The Hidden Hurts of the Human Body

This morning I realized that there are muscles in my body that I had no idea existed. There is a little band of muscles below one's behind that one will probably never feel worked or strained in an average exercise or from running, or anything else I personally have experienced. There are also muscles deep in the lower abdomen that, even with crunches or ab machines, are not in the slightest bit noticed for their contributions to the human body. Finally, there are muscles on the insides of one's thighs that are noticed by sight, but rarely felt. That is, until now. The existence of these particular muscles, and many more, have gone for many years overlooked by me. Before I explain how I discovered these "hidden" fibers, let me give you a little background on my situation.



Like a lot of people, I took Human Biology in high school and learned all about the anatomy of a human being. I have participated in sports and tried (harder at some times than others) to be active and healthy. I have done Pilates, swam competitively, run, played soccer and participated in a multitude of other activities but never in my life have I hurt in places that I didn't think had anything to do with movement whatsoever. Especially for beautiful, fluid movement that looks light and easy... in my mind that movement should be light and easy to do, right?



After pondering over my "action plan" for the new year (for I do not make resolutions, but rather plans of action), I randomly decided that I didn't want to grow old and regret not doing something when I was perfectly capable of doing it and had the time and means to do it. What does this mean? It means I signed up for a ballet class. Yes. It sounds perfectly ridiculous, unless you are under the age of 8 (and I am far beyond that); and also perfectly ridiculous for me since I am probably one of the clumsiest, heavy footed people you will ever meet. My decision was based on the grounds that ballet looks lovely and that there are no weight-lifting or running on the treadmill requirements, and that it will help better my posture and hopefully give me a bit of grace.



I now have a new-found respect for anyone who has ever taken a ballet class. It's not that I've never been in a dance class. Quite the contrary; I was enrolled in ballet, tap, and jazz at the tender age of 4 and continued a few years until I was 7 and wanted to be in gymnastics instead. Do I remember anything about dance? No, other than the horrible make-up we had to wear for recitals and other performances, that I had a cute little ballet bag with a satin strap and a cool little compartment for my dance shoes, and that I had leos in every color with tiny satin bows on the pinched fronts that I pranced around the house in. My mom has pictures and video proving that I actually danced at some point, though, so I know I did.


So back to my respect for ballet and dancers... I've watched many a ballet, opera, etc but never would I have imagined the amount of fine muscle movement involved and the crazy discipline these folks have. Ten minutes into the class I was lulled into thinking that this was going to be the easiest class ever by the light stretching and teaching of the basic positions. Then we moved into demi-plies, which at first were simple enough until we had to do them in repetition for what seemed like an hour (but in reality was 5 or less minutes). We then moved to tendus in first and second, with demi-plies, and then to ronde de jombe (spelling, anyone? I took German, not French) with demi-plies and I thought my insides were going to burst and my legs would never stop wobbling. I felt a little comfort in the fact that I was not the only one with shaking legs when asked to hold a position.

The class, despite my complaining now, was fabulous in a "we all look hilarious, but at least we all look hilarious together" kind of way. Our instructor talked to us about stretching everyday even if we don't have class, and after waking up this morning, I will be taking her advice quite seriously. I will also be carrying Arnica Montana and Tylenol with me until my feet and muscles get used to this abuse. Perhpas I will be wearing shorts and a tee over my ballet togs until I don't feel quite so insanely silly in my black leotard and light pink tights as well.

I wonder what will hurt next week. Even though ballet is much harder than I remember or fathomed, I will see where it takes me.