3 Reasons Why Everyone Should Try A Ballet Workout

Ballet is a fitness trend you won’t want to miss! Yet many people feel intimidated about trying real ballet. Here are some myths and what you need to know to let your inner ballerina shine.

1. You don’t have to be thin, leggy, flexible, or coordinated to do ballet.

We’ve all seen images of petite dancers performing athletic feats of startling beauty and skill. And who can forget the perfectionism and cutthroat competitiveness that tormented Natalie Portman in Black Swan? It’s no wonder many people feel intimidated about trying a plié!

Whether you’re 20 or 70, ballet is just good fitness.

The simple truth, however, is that ballet is an AMAZING workout that will put you in the best shape of your life. Ballet develops strength, tone, flexibility, balance, and grace — even if you don’t start out with any!

That unmistakably elegant ballet physique — shapely legs, trim waist, toned back and arms — comes from a formula of barre, stretching, and freestanding exercises that make up a typical ballet class. Whether you’re 20 or 70, ballet is just good fitness.

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"No matter who you are, no matter what you do, you absolutely, positively do have the power to change." - Great start this week, well done ! See you for some more classes!www.balletbodysculpture.com
Posted by Ballet Body Sculpture on Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Why Green Tea ? - The Benefits That You Didn’t Know About

Green tea has been used as a medicine for thousands of years, originating in China but widely used throughout Asia this beverage has a multitude of uses from lowering blood pressure to preventing cancer. The reason that green tea has more health benefits attached to it than black tea is (apparently) due to the processing. Black tea is processed in a way that allows for fermentation whereas green tea’s processing avoids the fermentation process. As a result, green tea retains maximum amount of antioxidants and poly-phenols the substances that give green tea its many benefits.

Here’s a list of some of its amazing benefits — benefits that you may not have been aware of. Some of these benefits are still being debated, so please do your own research if you want to use green tea for medicinal purposes.

• Weight Loss. Green tea increases the metabolism. The polyphenol found in green tea works to intensify levels of fat oxidation and the rate at which your body turns food into calories.

• Diabetes. Green tea apparently helps regulate glucose levels slowing the rise of blood sugar after eating. This can prevent high insulin spikes and resulting fat storage.
• Heart Disease. Scientists think, green tea works on the lining of blood vessels, helping keep them stay relaxed and better able to withstand changes in blood pressure. It may also protect against the formation of clots, which are the primary cause of heart attacks.
• Esophageal Cancer. It can reduce the risk of esophageal cancer, but it is also widely thought to kill cancer cells in general without damaging the healthy tissue around them.
• Cholesterol. Green tea reduces bad cholesterol in the blood and improves the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol.
• Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It is said to delay the deterioration caused by Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Studies carried out on mice showed that green tea protected brain cells from dying and restored damaged brain cells.
• Tooth Decay. Studies suggests that the chemical antioxidant “catechin” in tea can destroy bacteria and viruses that cause throat infections, dental caries and other dental conditions
• Blood Pressure. Regular consumption of green tea is thought to reduce the risk of high blood pressure.
• Depression. Theanine is an amino acid naturally found in tea leaves. It is this substance that is thought to provide a relaxing and tranquilizing effect and be a great benefit to tea drinkers.
• Anti-viral and Anti-bacterial. Tea catechins are strong antibacterial and antiviral agents which make them effective for treating everything from influenza to cancer. In some studies green tea has been shown to inhibit the spread of many diseases.
• Skincare. Green tea can apparently also help with wrinkles and the signs of aging, This is because of their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Both animal and human studies have demonstrated that green tea applied topically can reduce sun damage.

How Much?

These are some of the many benefits but the reality is one cup of tea a day will not give you all the abundant gains. The jury is out on how many cups are necessary; some say as little as two cups a day while others five cups — and more still say you can drink up to ten cups a day. If you are thinking of going down this route, you may want to consider taking a green tea supplement instead (it would keep you out of the bathroom).

Another thing to point out is that there is caffeine in green tea — so if you are sensitive to caffeine then one cup should be your limit. Green tea also contains tannins (which can decrease the absorption of iron and folic acid), so if you are pregnant or trying to conceive then green tea may not be ideal for you. You can try mixing green tea with other healthy ingredients such as ginger.

For the rest of us with all these abundant benefits…it’s a wonder we drink anything else:)

For more ideas to stay healthy and fit join our personal training/advise sessions to start building your defined wellbeing:

www.balletbodysculpture.com

Online training classes available at :

http://www.balletbodysculpture.com/online-classes.html

Post by Ballet Body Sculpture.

