Instead, the celebrity dancer says if you walked into one of her basic workouts, it would look like she’s barely working. “I like the somewhat more subtle approach to core strengthening, where you work a little deeper to isolate those little supporting muscles,” she says. “But you won’t be sweating, you’re connecting to your core in a different way.”
Basic ballerina exercises
The exercises Brandt swears by and practices every week with his Pilates trainer clarice marshall— are not the kind of moves that look impressive. (Brandt already does plenty from those.) They are slow and steady, and hardly involve much movement. “When I was in school, I had the same Pilates teacher and I couldn’t for the life of me understand what the benefits of these exercises were,” Brandt says, laughing.
As he matured, he realized that the challenge comes from performing them incredibly precisely and with proper form, activating many of the muscles that we normally overlook. “It’s harder to touch those little muscles that attach to the bigger ones, but they’re the ones that keep me from getting injured,” says Brandt. She makes them shoot with these three moves:
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1. Marching
- Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, keeping your spine neutral.
- Use your lower abs to slowly lift one bent leg off the floor, without grabbing your hip flexors or letting your pelvis tilt sideways.
- Slowly return that foot to the floor, keeping your core stable and hip flexors relaxed.
- Repeat on the other side.
2. Heel Slides
- Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor and flexed so your toes point toward the ceiling, keeping your spine neutral.
- Use your lower abs to slowly extend one leg forward, heel sliding across the floor, then bring it toward you without letting your pelvis roll or grab your hip flexors.
- Repeat on the other side.
3. Quadruped Limb Raise
- Begin by getting down on your hands and knees, keeping your core tight to maintain a neutral spine.
- Gently raise one hand without moving or dropping that side of the body, then place it back on the floor. You can reach forward, or touch the opposite elbow, or just lift it off the floor a couple of inches with your elbow bent; As long as you keep the rest of your body perfectly still, you’ll feel your core firing. “It’s more complicated than you think, like removing a leg from a table,” says Brandt.
- Alternate hands, then also try to extend one leg at a time directly behind you.
- Once you can stay completely still with just three points of contact, try increasing the difficulty by moving your opposite hand and leg away from your center at the same time.
His other core strength secret
Brandt only sets aside time to specifically work on these exercises during his weekly sessions with Marshall. His day-to-day approach to developing serious core strength is much simpler: keep your position. “If you’re doing it right, engage the core at all times,” she says. For Brandt, that of course means the challenge of keeping her posture stable during hours of dancing, but even maintaining it during daily activities can challenge the core.
What constitutes “proper posture” for a dancer? “My teacher describes it as feeling like your belly button is pressed against your spine,” says Brandt. “Some people misunderstand that as sucking in or holding your breath.” Instead, she says, it’s really about finding a feeling of elongation in her waist, with a long stomach and a high upper back.
The added benefit of a stable core
In addition to all the other reasons we all want to strengthen our cores, from injury prevention for make everyday activities (such as getting out of bed) easier—Brandt also brings the perspective of someone working in an aesthetic-driven art form: “A stable core changes your entire appearance,” he says. “It gives a certain strength and power to the whole rest of the body, from the way you use your legs to how you support your upper chest, back and neck.”
That classic look of grace and power that ballet dancers have? Everything comes from the core, but it doesn’t have to take much huffing and puffing to get there.
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