Ballerinas are universally recognized for long and lean legs, toned arms, elegant curves and a strong core. I’ve been bellying up to the bar – the ballet bar that is – since age 3, yet I still find new muscles every time I slip on a pair of ballet slippers and dance the day away.

You don’t have to squeeze into a tutu to get the same benefits of a professional ballerina workout. This ballet workout will target smaller muscles around the pelvis and thighs to tone leaner legs, while flattening the abdominals and creating better posture.

Floor Exercises

Floor postures warm up muscles of the core as well as the glutes and inner thighs. 

Bridge Kicks 

1. Lay on your back with your hands by your sides, your knees bent, legs together and feet flat on the floor. Make sure your feet are under your knees.
2. Raise your hips up to create a straight line from your knees to shoulders. Squeeze your core and try to pull your belly button back toward your spine to legthen the low back.
3. Place all the weight in the left leg, draw the right knee toward the nose then legthen the right leg to the sky.
4. Lower the right leg while lengthening it away from you. Pull the belly up to draw the leg toward the sky. Repeat 15 kicks on the right leg, return the leg to the ground and without lowering the hips, lift the left leg and repeat 15 kicks with the left leg.
5. Once both feet are on the ground, lower the hips with control.

Leg Extension 

1. Lie facedown with your forehead resting on the backs of your hands. Legs are long and together. Lift the belly off the floor and lengthen the low back by dropping the tailbone toward your heels.
2. Continue to squeeze the legs together as you lift both legs off the floor.
3. Float the legs open, pressing into the outer hips, then draw the legs together. Make sure to keep the legs long and thighs lifted off the ground! Repeat 15 repetitions of open and close with 3 full sets.

Ab Fold 

1. Start seated with legs extended. Lean back onto elbows, forearms and hands flat on the floor, and upper body propped up so that shoulders are directly over the elbows. Cross the right leg over the left.
2. Brace abs in tight, press into the hands, lengthening the arms off the ground to lift the chest as you lift the right leg toward the chest. Keep upper torso and leg as long as you can in order to feel the abdominals, upper back and arms doing the work of stabilization.  Hold for a few seconds.
3. Bend elbows and lower arms and leg to the original position. That’s one rep. Repeat 15 reps on each leg.

All 4’s Floating Kick 

Tones the abdominals, arms, chest, and glutes.

1. Start on all fours with hands underneath shoulders and knees under the hips.
2. Brace the abdominals to float the knees three inches from the floor.
3. Holding the hips low and still, pull the right knee into the nose and then kick the leg back.
4. Repeat 10-15 kicks on each leg, keeping the opposite leg floating only a few inches from the ground.

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Standing Poses

Standing poses are beneficial because they work the body as a whole.  Remember to pull up through your stomach, draw the inner thighs together, engage the glutes to lengthen the tailbone toward the ground and open your shoulders to work the back and chest – and that’s just to stand still!

Plie in First Position 

1. Begin standing in first position, legs turned out from the thigh bone, heels together, inner thighs pressed together. (Most people force a turn-out. To make sure you do not, align your second toe with the turn out of your knee.) Arms form an oval in front of the body.
2. Lift the belly and lengthen the spine upward, as you bend the knees and slowly lower the hips four inches from your heels. Keep the hips over the heels, tailbone drawn down.
3. Press through the heels, draw the inner thighs together and engage the glutes to return to standing. If you need balance assistance, hold on to the back of a chair or increase the stability challenge. Repeat 10 plies.

Plie in Second Position

Tones the inner and outer thighs, glutes, and waist.

1. Step the feet a bit wider than the hips and turn out from the hips. Arms form an oval in front of the body.
2. Lift the belly and bend knees to lower the hips almost parallel with knees. Keeps hips below shoulders, spine long.
3. Press into the heels, draw inner thighs together and engage the glutes to return to standing.

Front Leg Extension 

1. Stand tall, abdominals lifted, legs together and turned out from the hips. Reach arms out to the side of shoulders, palms facing forward.
2. With control, lift the leg toward the sky, pointing the toe. Hold a moment at the top and lower it to the ground even slower than you lifted it. Repeat 15 on each leg. 

Arabesque Ponche 

1. Stand tall, abdominals lifted, legs together and turned out from the hips. Extend arms out to the side of shoulders.
2. Reach the right arm forward as you extend and lift the right leg toward the sky. Point the toe.
3. From arabesque, begin to bend the supportive knee and lower the hips as you lift the back leg higher and tilt the chest toward the ground. 
4. Press through the supportive leg to extend, stand, while lifting the chest back to arabesque. Lower leg back to standing. Repeat 10 on each leg.

Ronde Jambe 

1. Stand with legs together and turned out from the hips. Extend arms out from shoulders, palms facing forward.
2. Point the right foot as you bend the knee out to the side and drag toes up to the knee of the supportive leg. This is called Passé.
3. From here, hold the thigh on lifted leg still and extend the leg out to the side from the knee. Bend the knee and return the foot to Passé.
4. Repeat this leg extension/Passé press 10 times, then draw foot down the shin and return to the floor. Repeat one set on each leg. 

Ballet Jump 

1. Begin in fifth position, where legs are turned out from the hips, with one foot in front of the other. Try to align your front toes the the heel of the back foot. Arms form an oval in front of the body.
2. Bend the knees slightly, brace the core, and jump into the air. Squeeze the legs together in the air. 
3. Land like a cat, soft and quietly, into fifth position. Jump 20 times with each leg in front.
4. Try it jumping on a single leg, by softly placing one foot behind the ankle of the supportive leg. Try 10 leaps on each leg.

View the entire workout here.

So go on girl, switch up your usual workout routine with this ballerina workout.  Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

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Practicing what she preaches for most of her life, Christine Bullock has turned her fitness, nutrition and beauty expertise into a business empire. With over a decade of experience, she is passionate about counselling and training people to improve their health and wellbeing from the inside out.

Christine strongly believes that once you implement better eating habits and a personal exercise routine into your daily life, your inner beauty and joy will shine through.

Want to learn more about Christine? This talented TV host, fitness model and writer was voted LA’s Hottest Trainer for 2013! Day to day, she is always on the go and you’ll find her working alongside private clients as well as her group fitness classes at Equinox. We love her checking in with her website to read her latest wholesome recipes and high energy workouts. Or, you can stay in touch with Christine on Twitter.

Photography by Kathryn Page