sunjoy
01-22-2007, 01:12 PM
I'd like to hear your experiences with ballet or yoga, and what direct benefits they've had for your skating. Here's mine:
I took my first ever ballet class -- private, with an aquantance fortunately, so no issues with 'blending in'. It was very hard, even for me to do the most basic movements properly, and I questioned whether I'd want to continue, or go back to doing Iyengar yoga, which I felt might better condition my muscles to the point where I might actually be able to *do* the ballet stuff.
Next day I went skating, and felt an *immediate* benefit from the ballet. There's a movement called a ronde-de-jambe (hold the barre, stretch the free-foot out to the side, keeping the balls of your feet on the floor, then draw it back in an arc to a position behind you, still touching the floor: emphasis on keeping pelvis stable).
That one excercise did amazing things for my forward stroking. I noticed that I'd been letting my pelvis flap around while stroking, and became mindful of putting a stop to it. The ronde-de-jambe also solved the dilemma I felt from having been told in speedskating to always push *sideways* with the back 1/3 of the blade, and figure skating telling me to push more backwards and point the toe. Solution for me was to push sideways, then draw my leg back with a stable pelvis just like in the r-d-j. Nice powerfull push, nice extension and toe-point.
And wow! was I fast. My guess is that this was due to stabilizing the pelvis. Perhaps also due to getting better extension at the end of the push.
I'm still a little resistant to practicing the ballet on my own (and especially to practicing pilates): it's just not as fun as skating or yoga, both of which decidedly *don't* feel like work to me. I might legitimately feel this way about pilates, but hopefully as I get better with ballet i'll start enjoying the experience of it?
I took my first ever ballet class -- private, with an aquantance fortunately, so no issues with 'blending in'. It was very hard, even for me to do the most basic movements properly, and I questioned whether I'd want to continue, or go back to doing Iyengar yoga, which I felt might better condition my muscles to the point where I might actually be able to *do* the ballet stuff.
Next day I went skating, and felt an *immediate* benefit from the ballet. There's a movement called a ronde-de-jambe (hold the barre, stretch the free-foot out to the side, keeping the balls of your feet on the floor, then draw it back in an arc to a position behind you, still touching the floor: emphasis on keeping pelvis stable).
That one excercise did amazing things for my forward stroking. I noticed that I'd been letting my pelvis flap around while stroking, and became mindful of putting a stop to it. The ronde-de-jambe also solved the dilemma I felt from having been told in speedskating to always push *sideways* with the back 1/3 of the blade, and figure skating telling me to push more backwards and point the toe. Solution for me was to push sideways, then draw my leg back with a stable pelvis just like in the r-d-j. Nice powerfull push, nice extension and toe-point.
And wow! was I fast. My guess is that this was due to stabilizing the pelvis. Perhaps also due to getting better extension at the end of the push.
I'm still a little resistant to practicing the ballet on my own (and especially to practicing pilates): it's just not as fun as skating or yoga, both of which decidedly *don't* feel like work to me. I might legitimately feel this way about pilates, but hopefully as I get better with ballet i'll start enjoying the experience of it?