As we have learned in class, stretching is very important in exercising and having a healthy body. As a dancer and dance teacher I experience the benefits of stretching on a normal basis. In dance there is a lot of moves that help you stretch your body and help you become a better athlete. Many people think of stretching as yoga or pilates expercises. These classes and techniques are great for the body but there are many other froms and movements that you can do to help.
I am going to list some common dance movements that I do to help stretch my body. One that we do often is called the "lunge". This is where we put one leg behind us, keeping the other bent towards our chest, and push our weight down slightly. This helps with stretching most of your leg muscles. Another stretch we do often is what we call a "sit and reach". It is self explainitory because you sit on the ground with your legs straight in front of you and reach your arms forward. You can also do this standing and reaching to the ground with your hands. There are many other stretches that we do, but these I feel are some of the most important because they stretch your legs. Not only do dancers need to be sure their legs are flexible, but every athlete and person should work towards this goal. Did you know that many back pains can be fixed by stretching your leg muscles? By doing stretches like these you can help minimize and/or eliminate the pain. Next time you know someone or you have back problems try stretching your legs.
Having a flexible body helps protect people from injury and even relieves stress levels in the body. We should be checking our flexiblity as often as possible to ensure that we are keeping our bodies and minds safe. To do this we need to assess our flexibility. First sit on the floor with your feet out straight in front of you and seperate them about 12 inches apart from each other. Then lean forward and place your hands as far as they will comforable go. Then use an object or note how far your hands are from your feet. If they are 6 inches or less from your feet in either direction then your flexibility rate is great, if your reach is between 6 inches and your knees then you still need some work, and if it is any less than this you need to really be working harder on your flexibility. Where do you stand in flexibility? Try it and find out!
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2 comments:
Your blog about being flexible was definately interesting to me. Growing up, my dad always told me to stretch and I never realized the immportance of it. I have had a few injuries due to having tight muscles which could've easily been prevented. I also liked the part you included about back pain. I have back pain every day and I never thought to stretch my legs to see if that would help!
Great article. I have to agree being flexible is very good for your body and important for dance or any activity. Also prevents back pain.
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