Herschel Walker also does ballet.
Growing up, I would often beg my mom not to make me go watch my sister’s ballet recitals. Naturally, I thought anything my sisters did wasn’t that hard. Boy was I wrong. Now that I am a little older and wiser, I see that ballet is used by many athletes of various sports to fine tune skills and strengthen muscles they were lacking in.
The smooth movements and positions of the dance are an intense workout, and the slow movements require athletes to acquire a great sense of balance. Just learning the basic positions increase an athlete’s coordination. Most notably, ballet has been known for the expansion of flexibility and stamina developed during the long hours of practice.
Many big professional athletes over the years have admitted to using ballet to enhance and tune their skills and strength. Pro athletes like Lynn Swann, Herschel Walker and the great Barry Sanders have all admitted to using ballet to train for their sport. While ballet may seem very feminine, these athletes will definitely disagree. Herschel Walker has recently expressed his desire to try out professional Mixed Martial Arts. If a man who loves to mix it up in the cage thinks ballet should be apart of every athlete’s training regimen, ballet definitely has its rugged side. There will always be the misconception that ballet is for wussies. Take it from these athletes that it is anything but a cake walk!
