Has anyone seen this ballet article?

[Edward Prah]

It's titled Conditioning for Greater Leg Extension by Mary Virginia Wilmerding.

I was searching for anything on strengthening the psoas/hip flexors. I found this doing a search on how ballet folks develop the strength to hold up their legs high in the air.

Here is an excerpt:

"The second group was taught a five-minute therapeutic exercise and asked to perform it in three sets of ten repetitions, on both legs, three days a week for six weeks. The exercise was a modified leg raise: in a long sit position the dancers leaned back on their hands and the leg to be exercised was turned out and the knee flexed, like a front attitude (see Figure 3). The aim was to engage the quadriceps as little as possible and focus the work on the hip flexors; the dancers were coached to achieve this aim. In six weeks we brought everyone back and re-measured their active and passive ranges of motion. Again, we measured the difference in the two photographs. All the dancers who did the therapeutic exercise saw an increase in their développé à la seconde. The average height increase was 6.5". The dancers that did no extra training showed no change in the six-week period."

 

I have been training this for a week now and I notice I don't engage my huge quadriceps as much anymore when I lift my leg. Look at the average height increase over six weeks according to the article!

Here is the PDF to take a better look at it. It includes pictures:

http://www.iadms.org/associations/2991/files/info/Bulletin_for_Teachers_1-1_pp5-6_Wilmerding.pdf

The reason I searched for this is to increase my kicking ability.

I also notice that my posture is better right after I work on my hip flexors. I must have weak/tight hip flexors.

[Jon Douglas]

Huh. That's a big increase. It's not much to add, I think I'll trial run that too and see how it takes me.

Cheers

[Jon Douglas]

Just tried the recommended 3*10; very targeted. Feels almost like a pump in my flexors I can see it being useful supplementary work.

I'll stick these in MWF warmup and report back on my middle split hold / straddle L after 4-6 weeks

[Colin Macdonald]

I'll give this a try as well, thanks.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

don't get it. so it's like a straddle compression? but with the leg turned out? #confuzzled

[Jon Douglas]

don't get it. so it's like a straddle compression? but with the leg turned out? #confuzzled

Knee a little bent, leaning back further, consciously relax quad and lift with the hip flex motion alone. One leg at a time (picture in that article), other with foot on ground.

[Briac Roquet]

This exercise looks like nothing, it must be incredibly painful.   I'll add that to my Tuesday/Friday sessions.

[Riku Calderón]

This is hard but feels good!

[Colin Macdonald]

Knee a little bent, leaning back further, consciously relax quad and lift with the hip flex motion alone. One leg at a time (picture in that article), other with foot on ground.

 

Playing with this a little bit, I think externally rotating the leg as much as possible helps deactivate the quads.

[John Kiggundu]

Many thanks for this. I need to increase ROM on MN/PE2. I have a hunch this will help increase ROM.

[Basomis]

I don't feel anything during this exercise. Am I supposed to lift up my leg slowly?

[Edward Prah]

I don't feel anything during this exercise. Am I supposed to lift up my leg slowly?

I heard on another site that you should do it slowly. You can try it. Did you take a look at the picture in the article? Look at how her leg is turned out. You knee should be slightly bent and toes pointed.  It's a good idea to take a look at what a front attitude looks like and also developpe.  I don't feel much doing 10 reps now so I do 40 reps per set to really feel it. I don't know it if it is a good idea to increase volume or not but I feel much better raising my leg now.

 

Btw, I took a two day break and I notice that I don't cramp up in my quads when I raise my leg high. woooo! I think it's working.

[Herrick Fang]

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.iadms.org/resource/resmgr/imported/info/IADMS_Bulletin_for_Teachers_1-1.pdf

 

On the 7th page, there are more instructions. If it's too easy, you can use elastic bands!

There are  also some pictures of anterior and posterior pelvic tilt on page 11.

[Edward Prah]

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.iadms.org/resource/resmgr/imported/info/IADMS_Bulletin_for_Teachers_1-1.pdf

 

On the 7th page, there are more instructions. If it's too easy, you can use elastic bands!

