Louisa Paterson

Consider this a love letter to your spine 💌

Swipe across for a few of our beginner back mobility exercises, taken directly from the Train Like a Ballerina exercise library.

Why does back mobility matter?

→ Your spine is designed to move in multiple directions. Flexion, extension and rotation all matter. Training them helps you move more freely rather than asking the same few areas of your back to do all the work.

→ Mobility is about more than flexibility. It’s your ability to actively control movement through a usable range - an essential part of building a back that is both mobile and strong.

→ Better spinal and thoracic mobility can improve movement elsewhere. When your upper and mid-back move well, your shoulders, ribcage and pelvis can work together more efficiently, important for posture, port de bras, extensions and, yes, that arabesque.

→ It helps distribute movement through your whole spine. Rather than repeatedly hinging through the most mobile segments of your lower back, we want to develop movement and control throughout the entire chain.

And if you’re not a dancer? Do them anyway. Your desk-bound, phone-hunched spine may send you a handwritten thank-you note.

Want more? There are 1,000+ ballet-specific exercises waiting for you inside the Train Like a Ballerina app, from mobility and flexibility to strength and ballet training.

Start your 7-day free trial
Link in bio 🫶🏽

There is something quietly humbling about moving to a new country alone.

You’d think after doing it a few times, it would get easier…
Turns out It doesn’t. You just forget.

You forget what it’s like to stand in a grocery store and realise you can’t read half the labels. To piece together a new language one awkward little sentence at a time.

You forget what it feels like to live on the opposite side of the world from everyone you love. To wonder if your dark humour, weird stories and the parts of yourself that make you you will land with new people.

You forget that once the excitement settles… this isn’t a holiday anymore and you just live here now.

And somewhere between feeling like a complete outsider, trying to find your feet, there is so much gratitude.

Because I know what a privilege it is to choose this life. To move across the world as a woman, on my own, chasing a future and a missions I believe in.

But gratitude and grief are funny little companions.
Because choosing one life means saying goodbye to another.

To the people I love. The routines I knew. To my mum and dog who felt like my whole world.

Some days it feels like my heart is learning how to live in two places at once.

And then I think…

How lucky am I to have loved a life so much that leaving it hurts this deeply.

So one month in Portugal, I may still finding my feet but you’ve welcomed me with open arms and you’re slowly starting to feel like home 🏡

Gone are the days of sitting in the splits before class and wondering why your body never quite feels ready.

These 6 mobility exercises will change the way you warm up forever.

These aren’t about forcing flexibility. They’re about preparing your body to move through its full range of motion with control, stability and strength.

1. Downward Dog → Plank → Cobra Flow
Prepares the shoulders, spine, wrists, calves and hamstrings while activating your core.

2. 90/90 Seated Hinge
Builds active hip mobility and rotation while strengthening the muscles that support turnout.

3. Wide Parallel Roll Down
Mobilises the spine one vertebra at a time while lengthening the entire posterior chain.

4. Child’s Pose → Sphinx Flow
Gently moves the spine through flexion and extension, opening the chest and restoring healthy spinal movement.

5. Downward Dog → Three-Legged Dog
Improves shoulder stability, hip mobility and hamstring flexibility while preparing the body for extensions.

6. Lunge Flow
Opens the ankles and hips, mobilises the thoracic spine and activates the glutes for stronger, more efficient movement.

💡 Before any of these…

Spend 1–5 minutes raising your heart rate with light cardio. Warming the body first increases blood flow, raises tissue temperature and allows you to get far more out of your mobility work.

Inside the Train Like a Ballerina app, you can simply toggle on one of our cardio warm-ups before beginning your mobility sequence.

For the complete guided Intermediate Warm-Up with Iana Salenko, start your 7-day free trial in the Train Like a Ballerina app and train alongside one of the world’s leading ballerinas.

Stop stretching cold. Your hamstrings deserve a briefing before battle 🤍

One front split feels somewhat easy.
The other feels tight, blocked or impossible to square.

Here’s the truth:
Your “bad side” is not random and it is rarely just tight hamstrings.
Front split imbalances happen when one side of your body lacks something the other side has: mobility, strength, stability, control or confidence in the position.

Your front leg needs hamstring flexibility and glute support.
Your back leg needs hip flexor mobility, quad length and pelvic control.

So instead of asking:

“How do I force this side lower?”

Ask:

“What is this side missing?”

It may need:

• More hip flexor mobility
• Better glute strength
• More pelvic stability
• Active flexibility
• End-range strength
• Nervous system trust

Because flexibility is not just about stretching. It is about teaching your body to feel safe, strong and supported in range.
Forcing the tighter side lower often creates more guarding, not more progress.
Equal front splits are built through smart training, not punishment.
Your tighter side is not the problem.
It is the clue.

