercised on long aerial silks.

Aerial hammocks and silks can be bought in sets including accessories (a carabiner and a figure eight block).
But you also need the equipment to fix them to the ceiling, door frame or beam.

1. Concrete or reinforced concrete ceiling:
Buy a ceiling mounting set like this one:
Go to: Ceiling mounting set

1 a. Brick ceiling:
Back in the 1990s blocks of flats were built with brick ceilings usually called AKERMAN, TERIVA or KLEIN – do not hang your aerial hammock/silks from such a ceiling (the brick crumbles

and your rigging point will become loose after some time).

2. A beam around which a strap can be wrapped:
You will need climbing straps/lanyards which you can buy in a climber’s shop.
At least 2.2 kN strength

E.g. like this one:
Go to: Lanyards

IMPORTANT: In order to protect the beam and strap from abrasion, wrap a piece of mat or carpet around the beam in the place of the equipment suspension.

3. A beam around which the strap cannot be wrapped
a) For static exercises (e.g. stretching):
You can try using swing hooks for wood (at least 2.2. kN strength) but remember to check their condition at least once a week.

b) For regular workouts:
For your safety we recommend exposing the beam and making a clamping ring or installing a through hook.

4. Door frame
a) Wooden:
Fix a through hook (the hook eye on one side of the door frame and the counter screws on the other to prevent the hook from coming loose).

b) Brick:
DO NOT HANG THE EQUIPMENT!
(The brick crumbles and after some time the rigging point will become loose).

We offer 2 years’ guarantee for the fabric (when properly used).
Accessories – 2 years’ guarantee (according to the manufacturer’s data).

IMPORTANT: Accessories – after 2 years they shall be inspected by a specialist or replaced with new ones.

When to replace an aerial hammock?
1. It is stretched too much to exercise and does not shrink after washing.
2. The fabric becomes “thinner”.
3. Holes or ladders (caused by metal and sharp clothing elements) reduce the aerial hammock durability.
4. Holes/abrasions on the knots (always untie them for washing and check their condition).

Aerial hammock:
An aerial hammock is a piece of fabric folded in half, having a form of a hammock/swing. It has ties on both ends through which carabiners are put.

What can you do only in an aerial hammock?
- do aerial yoga
- sit or lie comfortably
- use it as a swing

Aerial silks:

An aerial hammock and aerial silks are made from the same piece of fabric which is tied in a different way:
- Aerial silks is a material gathered in half and hung with a figure eight block.
The free ends of the fabric rest on the floor.

What can you do only with aerial silks?
- tangling
- figures which require using two pieces of fabric
- more types of splits than in an aerial hammock
- more types of drops than in an aerial hammock
- more types of ascending/descending

You can turn an aerial hammock into aerial silks and vice versa
In this tutorial you will learn how to make them and how to hang them correctly using carabiners or a carabiner and figure eight block:

Go to: AERIAL EQUIPMENT USE TUTORIAL

1. Rigging:
- Rig the equipment using the right accessories (a set for ceiling mounting, lanyards of wood hooks for beams).
Details can be found in item 5.

2. Accessories:
- If you did not buy an aerial hammock/aerial silks set, remember to buy professional climbing accessories/rigs (never use construction accessories!)

You can find sample accessories here:
Go to: Accessories

3. Mattress:
In order to protect your child in case of falling, we recommend:
- a thin gymnastic mattress (5 mm or thicker)
IMPORTANT: Only gymnastic mattresses are certified and safe.

4. Outfit:
- Covered: armpits, loins, groins, areas under the knees – they can be easily abraded by the fabric while sliding down or dropping.
- No jewellery or sharp ornaments on clothes – they could damage or weaken the aerial hammock/aerial silks fabric.

3. IMPORTANT!
Never leave your child unattended during aerial exercises.
Not only drops or dynamic figures can be potentially dangerous.
A child can become tangled in the fabric and be unable to free themselves.

Both an aerial hammock and aerial silks can be hung outdoor.
There are several ways to do it.

1. We recommend:

A specialised structure, which can be placed in a big garden or allotment. You can buy or rent it.
More information about the structure:
Go to: Rent or buy the structure

2. We recommend
If you have a garden or big allotment and want to hang the equipment on a tree, you should make sure that the tree is safe by ordering a dendrologist’s professional opinion.

NOTE: trees which look strong can be ill and brittle, which you cannot see with a naked eye! Such a tree can break any time and the child will fall down with the equipment.

3. How to hang the equipment on a tree?
If you are sure that the tree you selected is safe, you can hang the equipment.
We will provide a video tutorial shortly.

1. On-site classes:
In many cities in Poland there are studios offering aerial dance classes for children and adults.
In September we are going to publish a review paper on aerial dance schools in Poland.
⬇⬇⬇
If you don’t want to miss it, you can subscribe for our newsletter.
You will get a tutorial about handing and operation of our equipment:
Go to: Subscribe for our newsletter

What should I pay attention to?
- A qualified instructor in a secure room will best explain how to do figures, will prepare your body for the workout and will help avoid
a body injury.
- Before joining a course, always check the instructor’s qualifications (where they acquired their skills and if they are authorised to teach/work with children)
- Learn more about the equipment rigging/fixing, if the organiser holds the adequate insurance, if mattresses are used and if classes start with a warm-up and end with stretching.

2. Video tutorials:
Strengthening and stretching exercises, explanation of figures and sequences – our database of video tutorials is constantly expanding.

Som of the videos are available on our Youtube channel:
Go to: Youtube

3. Online videos:
IMPORTANT!
Be careful when doing yourself the exercises/figures you saw on the Internet.

Be careful doing the exercises you saw in the tutorials and remember that doing the figures which were performed and filmed can result in a body injury.

We do not know anything about the physical preparation, knowledge and equipment rigging used by the person in the video.
Remember never to exercise alone.

We hope you will find this paper useful.
We will publish new technical posts soon.

Aerialsilks.eu team