- What's up?
It's Chris Heria.
I'm right outside K-Star Training Academy
and I'm about to link up with my friend Tricia Woo.
Last time I was in Vegas,
I was training with Danell Leyva
who's an Olympic gymnast
and performs in the Cirque du Soleil.
He introduced me to Tricia
who plays a lead role in the same Cirque du Soleil show, Ka.
The girl is shredded
and she's an absolute beast
when it comes to training and acrobatics.
So let's head on inside,
see what she has in store for us today.
Tricia, what's up? - Hey, how are you?
- [Chris] Good to see you.
- Hey, Chris, how are you? - Good to see you again.
So where are we right now?
- We are at K-Star Las Vegas.
So here they actually do kind of a dual set of disciplines.
Martial arts and kind of like circus contortion.
But I was thinking, like, maybe we can learn aerial today.
- [Chris] Oh, that would be sick.
I think that's like a- - Like a no-handed cartwheel.
- Yeah, okay. - No-handed cartwheel.
- Yeah, I've never done that before.
How much strength goes into learning things like this?
Do you have to be athletic
or do you have to be physically fit,
or can, like, anyone kind of jump into this?
- You kind of need to have
a higher fitness level, I would say,
because there are times that you're gonna be relying
on a concerted effort of your body to, like, work together.
- I hope I do good.
I'm down to give it a shot.
- Let's see what you got.
We do 10 shows a week.
- 10 shows a week?
- Yeah, two shows a day.
- That's insane.
And each show is like, two hours?
- It's an hour and a half, so.
But it's, like, almost back to back.
'Cause by the time I finish my first show,
by the time I switch everything,
I have about eight or nine minutes before the next show.
- It's so interesting to hear about
because, I mean, like from a viewer's perspective,
we just see you guys, like,
as pretty much like superheroes up there.
And it's really cool to see, like,
what goes behind the scenes and, like, everything,
all the other challenges that you guys have
besides just being on stage
and doing what you do and not messing up,
which is already a huge challenge in itself.
So what's the first thing we're gonna do?
- Okay, what I wanna teach you is an aerial.
(upbeat music)
- Think I'll be able to do that by the end of the day?
- I think a version of it.
First things first, we'll just start with a cartwheel.
- Okay.
So you go like that?
- Yeah, okay, so one of the most important things
is gonna be that starting leg.
So your right leg.
That is gonna be your major pushing leg.
It's basically gonna load all your energy
and it's gonna push.
- So right here.
Ooh, like that. - Yeah.
You want your arms to come down as your leg bends.
And as your leg straightens,
your arms are gonna kind of give you a...
So, like, if you think about doing, do this.
- It helps with the momentum.
- Pushes you up.
The other thing, the third thing that's important,
so you have your standing leg pushing,
you have your arms swinging,
is that back leg that's gonna kick.
So we're gonna do another cartwheel
and I want you to think about that,
and then we'll try a kind of dive cartwheel,
which is a little bit higher,
to see if we can get all those three things coordinated.
- Okay.
Like that.
- So you wanna think about those coordinated things.
- Yeah.
So you really wanna push and get kind of height.
- Ah, okay. - So you'll be like...
- Ah.
Yeah.
Holy shoot. - So, yeah,
my arms stay back there.
Push.
Hey, that was better, actually.
- Is that better?
So what's the next step?
- [Tricia] The one-handed cartwheel.
- Okay, let's try that.
- You're gonna cartwheel
and you're gonna put just your right hand down,
just like that.
When I go down, that arm is gonna take the weight,
and then my legs are gonna come over.
Yeah?
That was actually better than the other type of cartwheel.
Sometimes we know what we're supposed to do,
but our body is just like, "I'm gonna do something else."
- You have to put in those 10,000 hours, basically.
- Push it.
Hey, okay.
Gymnastics is very mental.
- Yeah, it's crazy how much more mental it is.
That's why I love learning new things like this
because you get to apply
that physical stuff with mental strength.
- We need to do that one into, like, a pit
because you need to be able to, like,
land and crash and feel it. - For sure.
All right, Trish, so now we're at a gymnastics gym,
I think we're gonna make a lot more progress here.
