QuestionQUESTION: hi i was recommended for Bikram Yoga to help me in my flexibility for my dancing... do you have any other suggestions? and suggestions for better posture because for some reason i find it tiring to stand up straight all the time ..is that due to lack of strength in my midsection?
i was also wondering about the gluts... i am flat on the back end and i do not know if that is due to lack of exercise...im too skinny (which i do not think is it).. or if that is just inherent and part of my genes... either way do you have some exercises or things i could do to change that?
ANSWER: Hi Jakii,
to be honest with you, I am not too familiar with the Bikram Yoga. I do enjoy my pilates and have tried various mixtures and I believe that any of those disciplines will most certainly increase your flexibility.
In regards to your other questions, I would recommend to get a kinetic chain assessment carried out - which would assess your whole body and posture as one, to see which muscles are weaker and which are being used to compensate. Like with your glutes- you may be using your hamstrings, quads or even back to move yourself without even realising. You may have stronger stomach/chest muscles and your upper back is not so causing you to become tired. These are just guesses - getting yourself checked out will let you know where you are and what to do to become stronger all round.
Being too skinny may well be down to our genes, but as long as you eat healthily and enough for your body size then you should be fine... just the envy of all the other women wanting to be skinny!!! :) I would look at bringing in some resistance training on top of your dancing if you are really concerned. It won't bulk you up too much!
I would like to give you some ideas of exercises but would prefer you to find somewhere that can carry out an assessment and then they can advise you of the corrective exercises required.
I know I haven't been too specific but I hope this will help you. Any further queries, by all means don't hesitate to ask.
Tara
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QUESTION: i have a very flat butt... but i don't know why that is... is it because of my genes or is due to lack of exercise?
are there exercises i can do to get that "brazilian-butt-lift" look without the surgery?
ANSWER: Hi Jakii,
You probably have got sick of waiting for a reply to this by now, but I got your question and couldn't work out how to answer it. It kept sending me back to my answer page above. I apologise profusely and want you to know that it wasn't ignoration but lack of understanding these computers!!
To the answer: there are quite a lot of exercises that you can do - lots of varying ones to keep your body guessing.
First though, there are three different types of bodies. Naturally thin, not easy to gain weight; muscular shaped but easy to gain weight; and larger bodies that gain weight very easily (these are the simplified way to say it!!) You need to work out which category you fall into as it may be genes, but you can certainly work towards it, it will just depend how 'big' that butt will get!
You also need to make sure that your body is working in the correct firing pattern. Your glutes should always work first, then your hamstrings and finally your back muscles but a lot of people have that all mixed up and generally due to bad posture. It can also be affected by any injuries and how your body now moves accordingly to the injuries.
You say you dance, and to a certain extent I am surprised that you do not have a fantastic butt already?? The simple exercises such as squats and lunges are very good (including all types of plies) but you do need to make sure you are putting your weight into your heels. A good test for this is to keep your toes on the floor but be able to wiggle them around. You can then play around with these on varying weights, and surfaces to make them harder - try doing a one-legged squat with your eyes closed!! The general progression is stable surface to unstable surface to eyes shut but the possibilities are endless with imagination.
But to get the firing pattern correct, there are smaller exercises such as lying on the floor face down and squeezing the glutes together, then progressing to squeeze the glutes and then raising one leg straight up off the floor, lowering and repeating with the opposite 10 times. You can then do this from a box shape, etc.
It would be an idea to see a personal trainer, or even speak to a gym instructor to get a good programme written as so many aspects are looked at when doing a 'personal' programme.
Good luck, and if you need to ask anything else, I have sussed this computer thing out so there will not be any further delays!!
Tara
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QUESTION: i have no problem with the delay ... thank you so much though for your reply... and yes.... i had always wondered why my butt had not been in good shape since i dance...
when you say bad posture... do you only mean for dance? or for walking and moving in general?
AnswerHi again!!
I am talking posture for every movement you do. If you were to get a kinetic chain assessment it would look at your body as a whole and see which areas were weak and which were tighter, allowing it to not work correctly. When you are measured against a plum line it really is amazing to see how someone you thought had fantastic posture actually is out of alignment in some way.
These imbalances can cause certain parts of the body to not work correctly and it may be affecting your butt. Without being able to see you, I cannot pass comment at all.
But I do want you to think about what will happen when you get your lovely big, brazilian bum - is this going to affect your dance? I mean, if I were to say go do some squats with heaps of weight on to get the muscle bigger, you may not want to do that if you were with the Royal Ballet. It may just be that you want it toned up that little bit more by doing something like a legs, bums and tums class or even just some simple but effective smaller exercises.
As I say, it is rather hard for me to be able to give you definates when I can't see you or have all the information I need to make the correct assessments, etc, which is why I would more recommend a personal trainer for you as you have your dance already keeping you fit. They can then just tweak the finer points and you'll be even more gorgeouos!!
Keep smiling and you know where I am!!
Tara
