Aerial Fitness: Getting a Cirque du Soleil-style workout

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Watching an aerial fitness class is not unlike Cirque du Soleil. Flowing silks or tissues hang from the ceiling of workout rooms as participants are suspended in mid-air, using slow and controlled movements to strengthen the body.

Invision Fitness in Encino is just one gym offering aerial fitness classes such as aerial yoga, aerial tissue (or aerial silk) and aerial hoop. The latter is the most challenging, so many opt for using tissues or silks first.

Amy Gomez from Tarzana was afraid of heights when she started aerial hoops, but in only 90 days, she has become comfortable exercising while suspended in air.

"The more that you do it, the more you learn to trust yourself and your own body, and trust the instructors," Gomez explains.

Demi Day coaches aerial classes at Invision Fitness. "All those things that you dreamed of when you watched Cirque du Soleil that you thought you'd never be able to do, we like to make that a dream come true for people," said Day.

Day explains that aerial fitness begins with conditioning clients to climb the tissue, silk or hoops into mid-air. "Once they're comfortable standing just off the ground, we teach them how to get up one more step," says Day.

It takes a few classes to get to the top, and then it's on to mastering the foot lock.

"Once you get used to it, there's so many beautiful and exciting things you can do out of that single foot lock, that you're like, 'I want to do it again,'" Day says.

"It gives you a new groove," says Shena Fatemi, the owner of Invision Fitness. "It gives you a new beat, it gives you a new step versus, 'I'm going to go to the gym and I'm going to be there for an hour.'"

Invision offers the first aerial class free. After that, clients can drop-in to a class for $20 or buy a block of classes at a discounted rate.

For more information:

www.invisionfitness.com

Aerial classes in other locations:

Believe Fitness Studio

113-117 Sierra St
El Segundo, CA 90245
(310) 648-8023

Cirque School

5640 1/2 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(424) 226-2477

Aeriform Arts

5625 Lankershim Blvd
San Fernando Valley, CA 91601
(818) 980-2374

Hollywood Aerial Arts

3838 W 102nd St
Inglewood, CA 90303
(310) 412-7171

Allure Dance and Fitness Studio

5996 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 343-9757

Xtreme Training Center

2131 Colorado Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041
(323) 259-9009

BeSpun

5176 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 665-5856

Cirque Berzerk

800 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(323) 300-5370

Crunch Fitness - aerial yoga

8000 w. Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA
(323) 654-3935

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