The Best Anti-Aging - Dance - To Keep Yourself Young & Healthy

Jogging and going to the gym often lose their appeal as we age. Few would argue that dancing is much more enjoyable. What’s more, it can benefit the heart, lungs, muscles as well as improving the joints and general well-being even more than cycling or that jogging session in the rain.

“As we age, the benefits of physical activity cannot be underestimated and dancing is a great way to keep healthy, have a great time and enjoy exercise” says Sam Turner of Policy Research Institute on Ageing and Ethnicity Charity.

Dancing and ballet is of course a great group activity, a fun way to meet those new life-friends that you haven’t met yet and a good way to boost self-esteem confidence and memory. “The social, emotional and psychological benefits of dancing are important, especially for those people who are at the risk of becoming lonely or isolated” says Sam Turner.

Let’s all dance ourselves Young and Healthy…

Heart, Health & Weight Control

Dancing can help lower your resting heart rate, your blood pressure and can even lower your cholesterol as well.

Depending on how quick or how energetically you move, dancing can give your heart and lungs a good cardiovascular workout with the added bonus of weight loss thrown in. In actual fact, dancing burns as many calories as swimming or cycling and with ballroom dancing 180 to 480 calories can be lost within an hour’s class - even if you jogged for an hour and burned off 430 calories it would never be half as much fun as if you danced them off.

Bone and Joint Health

As a weight-bearing exercise, dancing helps build, strengthen and maintain healthy bones.

The side-to-side movements of many dance steps strengthen the weight bearing areas of the body including those of the bones in the legs which helps to prevent the onset of osteoporosis in which the limbs become fragile, brittle and can easily break.

A research study by the University Of Maryland School Of Nursing found that dancing helps increase flexibility, co-ordination and the balance of any person, which researchers believe can lead to fewer falls in the mature adult.

Dancing may also help keep joints healthy, supple and mobile and because dancing is a low-impact exercise it doesn’t put strain or too much pressure on those difficult areas. In fact dancing is recommended for those who have had replacement bone and joint operations as a form of therapy, holistic treatment and after-care.

Mental & Emotional Health

When you learn a new dance, remembering the steps could help you keep your memory sharp, alert and active. Research studies have shown that through the use of dancing the likes of dementia prevention are highly expected.

A Study by the Eisenstein College of Medicine in New York followed 500 people aged 60+ who took part in a variety of activities including swimming, cycling, walking and dancing. Out of all the results gained from the study of these activities, researchers discovered that dancing was the only activity associated with a lower risk of mental deterioration. Meanwhile at the other side of the world, Greek scientists have found that dancing is makes a person more positive and with a great outlook on life; and a group of older women who took part in a Thessaloniki based study said that weekly dance classes helped increase their feelings of well-being, self-worth and newly found optimism.

Dancing has been proven to help you relax and take you mind off those troubling worries because of the amount of energy that your body uses during it’s dance sessions you will notice a more physically relaxed person after your class and will be able to sleep easily at night.

So let's get dancing, a bit of ballet & some exercise will keep you young and beautiful for longer. To join our group classes,  private training as well as online ballet video classes, please register via email at our website:

www.balletbodysculpture.com

Post by Ballet Body Sculpture.

Embrace Your Inner Ballerina – Ballet Workout For All Women

With devotees like Madonna, Kelly Ripa, and Natalie Portman, it's not surprising ballet workout classes becoming increasingly popular. But it's not just Hollywood hype! Ballet-inspired workouts are a great way to develop lean muscle mass while improving your balance, flexibility, and range of motion.

Should I try it?

That depends. Are you looking for a fun and unique total-body workout? If so, then yes! Ballet workouts are suited to all fitness levels and – in spite of what you might think – no previous dance experience is required. Tutors provide exercises for everyone to help and get the most out of their workout.

What should I expect?

A lot of people think you need to be coordinated or that you need to be a dancer, but you really don't. Go in with an open mind, listen to the instructor, listen to your body and enjoy yourself.

What's in it for me?

Yes, if you are keen on having a read carpet ready body like Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel, who are both fans of the ballet based fitness method. You would be burning anywhere from 400 to 600 calories in an hour-long class (depending on your weight and height),  so you're bound to see changes sooner rather than later. Long lean muscles, sculpted abs, toned thighs and calves, and improved posture and flexibility are often reported. And don't forget all of the other benefits that come with regular exercise: a decrease in stress levels, better sleep and improved cardiovascular health to help ward off heart disease and diabetes.

What should I wear?

Wear comfortable, breathable workout clothing that's easy to move around in, but not so loose that it's impossible for the tutor to see your form in class. As for your feet, leave the cutting-edge cross-trainers at home. Soft ballet shoes are the best option, they can be purchased in all ballet shops. Alternatively, to begin, simple socks will do the job.


How often should I go?

