Improving & Stretching.

taylaTITANIUM<3 · Joined: 13 Apr 2008 Posts: 3

I'd like to have a career in dancing. In which I'd like knowledge on what lies ahead of me so I am prepared and am aware of the consequences, if any.

Also, as a thirteen year old I'm not sure what limits there are to stretching. I don't want to bounce too much when stretching in fear that I might injure some muscles.

So if anyone can give me a little heads up on some stretching suitable for my age that'd be great :D

I normally stretch at night and before my dance classes.

Some help on how many times i should do a certain stretch and how long would be awesome too.

Thanks [:

sunshine · Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 106 Location: dance room

Welcome to DF!! :cheers: I'm 20 and i remember when i was your age, my gymnastics teacher forced us to stay with the front leg supported on a small bench and with the other leg extended in the back, on the floor in a split for 4 minutes..then 5 minutes break and once again,switching legs... It was dreadful at that time but now i'm so proud of my flexibility..Good luck!!! :th;)

pr · Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 1011 Location: Göteborg, Sweden

Welcome taylaTITANIUM<3! :D

kirin · Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Posts: 56 Location: mexico

I know about flexibility, i wnt to gimnastic clases for almost 4 years... the teacher like sunchine said made us poat oru feet over a bench and stay there streching for like 2 or 3 minutes then change to scuat and then back split and then change feet and after that he would forse us open...

If your wealing to do that you should defenetly do something first like plies to warm up and then you can start... Ill say that if it dosnt hurt your not gettin any improvemnets thats the rough part about streching, also always try to get your grand batmans (spelling) and your developes (speling sorry :( ) as high as you can you should always fell your muscles working and your legs streching...

:D

sunshine · Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 106 Location: dance room

yap..kirin is right..no pain no gain .... :yes:

tinkerbell · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:55 am Post subject:

well, no pain no gain in stretching is correct, but if you feel no pain when you are working out, such as crunches or something so that you can help yourself pull out of your pointe shoes, then the more gain you get... because if you hurt yourself too much, then you can't do whatever it was you were doing when you hurt yourself for a long time, then you feel that you have to push more in, and then that is no good either, because that will make you get yourself hurt again... so the more pain you get in stretching the better... the more pain you inflict upon yourself while working out... the less you get! haha! but anyway, I was thirteen, and I stretched all the time. haha! So don't worry. I also do over-stretched splits as well. (What kirin and sunshine did in gymnastics class). This will help you to make your leaps fuller, and more open! good luck!

missj · Joined: 11 Apr 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Midwest

that's great that you want to improve your flexibility! here's what i would suggest:

- feeling tension/uncomfortable in the muscles you are stretching is good! burning, sharp or sudden pain is bad! burning usually means you are tearing a muscle and that weakens the muscle for future use!
- you're right not to bounce! you want a continuous stretch of the muscles for at least 20-30 seconds, then release just a bit, and then try to push your flexibility a little further and hold for another 20 seconds. you can continue to do this until you can no longer get any further.

there is such a thing as resistance stretching which is great for increasing strength and flexibility too, but doesn't work for all stretches. if you're interested, ask and i can tell you about that too. :D

flourish · Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 4

i myself need some basic flexibility too, although i'm not a dancer...

the best ways to increase your flexibility is to do isometric and PNF stretching (performed correctly!), but it would be not wise to do that at your age since you're not fully grown yet.

for the stretching periods i always do :
-3x 10secs for preparatory excercises
-2x 20secs and 1x long (1 min or longer) for the actual grand écart

it helped for me; i went from 70 cm to 4 cm in about 8 months, and i didn't even stretch alot ! :d

greets
Flourishhh