Aerial
Aerial
No handed cartwheel. Yeah, but as with most tricks there is more than one way of to think of a trick. The aerial is actually way easier if you think about as an inverted butterfly kick. Inverted means to be upside down essentially.
You can also learn this trick from a Touchdown Roundkick. More on that below.
01 Cartwheel
First of all you should be able to do a cartwheel. You should be able to stand up out of it upright and controlled. It also helps if you have a fast cartwheel. Learn the side to side version and also the gymnast cartwheel because both help.
02 Butterfly Kick
The next step is a Butterfly Kick. This trick will teach you how to swing your legs for the aerial. It’s also quite easy and an important basic for many tricks.
03 Aerial
Make sure you are very comfortable with the Butterfly Kick before you move on, because now it’s time to turn it into an aerial. Do the same momentum steps as you did for the butterfly kick but instead of dipping your body across your body, you will spot the floor and throw your body diagonally downwards while your legs are doing the same thing as they were doing during a Butterfly Kick. Make sure to swing your foot wide and fast into the spot on the floor.
Alternative way to learn the Aerial (Kaydem Hop)
01 Roundkick
The only real progression that you need for this type of Aerial is a high Roundkick. So you will need some flexibility. Point your toes, turn with your hip and spot forward. Have your upper body lean away from the kick slightly, to kick higher.
02 TD Round
Now you’re going to lean away from the kick all the way down to the floor. As you kick through, touchdown with the opposite hand. After you finish the kick, push off the ground to get into an upright stance again. Spot forward the whole time.
03 Blasterscoot
The Blasterscoot is almost the same trick as the TD Round but now we’re going to remove the martial arts component and just swing the Roundkick around as fast as possible. Instead of spotting forward towards a target, you’re now going to spot the ground the entire time. Focus on a spot beside you and swing your leg around into that spot.
04 Kaydem
You could look at the Kaydem and say it’s a Blasterscoot without hands - and it actually is. But maybe you’re also noticing that it’s an Aerial, where the jumping foot stays planted. To perform a Kaydem, you’re going to swing your upper body downwards and to the side, while you simultanously swing your leg around, like you would in a Blasterscoot. Try to move your upper body fast and whippy. It’s the same motion you would use for an Aerial. Spot the ground.
05 Kaydem Hop
Now all you need to do is to hop, when your swinging leg reaches the peak. You will perform an Aerial (the semi inverted Butterfly Kick type Aerial). Look for the ground and remember the fast and whippy motion of the Kaydem.
06 Hop earlier
Try to jump a little bit earlier and swing harder.
07 Aerial
Now to turn that Kaydem Hop into a true Aerial, you need swing your upper body all the way to the side and slightly behind you. Swing your leg up a little bit faster and with more vertical force, so you’ll invert more. Swing it around fast for the landing. That’s it.
Tips
You can start with a very crappy aerial where you are essentially just doing a Butterfly Kick with your upper body low instead of horizontal. Then you clean that up as you practice. Don’t worry if your swinging leg doesn’t come up much at first.
Try to position your jumping leg right underneath your center of gravity to get as much lift as possible. Watch the examples to see what that means.
The spot is very important to land this trick and to keep your hand from reaching to the ground. Right before you takeoff, imagine a point on the floor and then drive your swinging leg into that point.
Do not run into your aerial. It’s not necessary and will generate too much momentum travelling forward instead of upwards.