Regular ballet workout class, three or four times a week will deliver dramatic results in the form of a slimmer, more toned physique.


Where can I try it?

We have a range of group& private classes available, as well as lessons for absolute beginners in various locations. Attendance is flexible, you are not stuck with specific course, certain start dates, or even week day. However regular exercise is always advisable to gain maximum benefits. Start with attending a Taster class and start gaining progressive results directly.

For those that live further away and are not able to attend our classes in available locations, we created a great resource library with online ballet workout classes, that will be available to enjoy in the very near future.

www.balletbodysculpture.com

Post by Ballet Body Sculpture.

Speed Up Your Metabolism

The poor metabolism gets blamed for everything these days. Weight gain, lack of energy, even our day-to-day health. But what actually is it and is there any truth to the rumours we constantly hear?

The Metabolism is the sum of the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which its material substance is produced, maintained, and destroyed, and by which energy is made available. Basically, its the entire chemical processes going on continuously inside your body to allow life and normal functioning.

All metabolism processes are controlled by hormones and the nervous system and influenced by your age, gender, muscle-to-fat ratio, eating, physical activity and overall lifestyle.

The total amount of calories we spend every day to run all these processes is called total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), and it’s spent as follows:

    •    60-70% just to maintain vital functions such as breathing, regulating the temperature and the heart beating - this is the BMR (basal metabolic rate).   

    •    15-30% to do our daily activities (working, training, commuting, etc.)

    •    10-15% to break down the food and assimilate it.

Basal metabolic rate, daily activities and food eaten are the key factors that affect our total daily energy expenditure (daily metabolism).

The primary reason the metabolism slows down as you grow older is because your hormone levels drop down and you lose muscles.

If you keep up with your training, get good sleep and eat adequate levels of lean protein, vegetables and fruit, you should prevent hormones from falling down and muscle mass being lost.

Don't use your age as an excuse - it's not uncommon to see 50-year-old people being fitter than someone half their age and you can bet their metabolism is faster as well.

You have full control over your metabolism. There is no proof or scientific indication to state that we inherit our metabolisms or the speed at which they work.

Quite simply, you can't blame weight gain or energy loss on the speed of you metabolism. You control it and can make the difference with a few simple steps.

Join our Ballet Body Sculpture programs to choose a unique way to keep your metabolism going, speed it up with some more intense #ballet based workouts, balance your body with more therapeutic routines, using NLP #exercises, and experience fast results giving you confidence and a great sense of #wellbeing.

www.balletbodysculpture.com

Post by Ballet Body Sculpture.

Flexibility or Hypermobility - Find Out More

When you start exercising you may start to discover many interesting factors about physical functions of body, joins and muscles. Often people get a little confused between these two things - Flexibility & Hypermobility, or think that they are one and the same. But there is actually quite a difference between the two.

You can be Hypermobile and not Flexible, or Flexible and not Hypermobile, or both together or neither!

Hypermobility relates more to the mobility in your joints due to the tension in the ligaments supporting them, while Flexibility is more about the total range of movement that you have in your body, which depends on the amount of tension in your muscles, fascia and nervous system.

Around each of our joints are strong bands of connective tissue called ligaments that help hold our bones together. (Remember that ligaments attach bone to bone, while tendons attach muscle to bone). In some people these ligaments are very tight, while in others they are quite stretchy. If a person has very stretchy or “lax” ligaments we call this Hypermobility. This means that the amount of movement available in their joints is more than for a person who has tight ligaments. The mobility of the ligaments does not change very rapidly over time. However as we age, if the joints are not moved regularly, the ligaments may stiffen a little.

Some people are mobile in just one or two joints, while some people have excessive mobility everywhere! (There is a special test to see how hypermobile you are called The Beighton Scale that gives you a value out of 9).

Note that Hypermobility is very different to Flexibility. Flexibility is more about your muscles (and other soft tissues) and how much they can lengthen to allow you to move your body through a full range of motion. This can change very rapidly, whereas your Hypermobility will not. While Hypermobility is usually genetically linked, we all have the capability to change our flexibility if we work on the right things.

You may feel tight in your muscles one day and loose the next, due to the amount of exercise you are doing, trauma from overstretching, changes in the temperature or hormonal change.

The one big myth that is that flexibility is all about your muscles. There are so many other systems that contribute to the amount of flexibility you feel in your body, so it is important that any flexibility routine that you do cover all bases. In our training classes and ballet workouts we make sure that there are exercises that contribute to your neural mobility, fascial tension, dynamic flexibility and strength and the power of your mind over your body, as well as static stretches.

Join our ballet workout classes in various locations and discover the real flexibility that is inside you today!

www.balletbodysculpture.com

Post by Ballet Body Sculpture.