Ever wondered how to get great legs like a dancer? You know, the legs that look like they are chiseled out of marble? Incredibly toned, strong, but not bulky?

Some tone their legs simply dancing almost everyday in the dance studio. If you’ve ever done a ballet barre warm up, you know the burn I am talking about. I and many other dancers like to use weight training to supplement our dance training. Dance requires a lot of strength but also flexibility from the legs. So you must remember that you must strengthen AND stretch. Do not neglect stretching. Any type of weight lifting or even overuse of the muscles in dancing will contract the muscles and thus limit your range of motion. We want to increase both strength and flexibility. Just remember, dynamic stretches before a workout. Static stretches after. BUT do not stretch your legs on leg day. You never stretch the same muscle group that you are training before or during a workout as it will decrease your strength and performance during the workout.

How often should you train legs?

This is different for everyone. For me because I am a professional dancer who dances 6 days a week, my body cannot take more than one leg day a week because if I did more they would never fully recover and build muscle. Because remember you build muscle during rest period. Check out my article on the importance of rest and taking time off. Some weeks I have to take off training legs completely, especially if its a performance or competition week.

So what are the different leg and glutes muscles?

Quads: front of the thighs, power house of your legs, and help us extend and straighten the leg

front of the thighs, power house of your legs, and help us extend and straighten the leg Hamstrings: function to help move your knees and hips

function to help move your knees and hips Adductors: inside of the thighs, VERY important in dancing –> squeeze these babies at all time. Always feel like you have a magnet b/w your thighs even if your legs are apart. It will help your balance, control your leg swing, and make your pivots/turns much easier. I always tell my students “Squeeze your thighs! Close your thighs!”

inside of the thighs, VERY important in dancing –> squeeze these babies at all time. Always feel like you have a magnet b/w your thighs even if your legs are apart. It will help your balance, control your leg swing, and make your pivots/turns much easier. I always tell my students “Squeeze your thighs! Close your thighs!” Abductors: on the sides of the hips, help us stabilize our leg and rotate from the hip joint

on the sides of the hips, help us stabilize our leg and rotate from the hip joint Glutes: one of the strongest muscles in the body. It helps us rise from a low position. So Squat! You use your glutes especially in Bolero! (Tell that ass to get low)

one of the strongest muscles in the body. It helps us rise from a low position. So Squat! You use your glutes especially in Bolero! (Tell that ass to get low) Calves: back of the lower legs, they help you lift your heels and shift weight to the balls of your feet

back of the lower legs, they help you lift your heels and shift weight to the balls of your feet Ankles: There area bunch of little small muscles, ligaments, and tendons that support and move our ankles and feet. For purposes of this article, I won’t go deep into detail about the anatomy, but if you are interested in ankle anatomy, check out this article.

Leg Exercises to Supplement and Improve Your Dancing

Flexing, pointing and rolling the foot : This is a really good warmup for your ankles and working on your foot and ankle strength and range of motion. A lot of my students who have issues with either Latin/Rhythm or Standard/Smooth strides usually don’t have good ankle strength and flexibility.

: This is a really good warmup for your ankles and working on your foot and ankle strength and range of motion. A lot of my students who have issues with either Latin/Rhythm or Standard/Smooth strides usually don’t have good ankle strength and flexibility. Remember you mostly flex your foot for the smooth dances (keeping the heel on the floor for your forward strides) You mostly point your foot for your Rhythm/Latin dances OR for any side or back step (because it’s really hard to step with the heel going backwards haha!) Also it will help increase your foot pressure with the floor which is crucial for taking long controlled smooth/standard strides and for your cuban/latin motion!

Flat-Demi Pointe-Pointe: start feet slightly apart in second position, weight on one foot. With your free foot start flat, then roll to demi-pointe (ball of your foot), and then fully point your foot to where your toe is on the floor. Do this on both feet

start feet slightly apart in second position, weight on one foot. With your free foot start flat, then roll to demi-pointe (ball of your foot), and then fully point your foot to where your toe is on the floor. Do this on both feet Tendus: These will also help the pointing of the foot and increasing the foot pressure with the floor

These will also help the pointing of the foot and increasing the foot pressure with the floor Start with feet in first or fifth position turned out. Extend your foot forward, side, or back (you’ll want to practice all three), but you want to keep your toe on the floor and you want to work through your foot and pushing off the floor, so this will help you work on your foot pressure with the floor Your foot should not come off the floor, same as your rumba walks. Pro tip: this is going to help your Latin and Rhythm walks so much!

