2. FRONT VIEW
As you can see my left shoulder
is higher than my right. Not
PLUMB LINE
only is it just my shoulder but
you can see my hip is too. I’m
considerably more flexible on
my left and I think that this is
one of the reasons why. Also
my hip flexor is a lot looser on
the left, so that my leg is able
to go further.
3. BACK VIEW
I have a weak spine. This is due to an
injury in the neck I did when I was a
lot younger. My upper body
PLUMB LINE
strength isn't that good either. This
is also because I don’t have an
amazing core. I do try my best to
work on this but sometimes it
causes pain to my back which then
prevents me in carrying on.
You can see that the back of my patella
(knees) are hyper extended and
they slightly bow inward from this.
4. RIGHT SIDE VIEW
In this picture my neck isn’t inline with my
spine, this may be due to the injury that
I’ve got now from many years ago. It’s
as if my head is slightly pushed forward
and on a slant.
PLUMB LINE
I do have rather large thighs, which shows
that I haven’t been working my
Sartorius muscles (inner thigh) over the
years. I’ve been tensing the quads too
much, causing them to bulk out. As it is
the longest muscle in the body, with
the right methods of training I should
be able to elongate them and smallen
them down.
5. LEFT SIDE VIEW
I have sway back knees you can really see
the over extension in my calves in this
picture. This means that my patella
goes past being ‘straight’ and doesn’t
lock into place until they’ve gone past
PLUMB LINE
a certain point. Showing an outward
curve from my plumb line in the
picture.
A way for me to prevent this when
dancing is by
‘Adjustment of weight, a continuous effort not possible to sustain
throughout all movements’
http://www.balletdancer.org/ballet01-06.php
- Ballet Physique Secrets chapter 6 ‘sway-back’ knees
6. FRONT My sway back knees are my
BACK
LEG main flaw on my body. This is
because I often ‘sit’ into them LEG
and don’t pull up and out like
VIEW I should. Its comfy for me to VIEW
sit into them. It can
sometimes work in my favour
though as because I'm used
to it, I can hold positions
longer, i.e. Standing with my
leg in arabesque or to
second. To me, when my
knees are fully locked that’s
when my legs are straight, so
when I'm told to relax the
knees I feel like my knees are
bent.
You can also see the true
bulkiness of my quad
muscles. For me to reduce
the size of these Is to
7. My Current Fitness Levels
• Results from DAFT(Aerobic Fitness):
• Resting Pulse – (bpm)
• After stage 1 – (bpm)
• After stage 2 – (bpm)
• After stage 3 – (bpm)
• After stage 4 – (bpm)
• After stage 5 – (bpm)
• Number of Press-ups in a minute(Strength):
• How long I can hold the plank(Core Stability):
• BMI(Body Composition): Your BMI is
• Sit and reach (Flexibility):
• Grip test (Strength):
8. Progress/Evaluation
• Since we had to do the fitness tests at the beginning of the year, my fitness levels have improved
dramatically. I think this is because I realised I needed to do something about my image and body
and invested in a member ship at Adelphi Gym in the town centre. I also started going to hip-
hop/commercial classes outside of university, and I’m currently looking into some new ones in
contemporary that have just started up as well as continuing with my dance course and also some
of the short courses that they provide.
• From assessments that we have done since the fitness tests, the main things that keeps coming
back is my core stability. I have always had a weak core but with the gym and swimming that I have
started doing, I have exercises that I do which in the long run will strengthen my core to the
capacity it needs to be for my dance training.
• Also with weight loss, I have lost weight since I started university in September 2011. This is due to
the fact of the extra exercise I started doing and the fact that I cut down on my meals and started a
calorie counting via an app on my iPhone – MyFitnessPal – and having the Nike free app that
connects to my trainers calculating distance, calories and much more.
• http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
• http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/
9. My Chosen Aspect - Flexibility
• What is flexibility??
• For me flexibility is an added bonus to my dancing. I have always been flexible but I would never stop maintaining it because
there is always room for improvement. I still can’t get into right leg splits and my right leg doesn’t go as high as my left. This
is because my hip flexor is less flexible and also my hamstring is tighter.
• Why is It important/why do I need it??
• I need to be flexible in my career as I feel that with any type of dancing if you are indicated to lift you leg or kick it for that
matter, that it always looks better the higher it goes, with control and strength of course. I need to keep pushing at making
my right leg compatible with my left so that it evens out my work.
Continue with my diet, with the
work I’ve been doing and will
continue to do is really beneficial to
my goal weight.
• Other aspects to consider – Keep working on my core strength to
gain upper body strength to take the
• FITNESS (STAMINA)
pressure off my back, also make sure
• DIET (IF YOU WANT TO LOSE/GAIN WEIGHT)
wear shin splint socks to prevent the
• INJURY
pain returning when I’m running or
• OVERALL FITNESS (MAINTAINING WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE)
dancing.
10. My Summer Plan
DAY MORNING AFTERNOON EVENING
MONDAY HIP FLEXORS JOG
TUESDAY SWIM HIP - HOP
WEDNESDAY JOG
THURSDAY STRETCH BALLET
FRIDAY HAMSTRINGS
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
I have given myself the weekends of not doing anything as when exercising you need time for your body to rest, giving the
body the time needed to recover from the training and to allow adaption of the body to take place.
When it comes to my fitness, I’m going to look at it as a whole rather than just focus on one thing.
With the healthy eating I started doing after Christmas, with the added exercise, has already started
working with me already loosing half a stone of my 2 stone goal. As I work as well I will be constantly
on my feet over summer so will pretty much all the time be doing aerobic exercise.
11. Conclusion
• For me, I think my main goal is to maintain the weight that
I’m at now and keep working as I am doing at lowering that
but maintaining my strength and flexibility.
• Also I want to look at improving my upper body strength
and core stability so that it takes pressure off my back
injury.
• I feel that the summer plan I have set out is a reasonable
one for me to maintain. As I’m only part time staff where I
work I won’t be in all day everyday giving myself me time to
work on my body.
