Is aerial hoop easier than silks?

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Is aerial hoop easier than silks?

This topic has a lot of points to discuss. I found silks require a lot more strength and stamina than Aerial hoop, but hoop hurts more and leaves bruising.

What is the difference?

Fundamentally the hoop is just a large steel ring, and as long as you can hang on, all the tricks are different orientations of the body with the Lyra. Silk tricks are often a long series of precise wraps that can be difficult to remember when you begin. Forgetting something as simple as putting the silk under an arm can leave you a tangled aerial piece.

What are the benefits?

Both of these classes require building up your core strength. If you cannot support your body weight in a hanging position, it will be difficult to even get into the hoop. 

In the beginning, aerial silks will give you a slight advantage because you can essentially tie into the silks from ground level and start working on trick pathways. 

What to choose to start?

Aerial silks are safer for beginners than the hoop. Both disciplines are inherently dangerous and should be treated with respect and caution, but the Lyra does not have any supporting fabric that can be used to create locks. You can perform a wrap with silks, but the hoop doesn’t have any locks. Support with hoop provides only your own holding and balance. There are definitely many tricks that help you keep yourself in the air, but with hoop, if you screw up, then there are a lot fewer opportunities to stop yourself from taking a tumble.

Are you sure?

Mostly it’s all up to you. Silks to be more useful for developing body awareness. It’s more fun to do big drops without all the scrapes and bruises of hoops. However, If you really like using your flexibility on an apparatus, I’d actually think that Lyra would have much more opportunity to do so, you’d just have to get to a higher level.

They’re both so wonderful in their own ways, so I’d give each a try if you can!