The Aerial requires that you jump up during the takeoff, so we're going to dip down in order to jump up. Notice how I'm counting the dip as the first step after the initial walk up. Many people who first learn are under the misconception that you have to dip down into the takeoff of the Aerial like a cartwheel, and then magically float around somehow. This is not the case. I'll go into this more next.

Since the Aerial is a move that is done off of one leg, obviously you're going to want to shift your weight over onto one leg: the jumping leg in this case. Generally, moving your leg further in front of you helps with this, especially from the "straight line" takeoffs. This is not blocking, not by any means. It's just making it so that when you jump, the angle between your foot and your hips is going more upwards, and not too far outwards. Just do it like a cartwheel. Make sure that the front leg that you're going to jump off of is bent, so your muscles are able to jump and extend anyways.


The absolute greatest reason why many beginners have trouble learning the Aerial, especially with having to put their hands down, is because they do this step later. That is to say, they do the Dip while they're taking off. No, your upper body dips down and your leading leg bends as you lower yourself HERE, before you even think about jumping into the Aerial. You dig before you jump, you don't dig while you jump. This applies to any other vertical jump, therefore it applies to the Aerial as well.

During the takeoff a few different things need to happen, and they need to happen simultaneously.
The basics of the takeoff are to swing your back leg up fast behind you. Kick it up and over head behind you. Don't stretch it to the side, just kick it straight up behind you.
As you do that, jump. Push your leading (jumping) leg into the ground, and fast. Remember how in the last step I said to bend your front leg? This is why: so you can now extend and jump off of it!

There are so many minutely different arm motions you could do here that it's unnecessary to detail them all. Why? Because even with all the different possible motions, they're all fine as long as they do the same thing: keep you up.
Don't let your arms hang as dead weight. Also, don't stretch both of your arms back behind you as you would a B-Kick. Your front arm should simply raise forward in whatever way is comfortable, and your back arm should swing up in whatever way is comfortable. Whatever motion comes natural to you to get those things done is up to you. Sometimes it helps to lead the arm motions with your elbows.

While you're doing this, you can still try to keep your chin up from the last step. Whatever you do, do NOT dip any further at any time during this step. Your dip was finished in the first step, this is a completely different motion. The rhythm goes down > up, down > up. You don't throw yourself down during the takeoff, or else you go down. You go up here.

From here, it's simple. Look forwards in the direction you're going, and then pull your foot down in front of you in the direction you're looking. Try to pull it straight, firm, and fast. Hold your body high! And uhh, that's all to this step really haha. The thing that makes the Aerial tough for most people just has to do with the takeoff. Cool!

An Aerial is basically jumping off one leg and landing on the other. So, if your leg is stretched up behind you in the air from the takeoff, what do you need to do now? Simply start pulling it straight back down. Lead the pull with the front of your foot. You don't need to yank it sideways or anything: the side-to-sideness is almost an illusion. Just pull it straight under you. And to make your Aerial get done faster and speedy, you can start doing that the second you get off the ground!

And pull your leg down to the landing, easy! Land one leg at a time. Very sweet! Since you're moving forwards, your legs come down into the landing quite naturally anyways. Yup, that's the Aerial! Go go go! Try it!