Anonymous asked: Hello lovely!! Um just wondering how to improve my turn out muscles without taking more classes? I would take more classes, but I have no money to spend on them. You and your blog are just lovely.

Hello Sweetie! :)

Me lovely?! Oh you’re just saying that… *blushes like crazy*

Anyway! :D 

Turn out is a tricky thing to talk about, because it depends on so many factors. Firstly, not everyone can achieve the much wanted 180 degree turn out due to anatomical factors and secondly, the ‘goodness’ of your turn out also relies on your center split to improve hip rotation.

To start off with, the good news is you don’t have to take additional classes to improve your turn out muscles! And there are a number of stretches that you can do to help them:

-Center split: Your center split largely involves the same muscles in your hips to achieve 180 degree turn out. If your center split is not full, getting closer and closer to a full center split can enhance your turn out. There are a number of methods for this.

By lying stomach down on the floor press your feet against the wall in a turned out position and push yourself into a center split with your feet sliding apart. Only do this lying stomach down because there is no weight against your glutes which allows for your hip joints to rotate. Go as far as you can hold for 10 seconds. Do repetitions of this about 10 times.

-Turn Out Stretches: There are many different turn out stretches that you can do, but I prefer to begin by teaching my body what turn out is. To do this, turn one leg out to the side and try to get it into a 180 degree position. Continually do this so you get the feel of rotating your leg in your hip joint. Repeat this with the other leg.

-Another stretch is to turn one leg out as far as you can and keep the other one straight (like in the first exercise). Now incorporate the lunge exercise by taking about a lunge forward with your straight leg and lean forward, putting your weight onto that leg. You should feel a stretch in your hip as you do this. Hold for 10 seconds and do 10 repetitions of this on each leg.

-Butterfly stretch is your best friend. In Vaganova I was taught that doing butterfly while sitting can cause unnecessary strain to your knees. Instead, get into a ‘push ups’ position and rest on your elbows with your forearms on the floor (helps get the strain off your elbows). Now put your legs into a butterfly position (feet together and knees bent and apart) and balance your weight between your knees and your elbows. Gently push yourself further down on your butterfly. It’s like doing a center split, but in a butterfly position. The point of this stretch is to force your legs to turn out at the hip since the pressure is put against your thighs as you slide further down.

This is the exact same as when you do the normal butterfly stretch and you push your knees down to the floor with your hands, except this is safer and gives you a better stretch since there is no force (the floor) pushing against your hips/glutes which stops you from turning out.

-Practising your turnout: A big part of having a strong turn out is to also put them into practice. Go back to the very basics of ballet and do all 5 of your basic ballet feet positions with your turn out. Do repetitions of 10 in a series of moving through all of the positions. 

After that, do the positions in releve/eleve and hold your demi-pointe (or pointe) for 10 seconds. Again, repetitions of 10 for the series of positions.
After that, plie in your 5 ballet positions and try to really deepen your plie. Again repetitions of 10 for each position. However, do this exercise 2 or more times because this is the most effective at improving your turn out. :)

I hope this helped. If you have any more questions to ask, feel free to. :) (And thanks for the compliments. You are a very lovely person yourself! It made me smile :D and go AWWWWWWWWWWW )