I have weak knee tendons, scar tissue on both my hips from the tendons tearing in high school track and mild scoleosis. I have days where the thought of having to work out these muscle groups is enough to drive me back under the covers with a large pizza and just give up. Today is one of those days. My knees had been feeling especially week from teaching belly dancing on Monday. Almost all moves in belly dance require strength from the knee area but don't really allow the proper muscle to be built up. So you end up getting "fat knees" and having that jello-y feeling when you stand or walk from weakness and the muscles being built up in a bent fashion from holding that pose so often.
So today instead of belly dancing in the morning, I did ballet. I did plies. Lots of them. Till my muscles were screaming at me and I was having to remind myself to breathe. I did tendus, and passe`s. I did them standing, on my side and supine. I was sweating. And it felt great. Already my knees feel stronger from having to hold them taut and forcing my hips and inner thighs to pull their weight. Also the pressing back motion that is made in a plie helped stretch out the knee ligaments and start "putting them back into place" so to speak.
This was a reminder to me that although we build great strength from belly dancing (and killer bootys!!!) we have to train our muslces to be well rounded and give them the proper support for strenth as needed. That's why we need to do push ups and abdominal work, why we should lift weights and do those squats everyone hates. The better we build our bodies up, the more they will stand up to us trying to break them down. So today after doing your drills, go ride your bike, do a few sets of plies, do a WarriorZ workout or hit the weights. Keep your muscles primed and ready to help you as much as you want to help them.
Peace y'all.
