Why Aerial Arts Might Be Your Best New Year's Resolution

The Science Behind What I See in My Studio

When I watch women in their 50s, 60s, and 70s work on the silks, hammock, or lyra, I'm not just seeing them exercise. I'm watching them reclaim something fundamental about how their bodies move through space. And now we have research that explains exactly why this matters.

Your Grip Predicts Your Future (And Aerial Builds It)

Here's something that might surprise you: grip strength is one of the strongest predictors of how long you'll live and how healthy those years will be. Multiple research studies have found that weak grip strength is associated with higher mortality rates in middle-aged and older adults. Even more fascinating, grip strength predicts cardiovascular health better than traditional measures like blood pressure and cholesterol. It's linked to bone density, cognitive performance, and reduced fall risk.

Every time you grip that silk, that hammock, that lyra—you're not just holding on. You're investing in your longevity.

The Balance Truth Nobody Talks About

Research shows that balance training reduces fall rates by 24% in adults over 60. But here's what makes aerial work particularly powerful: it provides dual-task training, where you're physically balancing while mentally engaged in remembering sequences and transitions. Studies show this is exactly when older adults typically lose balance—when attention is divided.

In aerial work, you can't just go through the motions. You have to think, remember, coordinate, and balance simultaneously. Your brain and body are forced to work together in ways that sitting on a weight machine simply doesn't require.

Short Bursts Are Better Than You Think

You know that feeling of dread when you think about spending an hour on a treadmill? Your body might be dreading it too. Research on high-intensity interval training shows that short bursts of intense effort followed by rest periods actually reduce inflammation more effectively than long, moderate workouts.

One study found that a 12-week high-intensity interval program showed larger reductions in inflammatory markers compared to a 12-month moderate-intensity program. Why? Because higher intensity exercise depletes muscle glycogen more effectively, triggering beneficial anti-inflammatory responses.

Aerial work naturally follows this pattern. You climb, you hold, you transition—intense effort—and then you rest. Your body gets stronger without the inflammatory response of chronic cardio.

Your Heart Needs to Be Challenged in New Ways

Here's where aerial gets really interesting for cardiovascular health. When you're upside down, your heart has to work differently. Blood flows toward your head, your heart rate changes, your blood pressure adjusts. This isn't just uncomfortable (though it might feel that way at first)—it's training.

Research shows that two years of progressive exercise training in middle-aged adults improved cardiac function and reduced heart stiffness, potentially preventing heart failure. The constantly changing orientations in aerial work provide progressive cardiovascular challenges as your heart adapts to pumping blood in different positions. You're essentially giving your heart a more comprehensive workout than traditional exercise provides.

The Dizziness That Makes You Steadier

Remember when you were a kid and you'd spin until you were dizzy and laugh about it? There was something to that. Research on vestibular training shows that exercises involving head and body rotations significantly improved postural stability in women over 60. One study found that balance training enhanced vestibular function in elderly adults with effects equivalent to approximately 10 years of rejuvenation.

The spinning, the inversions, the constant changes in orientation that feel so disorienting at first? They're training your vestibular system, making you steadier and more confident in your daily life. After months of aerial training, women report feeling less dizzy when they look up quickly, more stable when they turn their head, more confident on uneven surfaces.

Your Brain on Both Sides of Your Body

Here's something remarkable: when you learn aerial sequences on both your right and left sides, practicing different movements with each side of your body, you're activating both hemispheres of your brain. Research shows that coordination training involving bilateral movements activates the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex, improving divided attention, working memory, and overall cognitive function.

In simpler terms, learning that silk climb on your right side and then your left side, remembering how to enter and exit a pose safely, coordinating opposing movements—all of this keeps your mind sharp. Studies show these bimanual coordination movements activate the pre-frontal cortex's medial frontal region, involved in attention, spatial memory, and self-initiated movement.

But I'm Too...

Now let's address those voices in your head, the ones telling you all the reasons you can't do this.

"I'm Too Old"

The research I've shared above? Much of it was conducted on adults in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond. The vestibular study showing 10 years of rejuvenation effects? Conducted on elderly adults. The balance training that reduced falls by 24%? Adults over 60.

In my studio, some of my most dedicated adult students started in their 50s and 60s. They didn't start by doing advanced drops or complicated inversions. They started where they were. They learned to use the hammock as a prop for stretching. They practiced climbing a few feet off the ground. They worked on grip strength by simply hanging.

Age isn't a barrier. It's actually one of the best reasons to start, because the benefits compound over time.

"I'm Not Strong Enough"

This one always makes me smile because nobody is "strong enough" when they start aerial. That's the point. Aerial arts build strength precisely because they challenge you where you are. Personally, I couldn't do a single pullup when I started aerial training.

Can't climb the silk yet? We'll use the hammock where your feet can touch the ground. Can't hold yourself up? We'll use poses where the fabric supports you while you build strength. Can't invert? We'll work on core exercises and progressions until you can.

Every single person who walks through my door thinks they're not strong enough. And every single one of them gets stronger by simply showing up and trying. The fabric meets you where you are and challenges you to reach just a little further each time.

"I'm Not Coordinated"

The beauty of aerial arts is that coordination isn't a prerequisite—it's a result. Those bilateral coordination exercises I mentioned? That cognitive-motor training? You don't need to arrive with it. You develop it through practice.

I watch women who describe themselves as "clumsy" learn sequences that involve coordinating their right hand, left foot, and core simultaneously while hanging upside down. They don't do it the first day. They might not do it the first month. But they do it.