There are  also some pictures of anterior and posterior pelvic tilt on page 11.

Great find Haplix! I don't think I've been doing it correctly. I shouldn't be able to get 40 reps this fast if I keep the tension on the hip flexor the whole time. I read those instructions on that pdf that it says go SLOWLY. I kept tension the whole time and it was a lot harder. It says we should see results in 4-6 weeks. Can't wait to see how this affects my kicks.

[Biren Patel]

This exercise looks like nothing, it must be incredibly painful....

You summed up Foundation 1 beautifully.

[Jon Douglas]

I've noticed these help ease my hips into the motion of single- and double-leg extension used in several of the F progressions. No clicking or tightness. So for me it's already paid for itself

[Edward Prah]

I also wanted to share with you guys another exercise that works. It just requires a sturdy chair.

From http://www.danceadvantage.net/deb-vogel-developpe/
 

Here’s a simple and easy way to start strengthening your iliopsoas. Sit on the front part of a chair with your back long and tall, both feet on the ground. You are going to monitor staying on top of your pelvis – don’t let yourself roll to the back side of the pelvis during this exercise. Start by lifting one knee up towards the ceiling, and then lower it just so your toe touches, and lift it again. Can you do 20 repetitions without fatiguing? That would be your first goal, and you’ll be delighted  at how quickly you gain strength.

Do the same movement on the other leg. If you want to make this more challenging you can tie a theraband around both thighs to provide resistance to the leg that’s lifting.

 

Hopefully this will be the end result of all of this along with all the series on gymnasticbodies.com

 

P.S. just realized that her quads are huge like mine. No excuses now.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

mother of God.

 

those thighs could strangle a mammoth. 

[Jonathan Pettit]

In my martial arts classes we do a similar hip flexor conditioning drill, usually for time.  Stand near a wall so you can use it for balance if need be.  Pull your toes back on one foot and then raise the knee as high as you can (the chamber position for a front kick).  Lower it back down, trying to only let the heel touch the ground, and then lift right back up.  Do this in a slow, controlled rhythm for 30sec.

 

Then hold the knee as high as you can and pulse it, moving up and down only a few inches.  If you didn't feel it before you definitely will now.  Do that for 30sec and then switch sides.  We rarely do multiple sets in class but doing that two or three times would leave a burn.

 

I can fairly comfortably hold a front kick out straight about solar plexus level, a bit higher on my right side and a bit lower on the left.  We don't actively train for static-passive flexibility like ballet, but I can see the carry over.

[Blairbob]

mother of God.

 

those thighs could strangle a mammoth.


Willing to take up that challenge. 

[Jon Douglas]

These are just brilliant before hard pancake stretching. I feel like they have really helped me get my toes up in straddle L hold

[Keilani Gutierrez]

still kind of confused on what to do here xD

from what i have understood you're sitting, one leg is bent (with foot on floor) the other is bent with feet pointed and leg does compression drills from bent leg to straight leg in different angles? (in front, 45 degrees and as far to 90 degrees as possible)

[Edward Prah]

I think someone else could it explain it better but I'll try.

Take a look at this picture from the article:

 

I believe her back is at an angle but straight. I hear when you stand and bring your bent leg up over 90 degrees, your hip flexors take over. You use that same principle but in a sitting position. You slightly bend the straighter leg in a turnout and lift it up(I heard ballet people say to think of lifting up from your hamstrings) to engage your hip flexors. You should feel minimal work from your quads because of the position of your body and legs.

 

I've started to back off of this a little bit and work on glute activation such as glute bridges. I talked to a chiropractor who confirmed that my glutes are not firing. My hip flexors are already tight so I don't want to cause extra issues with this exercise. But I can say that it works because I can lift my leg higher.

[Alexander Egebak]

Can somebody upload or link to a videoclip of them performing the exercise?

[palmcron]

There is a video on http://www.joelminden.com/improving-hip-flexibility-in-dancers-three-methods-compared/