Releves: These will help increase your ankle strength to better support your body during weight transfer

These will help increase your ankle strength to better support your body during weight transfer Start with feet in first position Push down the balls of your feet into the floor, which will lift your heels Focus on still engaging your core and stretching up to maintain balance This will also help your chacha and swing or rise and fall dances where you step either “ball” or “toe”, while keeping the heel up (i.e. step 2 of your waltz box).

Grand Battements: These will teach you to isolate your legs and not let your legs disturb the upper half of your body.

These will teach you to isolate your legs and not let your legs disturb the upper half of your body. You can do these traveling down the floor or stationary. Like tendus, you can also do them forward, back or side Start in first or fifth position Just like in a tendu, start by keeping contact and foot pressure with the floor as you work to full point of the foot Once you get to that point, “push off the floor” and kick your leg as high as you can BUT, keeping your upper body still and posture nice and tall. Do NOT crunch or hunch over when you do these. Again it’s hard, but you need to learn to isolate in your dancing if you want to maintain good balance and overall dancing. Here is me doing weighted kick backs which is the same as a back grand battements:



Caterina’s 8! Plie-Squat-Lunge Challenge: You’re going to hate me for this, but if you want to work on your overall leg and glutes strength and muscle endurance, this will help. It’ll hurt. But it’ll help.

You’re going to hate me for this, but if you want to work on your overall leg and glutes strength and muscle endurance, this will help. It’ll hurt. But it’ll help. Start with legs in a wide second position You are going to do a grand plie so that your legs make a 90 degree angle. You are going to do 8 of these Then you are going to turn to the left and do 8 stationary lunges Now switch to the right and do 8 stationary lunges You will repeat this sequence doing 8-8-8, 7-7-7, 6-6-6, 5-5-5, 4-4-4, 3-3-3, 2-2-2, 1-1-1, or until muscle failure. If you cannot complete the sequence don’t worry. Keep working on it, and eventually you will be able to do the whole thing. I believe in you! Perseverance my friend. This will help strengthen your legs and glutes for ALL of your dances, but it especially helps bolero where you squat low.

Rumba walks all day, every day: Apparently, Gaynor Fairweath, Donnie Burns’ partner, practiced Rumba walks at least an hour everyday. It really will help all of your Rhythm/Latin dances.

Apparently, Gaynor Fairweath, Donnie Burns’ partner, practiced Rumba walks at least an hour everyday. It really will help all of your Rhythm/Latin dances. And for that matter practice your smooth/standard strides as well: Always focus on basic technique. Because it turns out the basics aren’t so basic.

Caterina’s 10 Rules for the Legs and Glutes

Always kill it on leg day But also know when to take a break, because you’re most likely to over train and exhaust your legs and glutes which you need to dance. Don’t do leg day on the week of a performance or competition. Especially if you are dancing bolero. Your legs and partner will hate you. Make sure to stretch your legs and do lots of hip openers. Tight hips are no bueno in dancing (that awkward moment when your hips are cracking with every rumba walk you take) Never lock your knees (yes I an ex-ballerina am very guilty of this and you are allowed to yell at me when I do) The first thing you do before you take a step is flex your knee(s) – single knee for opposition/rhythm/latin dances, both knees for unison/smooth/standard dances. Learn to isolate your legs and all of your limbs for that matter. Do not let the weight of your leg distort your upper body. You need to engage your core in order to do this. Feel the floor. Work through the floor. Always maintaining foot pressure with the floor. Dancing barefoot or in socks helps you to better feel the floor. Don’t stick your hips out, keep them tucked and in line with the spine. KEEP YOUR LEGS CLOSED! Ok not really. But you should always feel like you have a magnet between your adductors and you are always feeling those muscles pull towards each other trying to keep your inner thighs and knees together.

Stay tuned for another article on the best leg stretches and hip openers to do after your kick ass leg day!

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