Does anyone else have to deal with really stiff ankles? I've torn ligaments in my right ankle twice, but both of them can act up. I find it especially seems worse when it's rainy or cold. Last night I had back to back classes after work. I was going to put on pointe shoes for the second class, but no matter what I seemed to do, my ankles still wouldn't loosen up. One of the downsides of being an adult dancer is sometimes I have to face the fact that something isn't going to work for me on a particular night.
Most of the time I can overcome any tightness. The thing that works the best for me is to keep them warm, and to warm up slowly. I keep my Bloch warm up booties on for the first few exercises, if it's an extremely bad day. A part of me wants to go up on pointe during the first combination, or even before. I have to hold myself back and slowly work myself through pliés and foot exercises.
I also use a theraband right when I wake up in the morning, and also again before class (which is at night during the week), if I have time. The book Gaynor has is wonderful if you need ideas how to use one. The band their book came with broke pretty quickly however. I use a very wide, extra long one now.
LG also made me realize I tend to circle my ankles if I'm sitting reading to him. He's started doing it along with me a few weeks ago saying, "toe!" and pointing to our feet! If you struggle with this, do you have a different way to increase flexibility?
Most of the time I can overcome any tightness. The thing that works the best for me is to keep them warm, and to warm up slowly. I keep my Bloch warm up booties on for the first few exercises, if it's an extremely bad day. A part of me wants to go up on pointe during the first combination, or even before. I have to hold myself back and slowly work myself through pliés and foot exercises.
I also use a theraband right when I wake up in the morning, and also again before class (which is at night during the week), if I have time. The book Gaynor has is wonderful if you need ideas how to use one. The band their book came with broke pretty quickly however. I use a very wide, extra long one now.
LG also made me realize I tend to circle my ankles if I'm sitting reading to him. He's started doing it along with me a few weeks ago saying, "toe!" and pointing to our feet! If you struggle with this, do you have a different way to increase flexibility?