Hi, I’m Laurie Hernandez
and welcome back to Cirque It Out,
direct from Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas
Stick with me as we go through the paces
with one of Cirque du Soleil’s elite performers
and their coach.
Today you’ll be sweating it out
with Cirque artist Pierre and his coach Artemis.
Hi, my name is Artemis Scantalides,
I’m a performance conditioning specialist
at Cirque du Soleil.
If you’ve ever wondered how our artists
can do the extraordinary things they do,
the answer is easy:
they train a lot
and they do it the CirqueWay.
Today we’ll be sweating it out
with Cirque artist Pierre Cottin.
Pierre performs the aerial hoops number in O,
one of our most popular and long running shows here in Las Vegas.
Thanks to his fitness regimen,
Pierre performs 10 shows a week,
week-in and week-out.
Are you guys ready to workout?
Before you start any workout or engage in any physical activity,
you want to make sure that you go through
proper warm up and movement prep
in order to prepare both your central nervous system and your body
for the exercise that you’re about to do.
The first thing we’re gonna start with today is just some breathing.
Most of us in today’s fast-paced world,
we forget how to breathe properly,
we’re breathing in our chests like this
so this is all about the belly breath,
diaphragmatic breathing.
It helps to reset your system.
So you want to do about 5 breaths here nice and relaxed
to start your workout.
I’m just gonna have you take it into some head nods.
I’m just gonna have you first roll your head right to left
keeping your head on the floor,
good, just warming up your neck
and I’m just gonna have you lift your head off the ground
and then lower it.
And as you do this, it’s about 5 breaths
and then about 10 head nods right to left
and then up and down.
So let’s have you turn over,
this time I’m gonna have you take head nods up and down
and go ahead and bring your head center, Pierre,
and then I’m gonna have you just turn your head right to left
nice and easy, just as far as it will turn,
don’t force it.
The breath should be about 3 to 5 belly breaths in this position,
head nod should be about 10 total
up and down, right to left.
We’re gonna go into some rolling.
What I want you to do is look
and then rollback
and then rollback up,
look and roll and then come back up to seated,
good, there you go.
Let’s get 2 more here,
we’re gonna do about 5 of these,
let’s get one more.
Good.
Now I’m gonna have you take the eggroll side to side,
head and neck should be relaxed through this whole thing
to help to prepare your body
for the workout that you’re about to do,
let’s get one more right to left
and these you want to do about 10 total
so 5 to each side.
We’re gonna go through some cat cow tilts,
what I’m gonna have Pierre do is just inhale
and as he inhales,
I’m gonna have him extend his back and look up,
yes, exactly,
and then exhale
and I want you to actively push the floor away
with your hands and round your back,
good, using your breath
to go through warming up your spine.
Inhale and on exhale push the floor away,
round your back,
good, and relax.
Nice. We’re gonna do one more warm up for the thoracic.
Place your left arm on the floor, palm faces down
and bring your right arm behind your back.
So what I’m gonna have Pierre do is use his breath and inhale
and open up his right shoulder and look up to the ceiling
really using that breath to help you to warm up.
You want to do about 5 to each side.
So go ahead and inhale, lead with that shoulder, open up.
Exhale, relax down,
really relax into it, good, inhale, open up
and exhale, relax down.
More here.
Great.
We worked on a upper body a little bit
so now we’re gonna work on our hips.
So I’m gonna have you take it to half-kneeling,
just go ahead and place your right leg in front and left leg in back
and I’m gonna have you take it into some hip rocks,
so just rocking forward nice and relaxed,
good, for 5 so you want to get about 5 forward here.
Good.
Now from here I’m gonna have Pierre take that front leg
and bring it out to the side
and he’s gonna keep his chest and hips square
but he’s gonna rock to the side.
So in this position, you should feel this
in your inner thighs, your adductors
and wherever you might be tight actually
but primarily here in your inner thighs.
