Hello Ballet Beauties! Welcome back to our fun series, Ask Mary Helen. Burning questions about Ballet Beautiful workout, lifestyle and more? Let us know in the comments below. In the meantime, grab a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy your one-on-one Q&A with Founder Mary Helen!
Please write a lifestyle book! BB is about so much more than fitness; it is about infecting your life with beauty.
This makes me so happy to hear! For a workout to be truly impactful it must be about more than just how you spend a few hours a week, but also how you live. Getting into a positive, healthy frame of mind is everything when it comes to building a lifestyle in which your own fitness and health is a priority. Put yourself first and make working out a priority. I cover a lot of this territory in the Ballet Beautiful book and also on our blog.
How do you put together a longer workout – 90 minutes?
This is a great question! I wrote about this in the Week Inside a VS Angel’s Workout blog post. I love longer workouts because they allow you to go really deep into each muscle group and still have time for plenty of stretching and cardio. It’s a great way to challenge the body and take your Ballet Beautiful experience to another level! Depending on a client’s goals I would recommend doing an hour of solid toning to build lean muscle and target and develop ballet muscles and then add an additional 30 minutes of standing work and BB cardio. The blog post includes three challenging 90 minute workouts that I put together, so make sure to check it out. ?
What are your favorite healthy snacks that will support people on their Ballet Beautiful journey?
I hate being hungry while working out! Nothing could be more distracting to me! I enjoy regular snacks to keep the metabolism humming and prevent overeating. The key is to make heathy choices that support your Ballet beautiful lifestyle and workouts rather than harm them in any way. A few of my favorites include: an organic apple with a handful of raw almonds, a hard boiled egg or two with grape tomatoes, whole grain crackers or raw veggies with hummus, air popped popcorn with sea salt and olive oil.
What is your haircare routine?
My hair is very long and prone to tangles, I try to baby it as much as I possibly can! I love french hair pins for my buns and steer away from using too much product or pulling it back too tightly with hairbands. I also rarely use heat on my hair which seems to help keep it healthier too. More on this topic to come!
Have you ever thought of expanding BB in different languages?
We do have Ballet Beautiful DVDs in Japanese and we are always thinking of expanding. We love our international Ballet Beauties! Make sure to sign up for our mailing list for all these updates!
When will you come to Washington DC area to do a class?
Traveling and sharing Ballet Beautiful is one of the highlights of my year! While I don’t have specific plans for visiting and teaching in DC in the short term, be sure to stay tuned to our social media regarding any upcoming classes in other cities!
Where can I buy a BB mat?
We sell these mats in our Soho studio and Upper East Side studio. The next time you visit NYC come visit one of our studios and you can purchase one of the Ballet Beautiful mats to use for your workouts. We would love to have you in the studio!
