Friday, October 19, 2007

Acroyoga….Seriously?

I was reading in SHAPE magazine today, and I’ll tell you what, the yoga people are so creative! Acroyoga, a new type of exercise, is a mixture between acrobatics and yoga where two people come together to perform balancing acts. The partners switch roles acting as the base and the flyer which means that one person lays on the ground, and the other person balances on their partners feet.

Ok, seriously, how realistic is this for everyday life? First of all, you need to find a strong partner that can hold up your body, and you have to be strong enough to hold up your partner. Being a female, the only person strong enough to hold me up with their feet is probably a guy, but what guy would be willing to do something like this? A boyfriend maybe? Actually, I think this could be a scenario to use to get your boyfriend to break up with you, something like the movie “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”
Then there’s the problem of you being the base and the guy being the flyer. Yeah…. about that. So who’s going to call 911 first when he falls and breaks my face? And how do you even get up into those positions? Someone please explain. To me, yeah these picture look cool like the circus and everything, but they should read "DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!"
I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this is one of the dumbest/unrealistic exercising ideas I’ve ever seen.

1 comment:

mymanmitch said...

I see where you are coming from. This kind of stuff is hard, but the pictures you see are of people who have been doing it for a long time. You would be surprised at the strength of your body if balanced correctly. This type of acrobatic relies more on the strength of bone and ligaments rather than muscle. If you look at the second picture, you will notice that the hardest part is for the girl. She has to balance while doing a headstand. She also has her arms fully extended, so she is not relying solely on her triceps to support her. The way her body is now, there is a straight line of bone from her shoulder all the way down to her wrist. She could probably support at least two other people before her arms give out. The guy is also using the same type of support. His elbows are resting on the ground, and she is directly above his center of gravity. The only thing he has to do is not move his arm. I have done this a little bit. I weigh about 140 pounds, and I have supported a nearly 200 pound guy on one leg. This style is all about using the bodies shape to support weight instead of relying on muscle.