Ballet barre work is a wonderfully configured full body workout. If this were not so, you would not see so many trade marked workouts for Pilates, core muscle training, "booty" trimming, and many more, with "ballet barre" in the name.
But it is all good, literally. If you are an adult ballet beginner and have chosen classical dance technique to fulfill your exercise and your artistic needs, here are a few tips for getting the most out of your work at the barre.
If you are doing some other, non-ballet academy barre-ish workout, you may get some tips also.
First Tip - Warm Up Before Class
The barre exercises will warm you up, completely. Yet you will get much more out of the first few exercises if you can manage at least a five minute warming up time before class starts. At the very least, two to three minutes of walking on the spot, executing large easy arm movements, will increase your heart rate a little and get your circulation going.
Gentle Stretches
Stretches before class are good for simply "getting out the kinks". If you sit down all day before a dance class, or if the class is first thing in the morning, doing some barre exercise-related stretches will ease you into the class gently. These would not be deep stretches, but more like movements to remind your body of what is about to happen.
Doing a few rotations both inwards and outwards of each ankle, and then doing a few demi plies, either with turnout or parallel, will stretch the calves out. If you are not so flexible in the ankles, you can sit down, legs folded, and gently pull up one knee at a time, to stretch the front of the ankle joint.
Easing Out The Hip Flexors, Or Front Of The Hip Joint
This is easily done with a runner's lunge. Standing parallel, move one foot behind you about three feet, or where ever you need to place the foot to feel the stretch from the upper thigh, over the hip bone, and into the abdominal area above the extended leg.
Pull up the lowest core abdominal muscles, and allow the pelvis to relax into its neutral (no tip forward or back) position. If you are too tight in the hip joint to get the pelvis straight, don't worry. You are just getting the alignment that you can here, with no need for heavy pressure.
Repeat on the other side.
Easing Out The Hamstrings
Most ballet studios have a lower barre. For a light hamstring stretch, place one leg on the low barre. Flex the foot and make sure the leg is straight. Also, keep a straight back, and you are going to bend from the hips, not curving in the low back. This keeps the stretchy part in the hamstring, or back of your thigh muscle.
It doesn't matter if you hardly move at all. You can do a deeper stretch in the break before center work.
Side Bends Lengthen the Large Quadratus Lumborum, Or Spinal Support Muscles
Standing with the feet apart, comfortably, reach up with the right arm, keeping the shoulders and neck relaxed, and bend toward your left. Get a long pulled out stretch, keeping the left side of your torso lengthened.
Repeat other side.
The Turnout Muscles Need Stretching Too
The easiest way to do a brief low pressure stretch out of the rotator muscles is to sit on a chair, and bring up one leg, bent, with your foot resting above the opposite knee. You can hold the bent knee up with your hand if you feel ANY strain in the knee joint. This is not about having the bent knee level like a table top, or stretching in the hip socket area.
Now you will bend forward, back straight, and you will feel a stretch in the back of the pelvis, and around the side of the hip. Use very gentle pressure, just to alert your body that ballet class is about to start.
The "Swan Lake" Stretch
This stretch will give you a nice pull across the chest. Stand with your back to the barre, and reach behind you with both arms, grasping the barre. Then lean away, not arching very much, but stretching out the arms and you will feel a delicious elastic feeling at some point, in this small movement.
Muscle stretching exercises done before class are very gentle. They part of your warm up. Deeper stretches can be later in the class, or afterwards. Visit us and get more ballet tips for your ballet barre work.
Showing posts with label muscle stretching exercises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label muscle stretching exercises. Show all posts
How to Start Stretching For Adult Beginner Ballet Classes
If you're planning to enroll for adult beginner ballet classes, there are two very safe stretches that you can do before you learn anything about ballet. You can do these every day and continue them once you start ballet lessons. Even if you never carry through with dance classes, learn these anyway as they will help to avoid back pain. And if you dance, get some fabulous and easy to learn muscle stretching exercises with The Ultimate Stretching Guide!
Why is back pain so common among adults? Even among adults with no history of injury or back strain, low back pain especially can become a chronic problem, mild or severe.
As you age, your flexibility decreases. Your long muscles that allow a certain range of motion, get shorter. Your joints begin to lose their range of motion, and the ligaments that hold bone to bone begin to lose their strength. Similar to an elastic band aging and getting less elastic. However, your ligaments and muscles will not just fall apart one day like an old elastic band.
However, you will start to feel pain as you continue to try and move and do all the things you are used to doing. You depend on the muscles at the front of your body, the muscles across your chest and shoulders, and the muscles at the front of your spine and hips, for a lot of every day motions. You particularly lose flexibility in these muscles from sitting at a desk, typing and staring at a computer monitor, or similar sedentary inactivity.
Loosening up these muscles is all you need to do. Ligaments do not need to be stretched - in fact, joint stability depends on their integrity.
So here are two easy stretches that will help you avoid back pain.
