Friday, March 15, 2013

My Daily Exercise Routine

I have a sort of exercise routine I do everyday.  I don't do the exact same thing everyday though, I switch in and out some exercises.
I always start off with pirouettes.  I like to do modern (legs parallel) pirouettes to the right first; hold, single, double, triple, then quadruple if possible.  Then I do the quarter turn exercise from Anahiem Ballet's Turn Tips video.  I do four quarter, two half, two single, two double, then triple turns if I can.  I'll do some fouettes if my pirouettes were consistent.
After turns, I stretch a bit.  I don't do a full stretch everyday anymore, just some easy stuff to keep loose.  I touch my toes, pike with my feet flexed, a relaxed middle split, etc.
I love this exercise from Joffrey Ballet School's Ballet Fit: get on your hands and knees on the floor.  Pull one leg and your head toward your chest, then kick your leg back and up (like an arabesque) and put your head back, before pulling in again.  I do 15 for each leg.  If I don't do these, I do leg lifts.  I sit with my back straight against the wall, legs straight and pointed in front of me.  I lift one leg as high as I can, hold it for 2, then put it back down.  I do 8-10 of these for each leg, turned out and parallel.
I always do crunches.  Occasionally, I might switch out for sit-ups instead, but only if I'm looking for a challenge.  I do 20-60.  Having proper form in crunches is super important to get the most out of them.


Lately I've been doing push-ups too.  I have to lift a little girl in our recital routine, and I'm scared I'm going to drop her! I'm not strong enough to do more than 10 push-ups on the ground, so I do as many as I can on the ground then do as many as I can against the wall.
I do tons of eleves and releves.  Eleves are like releves without the plie.  Sometimes I do eleves on one leg, parallel, or even just point and flex while laying on my back with my leg bent.  Just as long as it makes my calves and ankles burn.  I especially like eleves in parallel while facing a mirror, so I can make sure I'm not sickling.

I do what I can everyday.  Even if I don't feel like it, taking three seconds to do a pirouette will help me more than doing nothing at all.  So sometimes I do all of these and more.  Sometimes I just do some quarter turns and leg lifts.  If I don't feel up to it, I don't have to do it.  But when it's this short, this easy, I somehow always end up doing something.  I hope you like these exercises, I'd love to hear about your favorite exercises!  Keep dancing, bunheads ;)

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