📲 Train with our 6-Week Front Splits Program in the Train Like a Ballerina app

📖 Read the full article in the Learning Hub on trainlike.app

✨ Free guide launching next week: How to Get Flexible Like a Ballerina

🔖 Save this for your next split session.

8 exercises every dancer should be doing - not for aesthetics, but for stronger lines, healthier hips, better balance, and a body that lasts. ✨

Here’s why each one matters:

1. T-Plane / Slow Air Arabesque (with bent supporting leg)
Teaches hip control, glute strength, balance and true arabesque mechanics. The bent supporting leg helps you actually own the movement instead of gripping through the lower back.

2. Supine Hamstring Mobility (parallel, flexed foot)
Not just “stretching.” This helps improve hamstring mobility while teaching the nervous system to safely access more range. Breathe in as you draw the leg closer, exhale as you soften.

3. Side-Lying Second Position Eccentric Lower
One of the best ways to build active flexibility and strength for développés, extensions and healthy hips. The magic? Controlling the lowering phase.

4. Quadruped Hip CARs
Think of these as brushing your teeth for your hips. They improve joint health, mobility, hip awareness and control through full range.

5. 90–90 Hip Opener (internal + external rotation)
Most dancers obsess over turnout but ignore internal rotation. You need both for healthier hips, cleaner technique and longevity.

6. Standing Parallel Star Point → Parallel Passé
A deceptively hard exercise for balance, ankle stability, hip control and standing leg strength. Essential for turns and centre work.

7. Lateral Hip Sit-Back + Glute Drive
Strengthens the glutes, adductors and lateral hip chain while opening the inner thighs. Your hips will thank you.

8. Parallel Passé Balance + Around-the-World Press
Balance under load = dancer gold. This builds coordination, shoulder stability, posture and deep core control while challenging your centre.

The best dancers don’t just dance more. They train smarter. Strength + mobility + control is what keeps the body performing for years. 🩰

Want guided workouts like this inside a structured plan?
Train with us inside the Train Like a Ballerina app.
7-day free trial • iOS & Android • science-backed training for every body ↓
https://trainlike.app

Health isn’t linear.
And it definitely isn’t one-size-fits-all.

Don’t let the internet bully you into thinking you’re failing because you don’t track every bite, count every calorie, train every day, wake up at 5am, have a perfect sleep schedule, never drink, never party, never eat hot chips, and float through life like a gluten-free productivity angel.

You are allowed to be healthy and human.

You are allowed to train hard and rest deeply.
To eat well and eat for joy.
To meditate for 5 minutes, not 45.
To miss a workout and come back tomorrow.
To care about your body without turning your whole life into a spreadsheet.

Health is not punishment dressed up as discipline.

It is the art of building a body you can live in well - strong enough to carry your dreams, soft enough to enjoy them, and free enough to dance through the imperfect middle.

Life is for living.
Not endlessly tracking your living and hating yourself when it isn’t perfect.

You can’t biohack your way to happiness.

Start where you are.
Move your body.
Be kind to yourself.
Then go live a little xx

SYDNEY IN-PERSON COMMUNITY WORKSHOP

A rare opportunity to train with two Train Like a Ballerina master trainers.

What’s included

Mobility Workshop with Louisa:
Learn how to properly warm up your body, activate the right muscles, and build strength, mobility and flexibility with intention. Science-backed and applicable beyond dance.

Ballet Class with Robert:
Apply these principles directly into ballet with expert coaching to improve technique, control and coordination.

Post-class meet & greet + snacks
Connect with the team and community.

Who it’s for:

➡️ Dancers (beginner to advanced)
➡️ Adults dancers
➡️ Anyone wanting to improve strength, mobility and flexibility
➡️ Non-dancers welcome for the workshop component

Only 30 spots available.
Limited capacity. Once full, no additional places.

Link in bio to book.

There is a moment in every dancer’s life
no one prepares you for.
Not the first performance.
Not the first injury.
The last one.
The transition from professional ballerina
to whatever comes next…
is one of the most challenging things you will face.

And most don’t think about it
until it’s too late.

I moved overseas at 15.
Homeschooled myself.
Never finished school in the traditional sense.

Like many dancers i went all in, from a young age.
Your body becomes your identity.
And yet… it’s the one thing that can suddenly stop.

One day you’re performing in front of 2,000 people a night…the next you’re sitting alone, trying to rebuild from zero.
It’s not just a career shift.
It’s a loss of structure, identity, direction.

That’s why I believe it needs to be considered earlier.While you’re still in it.

For me, that meant five years of part-time university
while dancing professionally.

Rehearsals… then study in every spare moment.
I changed degrees three times.
Didn’t know what I wanted i just knew I had to start.
It helped.
And still i felt the transition was incredibly hard.

From stage…
to starting again.
There’s no clear path.
But there is a way through.

If this is something you want me to talk about —
the reality, the process, the rebuild…

leave a heart below.