Everything you wanted to ask about aerial dance...
Aerial hammock:
An aerial hammock is like an aerial silk upside down. An aerial silk is used for aerial dance – climbing, acrobatic figures and drops.
A hammock can also be used for aerial dance. Both pieces of equipment are rather used at lower heights (up to 3 m) for aerial yoga,stretching exercises and to assist in workout.
The basic difference is that an aerial hammock offers a possibility of effortless sitting, lying or standing in the hammock. Both ends of aerial silks reach the ground so they do not form a “swing” to sit on.
A swivel allows it to spin freely (without the fabric twisting). Owing to a swivel you can quickly spin in an aerial hammock or silk. It provides a very nice visual effect and exercises your labyrinth.Remember to be careful during workout – adapt your body, avoid heavy food before training and do not spin too long.
See aerial hammock with swivel video: click here.
Aerial silks:
An aerial silk can be mounted anywhere, even in low rooms.
The lower the room, the fewer techniques can be used.
There is no rule which says that it is impossible to mount an aerial silk in a 2.2 m high room.
It is still possible to bend your body, do splits and tangles or strength training, though “high” drops cannot be done.
An aerial silk can be a perfect training solution for a child who attends classes where longer aerial silks are used.
Having an aerial silk at home, the child can get used to this equipment, becomes stronger and develops their skills in classes much faster.
Why the sets don't contain rigging accessories?
The set DOES NOT contain a hook or other ceiling mount accessoriesBECAUSE the accessories depend on the type of ceiling/construction beam.
If you have a concrete or reinforced concrete ceiling, buy: a ceiling mount set; if you have a construction beam around which accessories can be wrapped, we recommend using climbing straps/ropes– available from local climber’s shops, min. 22 kN strength.
If it is impossible to wrap a strap/rope around the beam, buy hooks for wood in DIY shops.
Because of different ceilings and different mounting places, which means tha tour set would not always be compatible with the mounting place at the client’s.
How to rig an aerial hammock?
If you want to hang an aerial hammock on a rope, remember that it should be at least 10 mm diameter static rope; the same applies to a climbing strap/rope (available from climbing and mountaineering equipment shops) – at least 22 kN strength.
What is an aerial hammock?
Aerial hammock is a piece of fabric fold in half and suspended at a rigging point in a ceiling or door frame.
Knots are tied on both ends of an aerial hammock to suspend it – about 1 m of fabric is necessary in order to make them safe and strong. Hence, if an aerial hammock fabric is 5 m long, once we take about 2 m for the knots, 3 m of the fabric are left (I call it the “working height of the aerial hammock”) – 3 m folded in half gives about 1.5 m of the working height. This height adding the knots make it possible for a 1.7 m tall person to stand on the aerial hammock, but in my opinion it is a short aerial hammock and I recommend longer hammocks, wherever possible (in higher rooms).
Still,if you only want to exercise reverse positions, a short aerial hammock will suffice.
JUST, MAG, AIR hammocks - what's the difference?
JUST aerial hammock fabric is 170/175 cm wide (find it here).
AIR fabric is 230 cm or 290cm wide (find it here).
while MAG is 150 cm wide but is very stretchy, which makes it possible for taller persons to lie in it.
What is silks / hammock lifespan?
Definitely For a year or two, or even longer if it is rarely used.
Itcan be easily noticed that an aerial hammock is worn – the fabric is stretched heavily and it does not shrink after washing; the fabric becomes thinner, greyish and less soft.
Some Holes or ladders can appear in the fabric if you exercise wearing clothes with sharp items (belt, jewels on the trousers, shoes).Regularly check if there are no holes in the aerial hammock. Holes Reduce the strength of the aerial hammock.
Regularly Check the condition of the knots – always untie them for washing and inspect for holes or burns (if an aerial hammock is used for dynamic drops, friction occurs and holes which look as if they were burnt out appear; it usually happens after a long period of use andmany “drops”, which are not common in aerial yoga but still attention should be paid to the condition of the knots because they hold the aerial hammock).
