The Ballet Bible
Discover the Secrets to Conquering Some of The Most Common Pitfalls You Face When Learning Ballet
FlexibilityHey I love dancing but have 3 problems First : My right leg isn’t flexibile but my left one is. Second : I can’t do box splits. Third : I have tight calf muscles wich really hurt when jumping. Can someone please give me some advice???? Thankyou!! February 19, 2007 | In Questions | 15 Comments15 Comments »RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment |
|
Hi,
What are box splits?
(My native language is Dutch, second language French, so I don’t know all ballet terms in English, sorry!)
Kaat
Comment by Kaat_E — February 20, 2007 #
Is the box splits the same as the front splits?
Comment by Nancy — February 20, 2007 #
Maybe some physical therapy to even your body out; massage for the tight muscles; incorporate stretching or Pilates into your class schedule.
I have never heard of box splits, which way do they go??
Comment by Zoe — February 20, 2007 #
its actually normal to have one leg that isn’t as flexable as the other, but from the way you describe it I would suspect that you need to concentrate on the less flexable leg a little more when you stretch. don’t over do it though, this could make the uneveness worse.
I also have never heard of box splits, please let us know what they are.
as for your calves, stand a couple of feet away from a wall with your feet together, toes pointing forward, and your hands on the wall. lean your whole body forward, without bending anywhere, until you feel a stretch in the back of legs, hold this for about fifteen seconds. stand upright and bend your knee as far as you can without letting your heels come off the floor, you should feel a stretch in your lower calf, hold this position for about fifteen seconds. keep alternating back and forth for about two minutes. do this three or four times a day and your calves will loosen up considerably. also stretch them is class in between exercises so they don’t tighten.
Comment by Marissa — February 20, 2007 #
I have the same problem, only my right leg is more flexible than my left. Taking classes like Yoga and Pilates are excellent for improving flexibility and muscle strength.
Comment by Hannah — February 20, 2007 #
Hey soz box splitis are splits side ways. Must be a scottish saying ( thats where i’m from). Thanks for all the advice. Just want to pick your brains again, my feet tend to roll in anyone no of anything that can stop it cause it affects my turn out. Also does anyone no any good exersise to improve turnout???
Comment by Hayley Martin — February 20, 2007 #
hey
i cant do the box splits either i find it hard to keep my back in the right position i cant do any other type of splits either the more u stretch and the more u try it becomes easier sounds stupid an blatent but still try conditioning class for a while they reali helped me
Comment by becky — February 21, 2007 #
I have the same problem but my right is more flexible than my left leg. just concentrate more wen stretching your right leg and do all the stretches on your right leg first as you will be more patient and try harder.
Comment by Ashley — February 22, 2007 #
basically wat everyone else says is wat i think also.
just stretch hopefully everyday after warming up every single muscle ure going to stretch, and it will take a while for u to really notice a huge difference and become an ‘after’.
about the box splits, or… straddle position, i couldnt do it very far either…. hurt like heck. i have horribly tight hips. but if u DO work on it, you’ll be able to open up more. consider… yoga…. (the frog position can help for hips, but thats not the only part thats probably stretched in that split. *winces from painful memorys*)
i took 2-3 classes a week of jazz classes at my school and it took months XD but then again, it WAS at a public school…. (twas very intresting. great teacher, though. thank goodness im homeschooled now! she was so demanding.. xD) they were only an hour and 20 minutes or so.*sighs*
Comment by Nobody — February 22, 2007 #
my right leg is injured and I can’t do my right split. My groin hurts a lot. What do I do? Do I need to take off a few days?
Comment by Jessica — February 26, 2007 #
@ Jessica: take some time off. depending on what the injury is you may need to take more than a few days off. pushing yourself when you are injured can make the injury worse and even do permanent damage.
Comment by Marissa — February 26, 2007 #
Hey, be careful about stretching your less flexible hamstring too far – you need to stretch a little and often to improve, don’t push yourself really hard one time while you’re stretching because you’re more likely to just injure those muscles.
I was never particularly flexible (i do gymnastics but i used to do ballet and i still love it) but now i am flat in both leg front splits and side splits – so you just have to keep working at it.
Try sitting in straddle position and lowering yourself forward (keep your back flat and reach your arms forwards or sideways to reach for your ankles). Hold for as long as comfortable (aim for at least 20 seconds), release and shake your legs before going back to that stretch again. Try to stretch while you’re watching tv in the evening or read a book – it distracts you from just holding the stretch and you will probably find that you concentrate less on it hurting and don’t even notice how much your flexibility is improving!!
The key is to stretch often but don’t push yourself too far – remember that achieving excellent flexibility takes TIME. Good luck!
Thembi
Comment by Thembi — February 26, 2007 #
1) dont start to favour stretching your more flexible leg as this will cause you to mentally favour it and so forget about the less flexible leg, when you are fully warm go down into left leg splits or whichever is your tighter leg… go as far as you can and hold it for 40+ seconds, also try the push and pull strech on your back, plenty of stretching and when you do stretch make sure you do the other leg too so that doesnt tighten just try to even out all stretching activities.
2) Box splits i cant do that either but a good tip is to slide down as far as you can go and balance there with your elbows on the floor infront of you and hold there, then sit down in box splits orlegs in seconde and put body on floor infront of you. Another one is lie on back with bum against wall and put legs in 2nd on the wall as far as you can and hold for 2 mins then push them down further.
3)As for calves do basic calf stretches and stretch as much as possible alos go to a sprts therapist and get them massaged otherwise could lead to akilies tendanitis or constricted muscle syndrome in shins.
Anyway hope this helps and hope you do well in the future. Sophie xxx
Comment by sophie — February 27, 2007 #
Hey i just wanted to say thanks for all of your advice. I have already noticed a massive improvement in both of my splits. Now i just need to start working on my calves. Thanks everyone. Hayley xox
Comment by Hayley Martin — March 3, 2007 #
foreign breast…
foreign breast…
Trackback by Anonymous — March 24, 2008 #