New York City Ballet Workout – A Review

New York City Ballet Workout is nothing new, it has been around since the first book was published more than 10 years ago.  But it is a classic, it is what made me really think about taking ballet, and I think it is the best resource to inspire anyone thinking of getting into ballet, especially late starters or beginner adults.  The videos and book are a great resource for building ballet strength.

I was in Los Angeles, doing some book shopping.  I’m not sure what really put me onto the idea, but I had been thinking a lot lately about how I hadn’t really accomplished anything I was extremely proud of.  Deep, I know.  Bear with me through this crisis.  I had felt like I had done a wide variety of things.  I worked as a model, briefly.  I built a house.  I was in a Christina Aguilera video, in the back, in the shadows.  At this point I was working as a Merchant Mariner and traveling all over the world.  Stuff like this made for interesting stories, but I never felt like they were accomplishments I could be proud of.

Anyways, I was shopping in Counterpoint Books, one of my favorite used book and record stores in LA.  Along with my accomplishment crisis, I was considering the idea that I wanted to get into better shape.  That is when I found the New York City Ballet Workout book.  It was filled with plenty of amazing pictures (shot in black and white like everything in New York in the 90’s) of the most amazing dancers.  Their bodies were extremely admirable.  They stood proud, lean, powerful.  There were men and women.  I bought the book.  That was the type of body I wanted to have.  Not too muscly, still lean, but powerful and confident.  I’m sure I bought some other books.  I did feel a little strange buying a ballet book.  Even when I stopped at my friend’s house I was a bit hesitant to show it.

I read the book.  About half of it is workouts and the other half is about dancers and dancers talking about how ballet and the fitness that comes from ballet has affected their lives.  It is truly inspiring.  One dancer mentioned how she was at the wedding of a friend, and a lot of other dancers were there.  One of her friends mentioned that you could tell who was a dancer, just by the way they walked and carried themselves.  I decided I wanted that.  I wanted to stick out, just by the way I walked.  I wanted to portray that quiet confidence a dancer does just by their posture.  I began to imagine myself being able to move like a ballet dancer, and I realized I would be extremely proud of that.  If someone complimented me and said “you dance really well,” I would say “thank-you, I worked very hard at it.”  I would not brush it off like all of the other things I felt I couldn’t be proud of.

New York City Ballet Workout is filled with workouts to help you get the overall tone and workout that dancers get from ballet.  Almost all of the workouts are based on some ballet move.  There was a delay between when I bought the book, and when I decided to take a ballet class.  After several weeks of looking through the book I realized that I had no choice but to someday take ballet.  There was an even longer delay between when I decided to take class and when I actually took class.  This took about a year, because I was always away working on cargo ships.  It wasn’t until I quit that to go back to college that I could take my first ballet class.

While I was on the ships, I kept my NYCB Workout book hidden.  We had our own rooms, so everyday after work I would stretch and go through the workouts in my stateroom.  Sometimes it was hard when the seas were rough.  I really did fear what my shipmates would think if they found out I had a book about ballet.

Ballet is extremely complicated to learn and must be done in class.  So if for some reason somebody cannot be in a class, I think the next best thing is to work on conditioning yourself to prepare for classes.  NYCB Workout book is great for that.  I dramatically increased my flexibility, my strength, and I also learned some of the terms and ideas associated with ballet technique.

When I was ashore one day at a video store, I was extremely excited to find the New York City Ballet Workout DVD set.  I quickly bought this, and used it in my portable dvd player on the ship.  This video was great for the stretches, but once I got to the actual movement exercises I was extremely lost.  It took a while for me to figure out some of those moves, proving just how hard it is to learn ballet by yourself in a cramped state room on a rolling ship.

I suggest either the New York City Ballet Workout book or DVD to anyone who hasn’t already obtained a copy.  It is a classic and it is inspiring.  Any new dancer who would like to find some ballet exercise for men, this is where it is at.  Any male beginner who is preparing for ballet training would be smart to pick up a copy of either or both the book and the dvd.

You can find the New York City Ballet Workout book on Amazon.com.  It is out of print, so you will often see it for sale for $80 to $100. I kind of wish I didn’t lose my copy!

The New York City Ballet Workout DVD is also available at Amazon.com, and is cheapest to buy the 2 DVD set.

Tagged as: adult beginner ballet, amazon, Ballet, ballet training, before you take ballet, book review, dvd review, first ballet class, first class, getting prepared for ballet, new beginner ballet, nycb