Do you practise with ankle/wrist weights?

If not (yet), I highly recommend it!

I occasionally use very light (0,5kg) wrist weights for practising ballet port de bras (arm pathways) as well as for working on fluid arm and wrist movements in bellydance.

I use them in the warmup of my streaming/ downloadable bellydance instructional DVD set ‘All About Arms’ on Gumroad.

(If you’d like to try this class: use code ‘khalidadance’ on checkout for 20% off!)

Even when I warm up with the weights for just a few minutes (ie one or two songs) and then continue practising without them it already makes a work of difference.

It amplifies your sensory input, and automagically helps you use the correct (ie back and side/torso) muscles to support the arms.

This in turn results in better posture, a ‘lighter’, yet stronger and more conscious feeling of the upper body and arms, as well as – a nice bonus – instantly more fluidity and flexibility in movements of the hands and wrists.

While writing this, I’m curious to try if they have a similar positive influence in practising sword art (Haidong Gumdo) too.

I’ve recently purchased a set of ankle weights (as you can see in the picture), and I am looking for smart ways to incorporate them in ballet practise.

And also – if I feel brave enough – for improving my taekwondo kicks.

If you have wrist/ankle weights at home: let me know how you use them for practise!