When I was younger, I was not a girly girl. Not even a little bit.
Far from dancing around in pretty tutus and fairy wings, I rolled around in dungarees and dirt. I didn't play with dolls and ponies and, instead of Ballet lessons, I opted for climbing trees with the boys.
Roll forward 20 or so years, and I'm still very much a tomboy at heart. A tomboy with a lot of nice shoes...
Given all this, I surprised myself when I jumped at the chance to try out one of ballet fitness company Sleek Technique's new online classes.
Designed by professional ballerina and fitness coach Victoria Marr and top West End Showgirl and pro-choreographer Flik Swan, Sleek Technique promises to transform your body. And when you see pics of them looking like this, boy are you going to sit up and pay attention...
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| Source. Photography by Drew Tommons |
The pair combine their knowledge with a series of online ballet workouts and tutorials, all of which are designed to sculpt and reshape your body in ways you wouldn't imagine possible. And all you need is a laptop, an internet connection and a chair. Bonus.
A few days after chatting to the pair, and I was signed up and ready for my first class, a 30-minute "sprint" Barre Technique. Using small muscle movements, but promising BIG rewards, I was told this was the class which would reshape and streamline my body and give me gorgeously lithe limbs.
It all sounded great, but I was starting to get nervous...
You see, I am not co-ordinated in any way. I bump into things left right and centre, I drop plates, spill drinks, and I'm always one of those at the back of fitness classes who ends up walking into the door.
I will never be a dancer, I will never be graceful. I've always envied those swan-like girls who float around delicately, all lithe limbs and creamy skin.
However, once I was logged on and set up in my lounge, my nerves were immediately soothed. I chatted to Flik - my instructor for the night - via webcam, and straight away she put me at ease.
She asked me how I wanted to transform my body (I'm actually pretty happy, but wanted to slimline my arms and lose some of the muscular 'bulk'). Friendly and incredibly knowledgable, if anyone was going to get me a dancer's body, it was going to be her.
Two other girls soon 'joined' us for our Barre class (it works like video conferencing), and after a few hellos, we were ready to start.
Using a chair as our 'barre', we performed a series of exercises on each side. The moves were fast and fun yet pretty easy to pick up, even for a complete ballet novice (and total klutz) like me - lots of squats, plié, stretching and ballet moves I wouldn't even know the name of...
I found myself really enjoying the class as it was so different to anything I had done before. I felt feminine and, yes, graceful! Flik quickly corrected me on any mistakes I made throughout the session (usually poor posture - I am terrible) and gave me pointers on how to improve my back strength, which has always been a problem area for me.
I also thought I was pretty fit, yet my legs definitely ached come the end of the session. I also felt muscles which I never even knew I had got and floated around with a massive grin on my face afterwards which, for me, is the sign of a great workout!
Two other girls soon 'joined' us for our Barre class (it works like video conferencing), and after a few hellos, we were ready to start.
Using a chair as our 'barre', we performed a series of exercises on each side. The moves were fast and fun yet pretty easy to pick up, even for a complete ballet novice (and total klutz) like me - lots of squats, plié, stretching and ballet moves I wouldn't even know the name of...
I found myself really enjoying the class as it was so different to anything I had done before. I felt feminine and, yes, graceful! Flik quickly corrected me on any mistakes I made throughout the session (usually poor posture - I am terrible) and gave me pointers on how to improve my back strength, which has always been a problem area for me.
I also thought I was pretty fit, yet my legs definitely ached come the end of the session. I also felt muscles which I never even knew I had got and floated around with a massive grin on my face afterwards which, for me, is the sign of a great workout!
I will definitely be joining in further Sleek classes as I found them a fantastic way to challenge my body, as well as easy to fit in around a hectic lifestyle. It costs just £7 for a sprint session (pay-as-you-go), or you can enjoy the downloadable workouts from £5. Better yet, you can pay £10 for an 10-day unlimited pass, giving you access to all the workouts and classes you can dream of!
Dancer's body, you will be mine...
Sam x