And here's the secret: every single person in every aerial class is focusing so hard on their own movement that nobody is watching you fumble through a transition. We're all too busy trying to remember which foot goes where. Plus, as class members fumble alongside you they are also your greatest cheerleaders because they have wanted you progress and improve your skills over time.

"I'm Too Heavy"

This is perhaps the most heartbreaking objection I hear, because it's so often based on shame rather than physics. Here's the truth: aerial equipment is rated for significant weight. Professional aerial silks typically hold 1,500-2,000 pounds depending on the rigging. The fabric doesn't care what you weigh.

But more importantly, aerial fitness is remarkably adaptable to different body types. The hammock provides support for poses that would be difficult on the ground. The resistance band qualities of the fabric actually work better with more body weight, not less. And many poses use the fabric as a supportive tool rather than requiring you to hold your full body weight.

I've watched women of all sizes discover that their body can do things they never imagined. The woman who thought she was "too heavy" discovers she can hang upside down in the hammock with complete security. The woman who avoided exercise because of body shame finds herself so focused on the movement that she forgets to be self-conscious.

Your weight is not a disqualification. It's just a number, and it's far less important than your willingness to try.

What Makes Aerial Different from "Just Going to the Gym"

If you've tried traditional fitness routines and quit (and who hasn't?), you might wonder what makes aerial arts different. Here's what I've observed:

It's engaging. You're not counting reps or watching the clock. You're learning a skill, solving a physical puzzle, creating something beautiful with your body. Time passes differently when you're trying to figure out how to wrap your foot in silk than when you're on minute 23 of 30 on an elliptical.

It's progressive in a way you can see. Last month you couldn't hold yourself in that pose. This month you can. Last month that transition felt impossible. This month it's merely challenging. The progression is tangible and personal.

It builds multiple fitness dimensions simultaneously. You're not choosing between cardio day and strength day and flexibility day. Every aerial session works your cardiovascular system (all those position changes and inversions), builds strength (all that gripping and holding), improves flexibility (all that reaching and extending), enhances balance (all that spatial awareness), and sharpens your mind (all that sequencing and coordinating). It's comprehensive fitness disguised as play.

It's adaptable. Having a low-pain day? Work on flexibility and flow. Feeling strong? Challenge yourself with climbs and holds. Need something gentle? The hammock provides support for restorative poses. Aerial arts can meet you wherever you are on any given day.

It's not competitive. Yes, you might see someone else in class doing something you can't do yet. But aerial progress is so individual, so dependent on your unique body and background, that comparison feels futile. Instead, the studio becomes a space of mutual encouragement.

Your New Year's Resolution, Reimagined

So here's my challenge to you this January: instead of resolving to lose weight, eat perfectly, or spend six days a week at a gym you'll start avoiding by February, consider a different kind of resolution.

Resolve to do something that challenges your assumptions about what your body can do. Resolve to invest in your grip strength, your balance, your cardiovascular adaptability, your cognitive function, your vestibular system—all the things research tells us actually matter for healthy aging.

Resolve to try something that might make you feel awkward and uncoordinated at first, because that's where growth lives.

Resolve to give aerial arts six classes. Not one class where you feel overwhelmed and decide it's not for you. Six classes, because that's how long it typically takes for your body to start understanding the movements, for your grip to strengthen just enough to feel less desperate, for your brain to begin recognizing patterns.

After six classes, you can decide if it's for you. But I'm willing to bet that by class three, you'll have done something you didn't think you could do. By class five, you'll find yourself thinking about sequences at random moments during your day. By class six, you'll understand why women in their 60s and 70s keep coming back to the studio week after week. 

Six classes at Eternal Aerial Arts, if you purchase two class bundles, is only $108 OR get 6 classes plus 4 open gym times for a $125 by purchasing our Aerial Adventurer Adult Membership. To learn about either of these deals, visit our membership page on Vagaro

The Truth About Starting

The hardest part of aerial arts isn't the physical challenge. It's walking through the door that first time. It's showing up when your inner voice is listing all the reasons you shouldn't.

But here's what I know after years of teaching: the women who think they can't are often the ones who need it most. The ones who think they're too old develop remarkable strength and grace. The ones who think they're too weak discover reservoirs of power they didn't know existed. The ones who think they're too uncoordinated learn to move through space with confidence and awareness. The ones who think they're too heavy find that the fabric supports them in ways their own self-judgment never did.

Your body is capable of more than you think. Your age is not a limitation—it's a reason to start now, while you can still benefit from the balance training, the grip strength, the cardiovascular adaptations, the cognitive challenges.

This year, instead of resolving to be smaller, younger, or different, resolve to discover what your body can actually do. Right now. As you are.

The silks are waiting. The hammock is hanging. The research says you'll benefit in ways that matter—reduced inflammation, stronger heart, better balance, sharper mind, reduced fall risk, improved longevity markers.

All you have to do is be willing to feel like a beginner. To grip that fabric with whatever strength you have today. To let yourself be challenged. To discover that "too old," "too weak," "too uncoordinated," and "too heavy" were never the truth—they were just the stories standing between you and what your body has been waiting to learn.

See you in the studio.

Peggy Ployhar, Owner - Eternal Aerial Arts, Kemah, TX

Ready to challenge your assumptions? Most aerial studios offer introductory classes or trial packages. If you don't live in the Houston, TX or Kemah, TX area, search for aerial fitness or circus arts studios in your area. Bring water, wear fitted athletic clothes, and leave your doubts at the door. Your future self—stronger, steadier, sharper—is waiting.