- Here we have access to a rod floor,
a foam pit, various mats.
So you can kind of fall and it's okay.
You don't have to worry about, like,
actually injuring yourself. - Right.
- So the first thing we're gonna do,
we're just gonna try and get you to not use your hand.
So we're gonna actually have you go into the pit.
It'll help you start to put all those pieces together.
We're gonna put, like, a bit of a cap on it.
We're doing this so quickly, I don't wanna injure you,
and I want people also to know
that stuff like this takes time.
Practice makes perfect.
- Yeah, for sure.
As long as you're progressing at least 1% every single day,
in a hundred days you're gonna be 100%.
- There you go.
Okay, so we have this rod floor.
- Oh, wow.
- It's very bouncy.
It's not like your regular surface at all.
What we have here is a foam pit.
But now that there's no ground,
you don't have an even ability to put your hands down.
And also because it's a pit, you can just...
- [Chris] Nice.
- I'm actually gonna have you put your hands down
just for a cartwheel right at the end
and just fall.
- Boom.
- There you go.
Yeah, yeah, that was good.
Now just 5,000 more times, like a real gymnast. (laughs)
(Chris laughs)
- The thing that a lot of people forget
is that, like, it's not only legs, you know?
It's, like, it is a lot of arm swing.
And you're big that it's gonna make it easier.
Arms around,
and then catch with both hands.
- [Tricia] Hey.
- I did it? - Yes.
- [Danell] Your body movement was really good on that one.
- How do you feel if we put this mat in there?
You feel ready? - Oh, let's go for it.
- Yeah?
Push.
- That was more- - Hey, that was really close.
- Touch the ground with your hand.
- Yeah, but that's okay because you've got the movement,
and that is way further than we were before.
You have the right movement,
and then now this is just, like, mental.
- Develop more of the technique.
- Develop more of your technique, of the push, the kick,
the arm swing and, yeah.
- Yeah, man. - Getting your legs over.
- That's the thing that impresses me about you, man.
You make really quick corrections and-
- Thanks, man.
- And for somebody who's never really done
anything like this specific,
like, you make really quick progress.
- Thank you, man.
You know, I try to be a good student
and I just try to listen
and follow the instructions to the T as possible, really.
- [Tricia] Really honestly,
you're making progress every time.
And I don't know if you feel it, but we can see it.
- Okay, perfect. - For sure.
- Perfect.
- [Tricia] Swing.
(beep)
(Tricia laughing)
- [Danell] He could make it better than that.
Push all the way to the bottom.
- It's so close.
I was really excited.
I thought he was gonna do it, that one. (laughs)
- All right, this one's for my two coaches right here.
- Hey. - This is it.
- [Tricia] Push, kick.
- Oh! - Ah! (laughs)
- One more.
- How close you've gotten just in the two times,
kids take, like, weeks to learn this.
This guy has perseverance.
- You're not even supporting on your arm.
- [Tricia] Ah, he did it!
(upbeat music)
- [Chris] Does that count?
- Yeah, it counts.
It counts.
What are we moving on to?
Hey.
Yeah.
Push.
Okay, yeah, yeah.
- All right, now we're gonna show Chris
something that's called TDR.
It's a touchdown raiz.
It's a very cool tricking move.
It's essentially a transitional tricking move
to do bigger things,
like these guys back here.
This is JCL.
JCL is gonna teach Chris how to do some progressions
to get this move.
- Let's do it.
You're gonna step a little bit off the line,
and then hands on your hips when you jump,
and just spin. - Like that?
- And strong.
From here, you're going to just start getting it lower,
and eventually it's going to invert a little bit.
Once you hit that critical point,
you're gonna step and then it's gonna invert
and you're gonna see the ground
and you're gonna put your arm down.
- You're already
almost doing that. - What the heck, how?
I don't feel like I'm anywhere close to that.
(upbeat music)
- Yeah.
- Ah, so you go like this?
- That's basically it.
Do it again.
Yeah.
Yo.
(onlookers clapping)
That was basically it.
- Good.
- [Chris] How long does it normally take to get that?
- A while. - Three months.