Home anchor point Aerial Mount
Hook strength:
12mm diameter hook (eye bolt), welded eye, galvanised, for: B25 or higher grade concrete, natural stone or solid brick. 4.8 grade steel with galvanised protective coating. The set includes: a nylon sleeve with 15 mm outer diameter.
Thebolt was made in accordance with the effective laws regulating the restrictions concerning marketing of such products and their use in construction.
The physical and chemical characteristics of the bolt material comply with the characteristics declared in the Certificate of Quality,issued by the drawn wire manufacturer.
The Sleeve is made of PA6 and PA6.6 (nylon) polyamide. The strength required to pull it out from concrete substrate is: 15-28 kN.
Recommended Breaking strength:
concreteB25- 5 kN
solid brick – 4.5 kN
hollow brick – 1.6 kN
What Does a hook mounting set include?
Theset contains:
Epoxy Resin – 1 pack
Dispensing Tip – 1 piece
Hook 12mm in diameter, 120 mm long
Sleeve
You're going to need:
a drilling machine and a drill 15-16 mm in diameter
Resin gun (like the one for silicone)
What to remember when rigging equipment at home?
1.Place:
Choose the place where the aerial equipment is to be hung.
The ceiling should be made of durable material (concrete, reinforced concrete).
Duringexercises, especially dynamic drops, the load on the silks reaches 12times the user’s body weight (60 kg of body weight * 12 =720 kg).
Abeam:
If there are beams in the room, you can install the support to rig the equipment around them.
A hook can be well fixed in the beam but a support made of certified durable tape and protected against abrasion fosters quick and easy mounting.
Adoor frame:
A short aerial hammock (5 m) can be mounted in the door frame(like a children's swing).
Such a solution is used in rooms where the ceiling is not strong enough (suspended ceiling and inability to reach the actual ceiling or a ceiling in old tenement houses).
Exercising space:
While choosing the place to install the hook, remember to provide freespace for exercising.
Assuming that the hook is in the middle of the hoop, the diameter of the hook should be at least 150 cm (about 75 cm radius).
Whereverpossible, provide the circle diameter of 2 m.
2.Mounting:
Follow the instructions on the epoxy resin packaging!
Drill a hole, clean it, insert the sleeve and inject the resin.
Before injecting the resin, squeeze out the first 10-15 cm of the resin onto the newspaper. This is very important because the resin must first be mixed in the dispenser, which takes place not sooner than after 10-15 cm.
If you squeeze the resin into the hole instantly, the unmixed resin will not serve its function and our rigging will not withstand the load during the workout.
Insert the hook and wait for the resin to set (in accordance with the instructions on the packaging).
Onlythen can you hang the equipment and start your workout.
What is the correct length of silks / hammock for my training space?
If you intend to use aerial silks, then the fabric length shall be calculated as twice the distance to the rigging point + at least 1 m of the fabric to lie freely on the floor. Hence in this case the aerial silk length will be: 2*2.4+1=5.8 m
We recommend the Children’s Aerial Silk/ Hammock Set made of 6 m ofthe fabric – it can be mounted as an aerial silk or aerial hammock.
If you intend to make an aerial hammock, calculate the fabric length in the following way:
About3 m of the fabric for safe knots of the aerial hammock.
+2*the working height of the aerial hammock
Working height: the aerial hammock length from the rigging point to ca.80-100 cm from the floor – this is the aerial hammock space where you enter, lie or do exercise.
In this case we get:
3m for the knots + (the room height - 1m = 2.4-1=1.4)*2 = 3+2.8=5.8 m
We recommend an aerial hammock from 5 m of fabric for adults, as the fabric will stretch. For children we recommend the Aerial Hammock/Silk Set as it offers more opportunities (longer fabric can be used to make aerial silks, if the aerial hammock is to long, knots can be made; but if there is not enough fabric, you cannot make it longer –it is better to shorten it than not to have enough).
Thank you for reading.
We hope this article was useful and interesting for you.
We will soon post new articles and tutorials.
Aerialsilks.eu team
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