One of the most difficult aspects of dancing is achieving high leg extensions. Many dancers have wonderful flexibility, and yet are unable to hold their leg higher than 90 degrees for any length of time. Other dancers have strong legs but insufficient flexibility for high leg extensions. What makes développés so difficult is the necessity for both extreme strength and flexibility. It is impossible to achieve a 180 degree leg extension overnight, but with regular practice of the following exercises, you can improve your leg extension greatly.
1. Stretch your legs daily.
To get a high leg extension, you should be able to do your left and right side splits, and get fairly close to flat on your center splits. To improve and maintain your leg flexibility, spend at least half an hour stretching each day. Good stretches include the butterfly, lunges, the frog and the straddle. You can also try the wall straddle, which involves laying on your back with your butt against the wall and your legs straddled. Try to get your legs as close to the floor as you can. If you already have your splits flat, place your front leg on a mattress or aerobics bench and stretch your oversplits.
2. Hit the barre.
Some dancers avoid ballet class like the plague. Bad idea: many of the barre exercises from class are designed to improve leg extensions. In addition to practicing développés at the barre, dancers work on grande battements and several other exercises crucial to developing the necessary strength for high leg extensions. In addition to attending ballet class on a regular basis, it may be helpful to work on barre exercises such as développés on your own. Just find a door knob or a chair that you can hold on to (like you would on a barre).
3. Strengthen your hip flexors
Strong hip flexors are crucial for high leg extensions. If you have your splits and attend ballet class regularly, you may need to put in some extra work on strengthening your hip flexors in order to achieve a high leg extension. Sometimes, when doing développés and other barre exercises, dancers make the mistake of overusing their quadriceps and hamstrings and not focusing on the hip flexors. These muscles are responsible for maintaining high leg extensions. If you have weak hip flexors, the following target exercises will help you strengthen them, and thus, get a higher leg extension:
-Sit on a bench and raise both legs straight in front of you until they are parallel with the floor. Slowly lower them to the floor until the balls of your feet touch. Then, raise them back up to the starting position. Do this for 10-15 reps.
-This exercise requires a Smith machine or some kind of raised bar. Hang from the Smith machine and hold a 5-10 pound dumbbell between your feet. Lift your knees to your chest and lower them ten times. This will exercise both your hip flexors and your abdominals.
-Leg raises are also great for improving hip flexors and core strength. Begin by lying on your gack with your legs stretched long. Lift both legs slowly until they point to the ceiling, and then lower until they are an inch from the floor. Keep your lower back pressed to the floor as you do this. Repeat at least 20 times.
