The Ballet Bible

Chunky Ballet Thighs

Hi,

I am slim and medium height. I have quite strong legs but they are becoming quite chunky. Is there any exercises that will lengthen them out???

please help x

February 17, 2007 | In Questions | 2 Comments

You can do a lot of stretching and pilates work; but when you take class, be aware of a couple of things. First, when you close in tendus, do you keep your knees straight (using your inner thigh muscles) or do you let them bend? If they are bent at all, the wrong thigh muscles work and start developing.

Same thing when you are standing on one leg. Are your quadriceps completely pulled up or is your knee slightly bent?

How do you do developpe? At the end of the developpe, is your leg fully extended and all the muscles stretched to the maximum, and your toes pointed also to the maximum?

Do you lift your legs with the top thigh muscles, or from underneath with stretched legs?

Hope that helps.

Comment by Zoe — February 19, 2007 #
I have the same problem!! According to my ballet teacher, i need to improve my core strength, so that when i developpe etc, i can use my abdominals instead of relying on my quadraceps to lift my leg. This may be the same for you. Apparently pilates and yoga are good for building core strength. Also i know an exercise where you lie on your back and do scissor kicks (kick one leg, then as you bring it back down, simultaneously start to kick the other leg and so on) when doing this, consciously think of sucking your belly button into the floor beneath you to ensure your abdomnials are trained to contract the right way. More obviously ofcourse, you can do sit-ups. i hope this helps!

Comment by Karen — March 4, 2007 #

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