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Has anyone tried the Ballet Beautiful program?
So lately I've been really into fitness and conditioning. I do a 5k 3 times a week, strength training 2 times a week…light yoga on the weekends. Plus I swim and do pole nearly every day. I'm a total health enthusiast. ha Lately, I just have been on the hunt for something relaxing and different to try. I purchased the book Ballet Beautiful and really enjoyed it, as the nutrition section coordinated well with what I already eat (minus meat, i'm trying hard to go vegetarian)…just really healthy natural food. And the workouts seemed fairly low impact but effective and I could see how these exercises would help with dancing. (She really stresses stretching even while you work out)… This woman trained Natalie Portman for her performance in Black Swan. ANYWAY…I know you can take live online classes with the instructor, Mary Helen Bowers and she has a few dvds out now. I was just wondering if anyone had tried them and had success. I read a ton of reviews and some ppl said they saw results after the first 1-3 classes?! Really? Does anyone know of any good Ballet dvds I could try at home? Thanks!
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20 Replies
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I have never heard of Ballet Beautiful but I went to the site and it seems like a great workout. Thanks for mentioning this and I'd love to hear reviews if you decide to try the DVDs, I'm considering it now too!
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Thank you for sharing! I really want to try this put now 🙂 i think i am going to buy the full body workout in the streaming option and see how i like it 🙂
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Out*
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Hello! I have been doing Ballet Beautiful for awhile now and I love it. I did do one of the live classes one time, and I enjoyed it, but they didn't work with my schedule so well, so for me it's easier to do the DVDs.
Mary Helen Bowers has two different DVDs out that I know of: One is more of a full-length workout and the other is the Blast DVD, which is divided into 15-minute segments. That's the one I use. The Blast one works best for me, because I can mix and match the workouts and do whatever I have time for. I found them incredibly challenging at first. They are low-impact and quick, but she works your muscles HARD and you do see the results. She definitely takes you into quivery-shaky-begging-for-relief-muscles territory.
I think they are a great complement to pole. My favorite ones are the Swan Arms workout (which sounds ethereal and lovely but kills my arms like CRAZY) and the two butt workouts. Sometimes I use one of the butt workouts as a warmup before stretching. Lots of nights I'll do Part 1 of the butt series and then do one of Alethea's stretching DVDs.
I hope this helps, and enjoy it if you do decide to try it!
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Thank you for mentioning this DVD series, I had never heard of her. I bought them both last night. Really excited about doing her workouts 🙂
I’m hoping some of her grace and lines rub off on me as I find I really struggle with my arms and hands. -
@Jovial – Hey I noticed you live in Aus. Can I ask, where did you buy the ballet beautiful series? I've had a quick search online, but so far I can only find region 1 and 2 dvd's of this series, which aren't going to work on my player.
Thanks!
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Ah I hadn’t realised that, doesn’t matter though cos I was intending to upload it to iPhone and iPad(after I purchase it) I’ve been converting all my DVDs into mp4. I use mac the ripper and handbrake to extract and convert. I bought the dvds directly from the ballet beautiful site. Once I get them I can let you know who I went with playing them directly and converting them etc 🙂
I’m from Melbourne 🙂 -
Do they help you weight wise if wanna lose a little and tone up? Thinking of buying the combo pack is both good or just the blast one better
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Have these dvds helped your flexibility?
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You might also look into the New York City Ballet Workout series. Booth a book and a DVD.
http://www.nycballet.com/teachers/workout.html -
Have that one and so outdated music and how them shot it I lose interests quick im like the dog from up! Squirrel haha
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I haven't tried the Classic DVD so can't speak to that one, but I do love the Blast. Actually, just noticed she seems to have a book out — wonder if it's good? Saw it on Amazon:
I definitely find that the exercises in the Blast workout tone you up, esp the outer thighs (which are a problem area for me & are difficult to target).
RE: flexibiity, she emphasizes a lot of stretching thru-out the workout (lots of pausing to stretch before beginning again) to keep the muscles long. Even more that that, though, I've found that my range of motion in stretches has increased since doing her workout, because she targets lots of individual muscles in the legs that get neglected. My active stretches are definitely better bc I can pull my legs into the stretches (like aerial splits) — I hope that makes sense.
LEt me know if you have any other questions!
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Hi! I bought the book as it only just came out in the UK. It arrived today and I’ve already got through it.
Its short and clear. It provides a background,an interesting mindset chapter, nutritional advice and recipies. It also provides workouts. I don’t have the dvd’s but I think they are much like them. She also included the body blast series. There are pictures and step by step instructions for each exercise.
I have some basic ballet music, I’ll have a go using that to work with.
Can’t wait to get started on it, specially the swan arms routine I’ve read so much hype about 🙂 -
I have the book and DVD's and LOVE this workout when I need to breathe and stretch! It's a really well-done and organized routine taught by an amazing instructor IMHO…challenging too!
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@talicat I received the DVDs yesterday, it only took 1 week :O it plays on my Sony DVD player and on my MacBook 🙂
Also in case anyone is interested there is an option to turn off the background music
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