- Dude, you rock, bro.
- Dude, you have the extension.
You got it, man.
- Appreciate for all the coaching, man.
- That was amazing. - Thank you, man.
- So great.
- I got some good coaches all around me, bro.
I wouldn't have been able to have done it
without you guys, man.
Much love, really.
So this is basically like the ollie to skateboarding, right?
This is the first transitional shot,
and then from here you just stack up all the moves.
- You stack up and then you can add things, like, you know.
This guy Nick, he does that into, like, three other moves
that, like, just look nasty.
- Another move down, another move unlocked.
All right, so new moves unlocked
thanks to Trish, Danell, and Jason.
Now it's time to return the favor.
I'm gonna give them a crash course on how to full planche.
So first thing you wanna do
is get your straight arms strength in a tuck.
The way that you go into tuck is first come here,
turn the ditch of your elbows out,
go to a tuck like that,
and then when your arms, like, locked out,
lean forward,
see, lean, lean, lean,
and raise your hips up.
Boom.
Then just hold that while...
Yes, keeping it locked.
You see that difference between that?
- Yeah. - That, now lean forward
and raise your hips while keeping pushing, arms locked.
Yeah, bro, that's a super solid tuck.
- Yeah. - Dude, that's really good.
So that's the first step.
Now you're gonna push down and, like, be high up.
Yes.
What the (beep)?
I've never seen somebody hold a perfect tuck, like,
on their first try.
That's amazing.
So if you wanna speed through this,
learn how to get it in an L-sit.
So you go from L-sit,
and then you can either go L-sit, three seconds,
tuck, L-sit, three seconds,
tuck, three seconds.
Try that.
And then go to each position for three seconds.
So lock 'em out first.
L-sit.
Three, two, one.
Tuck, L-sit.
Three, two, one.
Make sure it's locked.
Now push.
Up, up, up, up.
Three, two, one.
Come back now.
Right there.
Three, two, one.
L-sit out.
Three, two, one.
The next progression I had them try was tuck planche pumps
to strengthen their straight arm press.
Hell yeah. - Easy.
- Stay looking forward, like point your chin forward
so that your arms stay locked out, too.
Yeah, you got that.
Easy.
All right, you're ready for the next move.
(Tricia laughs) - Wow.
- There's accessory moves that you guys wanna do,
like, full planche leans on the ground.
So you just, like, come down.
The first one is like this,
and you just lean forward with your arms locked out
for 10 reps.
And then the next one would be to do the same thing,
once you get better,
and then just raise your feet up, come back down.
- [Tricia] Oh, so it's like that.
- Like that.
You wanna have the hollow back.
So the opposite of what we were doing today.
And then be like a scared cat, even up here too.
Yeah.
Even right here.
Tuck in your butt.
But at first you're like that,
lean,
back,
and then eventually you go slower and slower.
You see?
And then let go.
Lean out, boom.
Again.
Lean more.
Boom, yeah.
Lean a little bit more every time.
Bang, there you go.
- Oh my gosh.
- That was it.
And eventually you're gonna be able
to get higher and higher.
Yeah, so lean forward.
Bang.
And then come back, but do it with your arms straight.
Yeah, so you raise the hips, keep those arms locked.
Boom. Yeah, there you go.
It's okay to swing.
At the beginning, it's okay to swing.
Just lean more forward.
There you go.
Whoa, like that.
Looking forward.
I got you.
Looking forward.
Lean more.
Lean more over here.
There you go.
Onto a full planche.
From here, you go like that.
And you just hold that.
You do enough negatives and you'll be able to come back up.
After showing them a full planche,
I figured I'd show them a bonus move
to get the planche pushups.
Something like that.
Danell, again, thanks so much for introducing me to Trish,
bringing the whole Cirque du Soleil team over.
I really appreciate that so much.
And this is just the first video of many with Trish,
and you guys already know Danell.
He's always on here.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
And if you enjoyed this video,
check out the blog where I trained with the coaches
and the cast of Ka from Cirque du Soleil.
It was one of the best experiences ever.
They helped me get over my fear of heights,
and I even held Katie above my head in a handstand.
Mad Love, peace out.