So I ordered some items from eBay to make rotation disks for hip rotation. Unfortunately, the wooden circles I got are less sturdy than some cardboard I have, so I am going to have to rig them differently than I'd planned (and it's going to look way less pretty, but will still accomplish the same thing). I haven't screwed anything in place since I haven't quite decided how I want to do it, but I put it all together anyway and was able to work on hip rotation (doing it very carefully since nothing was properly mounted). And: wow! It was extremely helpful!
First of all, the good news: my right hip can rotate past 90 degrees! If I can get my left leg up to par, I will have amazing turnout. It takes quite the effort to turnout my right leg that far, but it will definitely go.
The bad news (which isn't so bad since it's far better to at least know this now): my poor left leg has been turning out FAR too much with my left knee. I kept trying, and the harder I pressed out, the worse my knee felt. It took quite a few tries, but eventually I was able to access those deep rotator muscles. I had to switch to my right leg a few times to sort of show my left leg how to get to those muscles. (I've been using them a little, but not enough at all.) Once I started getting them, it was really neat. I was able to feel all of these little muscles deep inside my leg that I've never really felt before. There was one small muscle in there that I was pretty much able to access just by itself. When I found it, the use of it was so small my leg was hardly moving at all, but that muscle was certainly getting a workout!
I also noticed how much I've been using my glutes. Well, it's not a ton but it's more than I should be using. On my right leg, I noticed there was some work from my calf muscle involved with my hip rotation. The calf muscle wasn't actually working, but it felt more like it moved a bit when I rotated externally. (Too bad ballet doesn't work with internal rotation or I'd be a master!)
One other thing that was interesting was that when I was rotating from my hip on my left leg, what could only be my iliacus (or maybe my psoas) was feeling a tug... on my right side. I understand the connection between the two slightly, but otherwise find it kinda odd, something going on that I don't quite grasp.
Anyway, I woke up this morning with definite achiness (the good kind) in both hip rotator areas (especially on my left side). Unfortunately, my poor left knee hurts from straining so much trying to get it right. I'm going to be extra careful with it, but it's so great to know now what I've been doing wrong, and how I can fix it!
I'll post some photos once I get my rotation disks put together. I may just sell them for really cheap- they're so expensive to get prebuilt! Mine may not look so great (and I won't be able to use on non-hard surfaces like carpet), but they're certainly going to get the job done. It would be nice to be able to help other ballet students who don't want to shell out $100 on a set... but I just don't know what they are actually going to look like right now (would it be embarrassing to sell such an ugly product, even if it works??) :)
First of all, the good news: my right hip can rotate past 90 degrees! If I can get my left leg up to par, I will have amazing turnout. It takes quite the effort to turnout my right leg that far, but it will definitely go.
The bad news (which isn't so bad since it's far better to at least know this now): my poor left leg has been turning out FAR too much with my left knee. I kept trying, and the harder I pressed out, the worse my knee felt. It took quite a few tries, but eventually I was able to access those deep rotator muscles. I had to switch to my right leg a few times to sort of show my left leg how to get to those muscles. (I've been using them a little, but not enough at all.) Once I started getting them, it was really neat. I was able to feel all of these little muscles deep inside my leg that I've never really felt before. There was one small muscle in there that I was pretty much able to access just by itself. When I found it, the use of it was so small my leg was hardly moving at all, but that muscle was certainly getting a workout!
I also noticed how much I've been using my glutes. Well, it's not a ton but it's more than I should be using. On my right leg, I noticed there was some work from my calf muscle involved with my hip rotation. The calf muscle wasn't actually working, but it felt more like it moved a bit when I rotated externally. (Too bad ballet doesn't work with internal rotation or I'd be a master!)
One other thing that was interesting was that when I was rotating from my hip on my left leg, what could only be my iliacus (or maybe my psoas) was feeling a tug... on my right side. I understand the connection between the two slightly, but otherwise find it kinda odd, something going on that I don't quite grasp.
Anyway, I woke up this morning with definite achiness (the good kind) in both hip rotator areas (especially on my left side). Unfortunately, my poor left knee hurts from straining so much trying to get it right. I'm going to be extra careful with it, but it's so great to know now what I've been doing wrong, and how I can fix it!
I'll post some photos once I get my rotation disks put together. I may just sell them for really cheap- they're so expensive to get prebuilt! Mine may not look so great (and I won't be able to use on non-hard surfaces like carpet), but they're certainly going to get the job done. It would be nice to be able to help other ballet students who don't want to shell out $100 on a set... but I just don't know what they are actually going to look like right now (would it be embarrassing to sell such an ugly product, even if it works??) :)
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