October 15, 2012

Injury Woes

I finally went to my university’s Student Health Services for my leg/ankle pain again this morning, and didn’t get great news. I was told it’s probably tendonitis (again…I just dealt with this in my right ankle a few months ago and took a significant amount of time off) and I’d have to spend a good month off of ballet (I’ve already cried because of how heartbreaking this is to me). I’m headed to my university’s hospital this afternoon for an x-ray to check for a stress fracture.

So while this means lots of time for stretching (I’ve been keeping up with the 30 day challenge and I’ll have a picture up later today since we’ve hit Day 7–one week–I can proudly now say that my nose can touch my knee while I’m reaching for my toes!), I was wondering:

For those of my ballerina friends who’ve unfortunately been injured before, how do you stay in ballerina shape while you can’t dance/how do you deal with boredom?

 

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October 10, 2012

Day 2 of the #30DayStretchChallenge

The pink socks are for you, Legal Ballerina, since I didn’t take the picture by the rest of my pink room!

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I really despise my left side and this photo is to remind me to keep stretching it and not just favor my right!

Several of us adult ballerinas started the 30 Day Stretch Challenge on October 9th! Feel free to join us, even if you missed the start date! If all goes well, I’ll probably start a new one once this one has finished!

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October 10, 2012

Tips on Splits!

Some more great tips from mercietchatons!

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October 10, 2012

More advice on stretching!

Hi Adult Ballerinas! I thought I’d leave you with a quick post with a link to some split advice and a reminder (as mentioned in the article) to not force your splits!

While of sure some of you who may have worked towards splits for a little may get them with the #30daystretchchallenge, many of us won’t. My main point in making myself do the challenge was to develop a regular stretching habits (something my ballet routine was lacking) and track my progress via pictures (and using those pictures as a reminder about why I should be stretching everyday!)

I’m so glad that so many people have agreed to take part in the challenge! Have fun everyone!

What’s your favorite time of day to stretch? I either stretch in the evenings while watching TV or after ballet class (when I’m nice and warmed up!)

(P.S. My lovely MacBook has had some battery issues so keep your fingers crossed that it gets fixed today!)

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October 9, 2012

30 Day Stretch Challenge

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m notoriously bad at not remembering to stretch. I’ll do it for a couple of days, and then totally forget. Then yesterday, Thanks & Kittens gave me a wonderful idea: A 30 Day Split Challenge (which she herself started doing a few days ago).

My goal is to stretch for a minimum of 30 minutes a day (on top of ballet classes!), focusing on my split stretches. Then,each day, I’ll post an embarrassing photo of how one of my split’s is coming along either on the blog or my Instagram or Twitter account.

How I wish one day my splits could be like this.

Anyone want to join me? E-mail me or tweet me your photos!

Twitter: @kristengillette

Don’t forget to take the TweetChat survey!

For more examples of stretches, make sure to check out the new 2 week stretch challenge!

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