therabands with developees

[americanlostinUK]

would resistance training with developees help to get a higher leg? i have the flexibility to get my leg a good bit higher than it is at the moment (its now about ninety) and if a theraband could be attached to like the ceiling or somehing, would using that to hold your leg while you aligned your body properly and tried to use the muscles in you leg actually help at all?

[Victoria Leigh]

I don't really think so, because you have the flexibility to get your leg up there, so, what is lacking is the strength to hold it. That comes a bit later, as you mature and gain strength. Having something else hold your leg up is not really going to give you that strength to do it on your own. You get that by just "doing it".

[sugarplumfairy37]

Mmm.. am I allowed to give advice here? If not, sorry

 

You do need the strength to get your leg up there higher. What my teacher made me do was wear ankle weights every day for barre and center (I think that they're about 1 lb each). I've been wearing them each and every day religiously since November 1 and I decided to not wear them this week... the improvement is very noticable. I can get my legs much higher in all extensions and I have much more strength to keep them up there. I plan to continue using them next week to get them even better!

[Mel Johnson]

But don't wear them all the time! You can get into some serious difficulty if you wear them all throughout class. To say nothing of the Thunder Thighs which could easily follow!

[ballaurena]

I have 2 lb ankle weights that I use mostly for floor exercises; since these are heavier than what sugarplumfairy37 used, would it be safe to wear these for part of barre? I'd like to work on strength to hold extensions, but I'm worried that I would really strain my hip flexors if I wore these for an adagio or grand battement combination. Then again, if I only wore them for the beginning of barre, I probably wouldn't get to do extensions above 90 degrees, and that probably wouldn't help my extensions much! And I definitely want to avoid thunder thighs- I'm already a little bulky in the quads from doing gymnastics when I was younger.

[Victoria Leigh]

I do not think working with ankle weights is a good idea. Ballet will develop your legs and strength and you don't need to risk over developing or injuring anything. Develop the strength through technique, in daily classes, and working correctly. There are no short cuts in ballet.