Good, you’ll get about 5 in this direction here.
Then after Pierre gets 5,
I’m gonna have him use that same leg
and stay on that same knee
and he’s gonna extend that leg out straight,
hold foot on the floor,
toe points forward
and then I’m gonna have you hinge over
and place your hands on the ground
and then you’re just gonna take those hip rocks
back into your heel and then forward.
After he gets 5 here,
I’m gonna have him move to the second side
and go through those hip rocks forward
on the second side for about 5,
to the side for about 5.
I’ll just have you switch legs
and we’ll just demo the other side
so just coming forward and then back
and forward and back
opening up those hips
about 5 each direction,
go ahead and bring that leg to the side,
good,
and keeping your hips and chest square,
good, yeah.
And now go ahead and extend this leg out
into that kickstand stretch, hands down,
you’re gonna come forward and back.
Great.
Today’s workout is focused on the aerial hoop
and we want to make sure
that Pierre’s shoulders and his upper body
are prepared for the workout we’re about to do.
So what I’m gonna have Pierre do
is grab hold of this dowel here
so as he goes through these arm circles,
what he’s gonna do is take the dowel
and he’s gonna bring,
there we go, the dowel up and back
while trying to maintain neutral spine here
and then up and forward.
What you might find is if you have really tight shoulders,
what you may find
is that you need to have a wider grip on that dowel
and as you go through these circles
up and over and up and back,
you can move those hands closer and closer together.
But does it
Go with the range of motion
that feels comfortable to you at first
and go through about 10 of these
back and forward,
back and forward.
The next thing I’m gonna have Pierre do with the dowels,
I’m gonna have him bring the dowel down in front of him.
I’m gonna have him bring his hands closer together
and then from here, I’m gonna have him keep his arm straight
and circle his shoulders backwards for about 10,
good, just warming those shoulders
making sure that he has the mobility
to go through everything overhead
that we’re gonna do today.
And that’s good right there.
So this warm up should prepare you
for the workout that we’re about to do today.
How do you feel Pierre?
- I feel great!
Awesome, ready to work out?
- Yes. - Excellent.
What we’re gonna do is a Pilates glute bridge
which helps you to focus on working your glutes,
your pelvic floor and your core
and bringing everything together,
that whole trunk from your shoulders to your hips.
So from here Pierre I’m just gonna have you
rest your head on the floor
and then I’m gonna have you squeeze your glutes
and I want you to lift your hips up,
see how his upper back is on the floor
and just go ahead and lower your hips.
So he’s gonna do these glute bridges for about 30 seconds.
So you can go ahead and relax Pierre,
I’m gonna have you transition into a floor hollow.
You want to make sure that you learn the hollow position.
The hollow position is key
because it helps you to learn how to engage your abdominals
for your hangs and your pull ups.
Pierre go ahead and bring the dowel above your head
and you see he came right away into this hollow position.
So Pierre I’d like you to pull that dowel down
like you’re a pulling a pullup,
right, a pullup bar,
there you go.
So for this you want to do these floor pull ups,
this floor hollow pull
for about 30 seconds.
And you can go ahead and relax Pierre, great.
And then I’m gonna have him move into side planks.
Now you’ll notice that here in this side plank position,
Pierre's shoulder is lined up with his elbow
and he’s actively pushing the floor away with his arm
and he’s activating everything on this side.
So we do that for 30 seconds on each side
3 rounds,
and relax.
How do you feel Pierre?
- I feel pretty good. - Awesome, nice job.
So this part 1
and we’re gonna move on to part 2 next.
Since the aerial hoop is a dynamic hang,
we want to make sure that you become comfortable with hanging
and you build that hanging strength from the bar.
So step 1 would be to get comfortable
just with hanging
so Pierre I’m gonna have you just do a relaxed hang.
And this is something that you can do
for about 15 to 30 seconds,
just relaxed hang just starting out.
