Yogalates, yoga ballet, cardio barre...the list goes on! Why not keep to an easy at-home fitness routine that has proven ballet dancers around the world to keep slim!
Why spend hundreds of dollars on yoga, pilates, yogalates, yoga ballet, cardio barre, and any other new fitness dance trend when you can enjoy the health benefits of ballet and dance in the comforts of your own home! The lean muscles developed by dancers and the great flexibility enhance one's well-being even if you aren't intending to be the next Karen Kain.
At-home fitness gives you a comfort level to try anything. I say try dance! If you haven't yet thought so, ballet is a great cardio workout and also builds muscles that are essential for great posture, great abs and great over all self-esteem! Plus it's fun!
The foundation is simple: POSTURE. When you pull up your abs to stand up or sit up straight you are engaging your core. When one dances you feel energy moving through all your limbs and out your finger tips, your toes and out the top of your head. If you hold your arms out straight to the sides of your body (in second position) and you feel the pressure and pull from the centre of your body out towards your fingers, that's working your biceps, your triceps, your forearm flexors and, most importantly to us women as bikini season is approaching, your abs!
Here are some simple ballet moves that you can do anywhere around your house, at school or even in a quiet corner at work that will keep your posture straight and your muscles engaged:
The PLIE
You can either do this free-standing or have your hands on something waist-high in front of you (like a table or a countertop). If you choose to do this free-standing, extend your arms straight out to either side of your body (into second position). Stand with your feet, toes and heels together in a parallel position. Then rotate your toes outwards, making a pie shape with the inside of your feet, with the feeling that the rotation is coming from your thighs – this is first position. Now while keeping your back straight and tall, head up, slowly bend your knees outwards over your toes. Don't stick your butt out and don't bend forward. It doesn't matter how low you go, as long as you squeeze your legs, your butt and your abs as you straighten your legs. Control and grace is the goal of ballet.
You can do the same move with your legs in second: while keeping your knees and toes facing outwards, just separate your feet to shoulder-width apart.
The RELEVE
With your feet back in first position, stand while holding something at waist height (or nothing at all if you are daring! But place your arms as if you are holding a big beach ball right above your head) raise yourself up on top of your tippy-toes! Keeping your leg muscles, butt muscles and the feeling that you're ten feet tall consistent as you do this, you should work your calf muscles to perfection! Make sure you keep your body weight forward so you don't lose your balance.
There will be more ballet-inspired at-home exercises once we get closer to the summer months, but for now, check out these books that have inspired myself to do some more at-home lengthening exercises to keep my dancer body healthy!
The Pilates Body: the Ultimate the Ultimate at-Home Guide to Strengthening, Lengthening and Toning Your Body - Without Machines by Brooke Siler
The New York City Ballet Workout: Fifty Stretches and Exercises Anyone Can Do for a Strong, Graceful, and Sculpted Body by Peter Martins
