Stretches for the feet!

I'm just quickly posting a video on here for reference, as I needed some new exercises to stretch my feet!

This girl is a ballet video blogger, and she's relatively new to youtube! I'm always out to discover new ballet video bloggers, watching these videos are my guilty pleasure!

Time to get Toning!

At the end of last year I stumbled upon this great Pilates and health blogger, who regularly posts Pilates workout videos and also posts workout calenders, telling us what videos to do on each day. This month I decided to follow the calender for April and it's been really good, I suggest you check it all out!

Blogilates

Doing just 10-20 mins a day after ballet and before stretching has been a great way to warm up as well as strengthen my core and inner thighs!

I'm also planning on including cardio in my routine, now that I have more time because I'm off from school for the next two weeks and that it's as good a time as ever to get my fitness levels into shape as my exam is in just over 2 weeks!

Exercises for stretching and strengthening the back

The most common back stretch is the bridge/backbend. You can either do it from standing, where you arch your back until your hands hit the floor, or you can start by laying on your back and pushing up on your hands. You can gradually improve your bridge by pushing your hips up higher, straightening your arms, and walking your hands closer to your feet. Straightening your legs will also stretch out your legs more:

If you have your right/left splits down, there are lots of stretches to help with your arabesque/scorpion/penche/etc. Make sure your hips and shoulders are square and facing the front and arch your back so your head is pointing towards your back knee. Try looking at the ceiling or the back wall. You can also try to grab your back leg (if you can balance) with one or both hands, kind of like a scorpion on the ground.
Now do all of that in the oversplits if you can^ just place a box (yoga blocks work wonderfully) underneath your front foot or have someone lift your front leg up for oversplits.

Another back exercise is basically the inverted version of the bridge. You lay on your belly and push up with your hands (like Ariel the mermaid.) Try keeping your legs together and arching your back until you can see the ceiling or back wall. Or try touching your toes to your head. 

To strengthen your back,
you can do the mermaid stretch^, but take your hands off the floor and try to maintain your arched position while keeping your arms out to the side (second position) or holding them above your head (fifth position.) 
Having somebody hold your feet down or sit on your feet will help you in the beginning. Gradually progress to being able to do it on your own though!
If you can hold your torso upright easily, try lifting each leg at a time and holding it at a 30-45 degree angle from the floor and your other leg. 
Once your back is pretty strong, hold onto a barre or something at chest level and lift your back leg up into arabesque or attitude. You can hold it there OR take a deep plie in your standing leg and pulse your back leg higher each time. Maintain a steady beat and do NOT bounce! Instead try to lift your leg higher each time and not let it just bounce back down!
Try do work on both sides of your back equally. Uneven backs suck because then one leg is so much stronger and more flexible than the other

From: http://ballettips.tumblr.com/

Turn out and rotation exercises

Clams! Tie a resistance band around your ankles and lay on your side with your knees bent and your shoulders, hips, and ankles all in one straight line (I like to do these with my back against a wall to ensure that they all stay in a straight line). Open your top knee as far as you can away from your bottom knee and as slowly as you can, and control your knee coming down to meet the other one. Repeat 15-20 times and do the same on your other side (with the other knee coming up). To strengthen your turn-in, do the same but have the resistance band around your knees and lift your ankles up.


Plies! Always be sure to really engage your rotators while doing plies. If your knees are not directly over your 2nd or 3rd toe, they are not engaged. In order to engage your rotators really well, your alignment needs to be good. A totally untucked pelvis isn’t going to engage your rotators. Make sure you’re pulling your pelvis to a neutral position with your abdominal muscles.
Sit on your bottom with your legs about 90 degrees apart in front of you. Actively use your rotators and your HIPS not your knees/ankles to rotate your legs, trying to get your pinky toes to touch the floor, with your knees completely in line with your toes. As you get better and better at this exercise, increase the angle between your legs, closer to a middle split.

                                               Butterfly! Sit on your bottom with your back straight. Bend your knees and

make the soles of your feet touch, so your heels are as close to your crotch as possible (and your knees open like butterfly wings!). Relax your rotators and your butt. Lean forward as far as you can and hold for 30-60 seconds when you feel a good stretch. Remember to breathe! Your muscles need oxygen! You can also gently push your knees down with your elbows/hands when you lean forward, but if you feel pain (especially in your knees) don’t! Just stick with leaning forward. Some feel pain in their knees/ankles when they push their knees down, so be careful. 

 Froggy! Lay on your stomach with your knees bent and the soles of your feet together. Try to get a stretch in multiple positions. Start with your knees just barely bent to where you can feel a stretch and hold for 30 seconds. Bend your knees some more and hold that stretch for 30 seconds. Bend them where your heels are 2 feet behind your crotch and hold for 30 seconds. Bend to 1 foot, and just behind (you can also do this with butterfly).

 Lay on your stomach in froggy. Bring your torso up off of the ground (keeping your spine straight and pevlis in a held neutral position) and bring your knees in the same line as your hip bones (so your left knee to your hips to your right knee should be a straight line). Make sure your lower legs are at a 90-degree angle to your thighs (this is another one I like to do against the wall with the bottoms of my feet on the wall). Hold for 30-60 seconds.

Middle splits! Make sure when stretching your middle splits that your knees are going in the same direction as your torso is. So if you’re trying to get your crotch to touch the ground and the top of your head is facing the ceiling, make your knees face the ceiling. If your front is on the ground, make your knees face the same wall as the top of your head. If your back is on the floor and you’re stretching your middle splits against a wall, make sure your knees are facing the same wall as the top of your head.

From: http://ballettips.tumblr.com/

Arabesque Exercises

You are on the floor on your stomach. Now you push your upper back up with your arms as far as possible. Please do it careful. Then do the exercise without using your arms just with your back muscles. It is really hard and at the beginning you can't hold it for a long time, so don't worry. Now you are in the same postition, but your head is touching the floor and now your lift up your legs, first left, then right and at the end both. (Like an arabesque on the floor) Hold it as long as you can and try to go as far as possible. Then search some furniture or whatever that has the height of your foot when you are doing and arabesque. Place your foot in it and do an arabesque. Now bend gently backwards with your back, Repeat the other site.