Imagery Cues During Plie/Releve Combination

Help your clients find the BeyondBarre “exquisite burn” during the Standing Barre progression of Plie-Releve exercises. “Say It” – tell your clients how to get into the foot position of your choosing (parallel hip-width, first, second, parallel together). “Count it” – by telling your clients how many repetitions and sets to carry out. “Focus It” – by layering in imagery cues to help your clients increase the intensity of the exercise. Begin by cueing the clients to connect with their abdominals and to keep their shoulder blades drawn together and down. While they maintain this lifted and aligned position cue your clients to shift their weight forward to their toes as they rise up into releve and lower the heels to almost touch down before rising up again. I like to cue “imagine you are pressing tennis balls into the floor”. This imagery cue instantly brings in added resistance to the work. When you are teaching the plie exercise, cue “imagine your back is against a wall and you are sliding up and down the wall”. During the “small pulses” work while in releve focus the clients to shift their weight forward and to press their toes into the floor creating further work in the small muscle isolations being preformed. Be creative and have fun with the imagery cues!]]>