If you've taken class at our studio you know how much we love to stretch! Stretching helps us maintain and increase our flexibility while creating those long, lean, "ballerina" muscles instead of building bulk. It also gives our hard-working muscles a little break throughout class, in between those oh-so-intense, repetitive Barre exercises, promoting blood flow. And not only does stretching relax our muscles, it helps to relax our minds as well. But if we don't set ourselves up correctly for a stretch we won't get much out of it and incorrect alignment can lead to injury. This is why proper form is so important! And today we are featuring one of our most popular stretches: barre stretch, which targets the hamstrings.
Your Barre Instructor will always queue a stretch in class but by showing you visuals of the incorrect and correct way of executing this exercise we hope you a gather a better understanding of where your alignment should be.
Incorrect Form
Correct Form
Please note: If you have tight hamstrings, keep your knee bent. Your leg does not have to be straight when placed on the barre.
If you are really flexible
To modify this stretch you can come off the barre and do the Triangle Hamstring Stretch that is done in the warm up with both hands reaching to the floor, or rest them on the shin or quad.
If you have any questions about this or any other stretch please ask an Instructor. We will be highlighting many other barre stretches in the next coming weeks so please stay tuned for those!
Comments