PRESCRIPTIONS
If you're beginning to wonder whether there's something — anything — more to athletic life than doing crunches, take heart. It seems that ballet dancers, those modern paragons of Plato's physical Ideal, have buta limited use for the archetypal crunch. They prefer derivative exercises that better mimic natural
movement. "These exercises will help you discover abdominal muscles you didn't know you had," promises Peter Martins, ballet master in chief of the New York City Ballet and author of New York City Ballet Workout (Quill/William Morrow, $22).
Doing the following set of exercises from Martins's book three times a week will help you develop some facsimile of the dancer's lithe abdomen. Of course, we can't guarantee the ten-minute routine will perfect your pas de deux, but you'll certainly go about your preferred pursuit with a lot more strength — maybe even a
little more grace. Says Martins, "You'll sail through life like a beautiful ship."
Upper ab slide: Lie on your back with your arms at your sides and knees bent, feet hip-width apart and flat on the floor. Inhale and simultaneously slide your arms toward your feet, lifting your shoulder blades and arms off the floor slightly for a full contraction. Slowly return to the starting
position. Repeat ten times.
Hip rotations: Lie on your back with your arms at your sides, your legs straight up with your toes pointed. Draw in your abs, pulling your navel toward your spine, and flex your feet toward your shins. Now firm your buttocks and, keeping your heels together, simultaneously swivel your legs
outward, so that your toes point to either side. Roll them back in. Repeat 12 times.
Ab ovals: Lie on your back, knees bent, feet together and flat on the floor. Gently cradle your head in your hands, but keep your elbows out. Exhale and lift your head and shoulders up and to the right, continue rotating toward the center and then around to the left. Keep your lower back on the
floor and focus on pressing your abs toward your spine throughout the motion. Do eight clockwise ovals, and follow with eight counterclockwise.
The nautilus: Start on all fours and hold your neck and spine in line. Contract your abdominal muscles, pulling your navel toward your spine while lifting your left knee and right arm; drop your head as you draw the knee under your torso, and curve your arm from the shoulder so that your hand
points back toward your lifted knee. Now inhale and extend your raised limbs straight out until they're parallel with the floor. Slowly return to the contracted position, and then repeat four times before switching sides.
Oblique leg extensions: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, cradling your head in your hands with your elbows pointing out. Raise your shoulders just off the ground, lift your knees toward your chest, and inhale. As you exhale, extend your right leg out, and cross your
right elbow toward your left knee. Exhale and switch limbs without resting your shoulders on the floor. Do up to 16 reps. — DANA SULLIVAN
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It has created champion boxers and determined schoolyard hierarchies. Would Muhammad Ali have floated like a butterfly, would little girls everywhere know poetry like "strawberry shortcake, cream on top / tell me the
name of my sweetheart," were it not for the jump rope? Of course not.