Done correctly, you may find some aches and pains that you already have will disappear. Healthy muscles are relaxed, and can stretch when you need them to, for daily activities.
My chiropractor calls this 'the doorway stretch'. Standing in a doorway, place the palm of your hand against the door jamb, above shoulder level, so that your arm is bent at a 90-degree angle, and your armpit is right against the door jamb. Press your hand and arm into it. Slowly press forward increasing the stretch, not to a point of any pain, just a stretchy feeling. Hold for about a ten count. Repeat with the other arm.
You are stretching muscles that routinely tense, especially if you are not sitting with your hips against the back of your chair, your spine upright in its natural curve, head held straight, neck relaxed. And of course your monitor, keyboard, mouse, arm rests are all ergonomically placed perfectly. I know! Who sits like that?
Allowing these muscles to retain more and more tension without relief, will pull on your neck muscles, upper back muscles and lead to headaches and neck and shoulder pain. Now you can reverse that trend.
For your low back and hip area: stand with feet together, and take a long step forward. Keep your hips and low back upright, and place your hands on your hips so you can feel it if your posture changes.
Bend your back leg slowly, lowering into a runner's lunge, not uncomfortably deep. You will feel the stretch at the front of your hips. The posture muscles at the front of your spine will get this stretch as well, and also the front of your back thigh. Hold for a 10 count, and switch legs.
You will be more able to stretch after a hot bath or shower. If you do any kind of exercise class, do after class while you're warm.
In a dance studio, before a class, you will see dancers sitting on the floor in stretch positions, or maybe with their legs on the barre in a stretched ballet position. They are not really stretching, they are just checking their positions and loosening up a little. So don't copy what ballet dancers do before class. You'll see them really go at it after a 45 minute barre, or at the end of a class.
For those who have had an injury or who are experiencing any sharp or burning back muscle pains, see your health care practitioner before trying these exercises.
If you try ballet as an adult beginner and later opt for another style of workout, keep up these two very healthy exercises. And get your copy of The Ultimate Stretching Guide for muscle stretching exercises.
Why is back pain so common among adults? Even among adults with no history of injury or back strain, low back pain especially can become a chronic problem, mild or severe.
As you age, your flexibility decreases. Your long muscles that allow a certain range of motion, get shorter. Your joints begin to lose their range of motion, and the ligaments that hold bone to bone begin to lose their strength. Similar to an elastic band aging and getting less elastic. However, your ligaments and muscles will not just fall apart one day like an old elastic band.
However, you will start to feel pain as you continue to try and move and do all the things you are used to doing. You depend on the muscles at the front of your body, the muscles across your chest and shoulders, and the muscles at the front of your spine and hips, for a lot of every day motions. You particularly lose flexibility in these muscles from sitting at a desk, typing and staring at a computer monitor, or similar sedentary inactivity.
Loosening up these muscles is all you need to do. Ligaments do not need to be stretched - in fact, joint stability depends on their integrity.
So here are two easy stretches that will help you avoid back pain.
Done correctly, you may find some aches and pains that you already have will disappear. Healthy muscles are relaxed, and can stretch when you need them to, for daily activities.
My chiropractor calls this 'the doorway stretch'. Standing in a doorway, place the palm of your hand against the door jamb, above shoulder level, so that your arm is bent at a 90-degree angle, and your armpit is right against the door jamb. Press your hand and arm into it. Slowly press forward increasing the stretch, not to a point of any pain, just a stretchy feeling. Hold for about a ten count. Repeat with the other arm.
You are stretching muscles that routinely tense, especially if you are not sitting with your hips against the back of your chair, your spine upright in its natural curve, head held straight, neck relaxed. And of course your monitor, keyboard, mouse, arm rests are all ergonomically placed perfectly. I know! Who sits like that?
Allowing these muscles to retain more and more tension without relief, will pull on your neck muscles, upper back muscles and lead to headaches and neck and shoulder pain. Now you can reverse that trend.
For your low back and hip area: stand with feet together, and take a long step forward. Keep your hips and low back upright, and place your hands on your hips so you can feel it if your posture changes.
Bend your back leg slowly, lowering into a runner's lunge, not uncomfortably deep. You will feel the stretch at the front of your hips. The posture muscles at the front of your spine will get this stretch as well, and also the front of your back thigh. Hold for a 10 count, and switch legs.
You will be more able to stretch after a hot bath or shower. If you do any kind of exercise class, do after class while you're warm.
In a dance studio, before a class, you will see dancers sitting on the floor in stretch positions, or maybe with their legs on the barre in a stretched ballet position. They are not really stretching, they are just checking their positions and loosening up a little. So don't copy what ballet dancers do before class. You'll see them really go at it after a 45 minute barre, or at the end of a class.
For those who have had an injury or who are experiencing any sharp or burning back muscle pains, see your health care practitioner before trying these exercises.
If you try ballet as an adult beginner and later opt for another style of workout, keep up these two very healthy exercises. And get your copy of The Ultimate Stretching Guide for muscle stretching exercises.
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