Want to make your warm-ups more effective and boost your flexibility? You’re in the right place!
Whether you’re preparing for class or leading a warm-up as a teacher, most of us need a mix of movement types to truly get ready. Simply holding a straddle stretch or reaching forward in a pike often isn't enough. Remember, it’s not a one-stretch-fits-all approach—finding what works best for your body is key!
We all have unique bodies and our movement capacity is influenced by factors like muscle flexibility, past injuries, fascia, neural tension, emotions, genetics, hydration, nutrition, age, and training consistency. All of these play a role in how we warm up and improve range of motion.
In this tip, we’ll break down three key stretching methods: passive, active, and dynamic.
While passive stretching has its benefits—like aiding relaxation—it’s not the most effective way to warm up. In fact, it’s often better suited for cooldowns at the end of a session. If you want a more efficient warm-up, dynamic and active movements are the way to go!
While there are other stretching methods out there, we’ll focus on these three. Check out the video below for a detailed breakdown and insights!
🧘♀️ Passive Stretching: This involves holding a position, like stretching your leg with a band or your hands, or that classic move of sitting in a straddle while scrolling on your phone (hey, we’ve all done it!). While it’s great for relaxation and maintaining flexibility, it won’t fully warm up your body for aerial. Sprinkling in passive stretching into your warm-ups is fine, but it shouldn’t be the main event!
🏃♂️ Dynamic Stretching: This adds movement through the range of motion you’d normally hold passively—like leg lifts or arm circles. Dynamic movements generate heat, improve circulation, boost mobility and prepare muscles for the movements you'll perform on your apparatus.
💪 Active Stretching: Here, you rely on strength to hold a position, like an inverted split without foot locks. If your split on the floor is solid but becomes more of a “slice of pizza” in the air, it means your passive flexibility is good, but your active flexibility could use work.
Examples shown in the video:
Supine Hamstring Stretch:
Passive: Holding leg up with a band or your hands.
Dynamic: Lifting the leg up and down while maintaining alignment.
Active: Holding the leg at your end range using only strength.
Cobra:
Passive: Pressing up with the support of the floor.
Dynamic: Moving through Cobra, like in Cobra push-ups.
Active: Lifting your hands off the floor, using both core and back muscles to lift the chest.
Splits in the Air:
Passive: Holding a split with foot locks.
Dynamic: Lowering and raising into the split with control.
Active: Inverted splits or split balances. One important goal in our aerial warm-ups and flexibility training is to bridge the gap between passive and active flexibility, which is crucial for achieving a wide range of shapes and skills in the air. Try incorporating more dynamic and active movements before your air-time and see how it feels for you!
We offer an in-depth look at warm-ups, effective stretching, and Pilates in our Teacher Training course! Applications and enrollment for our Virtual Level 1 & Level 2 courses are open until October 31st. Prefer an in-person experience? Check out our 2025 schedule here.