Then you would make it an active hang
so what I’m gonna have Pierre do
is pull his shoulders into his sockets
and then I’m gonna have him get into that hollow position
so go ahead and tuck your hips under
and he’s gonna hollow his mid-section out here
so his shoulders are packed, his lats are engaged
and he’s holding this hollow position
so he’s holding this with some tension.
Go ahead and relax Pierre
and again, you want to start with like 15 seconds,
add on 5-second increments up to 30 seconds.
The next thing would be to actually work on pull ups
so a good way to start is with a band.
Minimal equipment here with a band,
it’s really easy to purchase.
Attach this to the bar.
He’s going to place one foot in the band.
Now why have his feet in the band
so that he can maintain his hollow position.
So go ahead and get into your hollow position for me Pierre
and now from here he’s gonna pull up
into a pullup and the band is providing him
with a little bit of assistance.
You can put the pull ups aside
and we can work on some hanging leg raises.
For the hanging leg raises,
you want to start them on the floor.
You can use a piece of furniture
that you have at home to hold on to
or if you have a training partner and you have a dowel,
then you can use the dowel.
So from here he’s gonna,
just like we did in part one the hollow position,
he’s gonna bring the dowel above his head
and then he’s gonna bring his legs up straight
and then I’m gonna go ahead and grab a hold of this dowel.
I’m gonna apply a little bit of tension and pull back,
so go ahead and bring your toes to the dowel,
good, and then come all the way back
and I want you to return to the hollow position.
Notice how his feet do not touch the ground,
they just come back to the hollow position.
So this is a way to train floor leg raises
before you take them to the bar.
Start with 3 sets of 5
and then build up to sets of 10.
If you don’t have a training partner,
what you can do is substitute this dowel
for a secure piece of furniture at home.
Make sure it’s secure and it doesn’t move around
and you just grab hold of it with your hands behind your head.
So moving on to the next exercise,
we’re gonna work on some pushing strength
and trunk stability strength.
So step one would be to work on some hand walk-outs
so I’m gonna have Pierre just go ahead and face this way
and I’m gonna have you hinge over,
place your hands down and then walk it out
to a straight arm plank for me,
so hinge over, hands walk it out,
you can just give me one shoulder tap right,
one shoulder tap left
and then go ahead and walk it back
then softening your knees, yes
coming back up to standing, good.
So for this you want to start with 5
and work up to sets of 10, again 3 sets.
Now if that’s super easy, the next progression would be
to take it to some wall assisted hand stands.
You can kick up to a wall at home,
so Pierre I’m gonna have you kick up to that wall assisted,
you should be wall assisted single arm shifts.
So always using that wall for support
remember safety first
so here we are wall assisted,
he’s leaning his legs against the wall here
and he’s just shifting his weight side to side
practicing how to balance on one arm without wall assistance.
Again start with 10 seconds 3 rounds,
5-second increments up to 30 seconds per set.
Now we’re going into part 3 of today’s workout.
Part 3 we’re gonna work through some kettle bell carries.
What he’s going to do is
he’s gonna grab it with both hands
and he’s gonna bring it into what’s called the rack position.
From here, Pierre is just gonna two-hand press
that kettle bell overhead
so go ahead and get those knuckles to the ceiling,
go ahead and pack your shoulder as much as you can
having your arm overhead.
Now from here what I’m gonna have Pierre do
is just take it for a walk,
so he’s just gonna stabilize that kettle bell overhead
and go for a walk.
He’s going to do 30 seconds on the right side
and then he’s gonna switch
and do 30 seconds on the left side
and he’s gonna do this for 5 rounds.
Great. How do you feel?
You’re glad this workout is over?
That was quite a workout.
We hope you try it again and that it helps you
to be the best that you can be.
Remember, you don’t have to be a part of Cirque
for this workout to benefit you.
Stick with it, you won’t be sorry.
Don’t forget to get active with Cirque du Soleil
on our next episode.
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