5 Ways to Cross Train to Prevent Ballet Injuries

1. Explore a new Class

Ballet is a disciplined art that trains specific muscles to do specific motions repeatedly. Cross train your dancing with another style of dance. Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Modern and Ballroom dancing work your classically trained muscles in different ways. New steps, turnouts and motions work muscles you don't normally stretch and strengthen. The idea is to find a class that is different than the ballet training you take all week. Find a new instructor and new style for your cross training dance class.

2. All Around Training

Cross training needs to incorporate moves in all different levels. Work in all directions from positions on the floor and sitting as well as kneeling and standing. Focus on exercises and stretches that start from a turned in or parallel foot placement. Your turnout will not suffer from these opposite and alternate positions. The attention to these different activities gives you the edge in performance and the ability to lean and master new moves in your repertoire.

3. Build Up Your Balancing Act

Balance and stability are just as important in dancing as flexibility. Dancers work regularly on fixed stationary floors and mats but miss the crucial balance and stability training on uneven and unstable surfaces. Try training with an exercise ball or malleable flooring or mats. The additional stability will help make you feel more solid and secure in your turning and extensions.

4. Hit the gym Equipment

Leave your studio behind and work your muscles with some free weights and nautilus equipment. Upper body strength is your focus for free weights. Quality movement with the free weight is more important than the weight of the dumbbell. Let the Nautilus equipment challenge your core and shoulder muscles with varied moves from your dance training.

5. Exchange Your Theraband for a Black Belt

Ballet training has been adopted by many other sporting professions to focus on small controlled muscle movements. Football and soccer players take ballet to help with squatting and kicking, or plies and turnout in dance terms. Ballet dancers should follow the example set by professional athletes in other disciplines. Karate is a great sport that will not hinder your years of training, but build new skills in muscle strength, balance and stability.