Ballerina Body

By: Misty Copeland

Narrated by: Cherelle Cargill, Misty Copeland - introduction

Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

The celebrated ballerina and role model Misty Copeland shares the secrets of how to reshape your body and achieve a lean, strong physique and glowing health.

Misty Copeland believes "there has been a shift in recent years in which women no longer desire the bare bones of a runway model. Standards have changed: What women do want is a long, toned, powerful body with excellent posture." In other words, the body of a ballerina.

In her first health and fitness book, Misty will show women how to find the motivation to get healthier and stronger and how to reshape their bodies to be lean and flexible, with step-by-step advice, meal plans, workout routines, and words of inspiration. Celebrating the importance of healthy fats and a fitness regimen based on ballet exercises, Misty shares her own time-tested exercises and an eating plan focusing on healthy fats, both of which keep her in top shape. Tips for motivation and words of encouragement as well as tips on how to keep going even when you may want to give up and an inspiring section on the importance of finding mentors, and eventually being one, plus excerpts from Misty's personal journal round out this important book on grace and strength.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 Misty Copeland (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Meh... unclear audience. Probably better in print.

Background, I have danced recreationally since I was 15, and every now and then try to pick up some book or article about new diet/meal plan ideas and conditioning exercises. It is usually with low expectations and therefore I shouldn't judge this book too harshly. I mean, it does exactly that, provides some meal plans and exercises.

However there seems to be a lack of focus or intended audience, as the book tries to provide inspiration for college-aged dancers, pre-tween pre-professional bunheads, busy moms of three who want to fit into smaller jeans... all based off of a professional dancing who practices 8hr/day at least and notes "my body has always moved with ease". I felt it tried too hard to reach as broad a reader profile as possible and came off as thin or unrealistic.

The exercises are all floor barre and a typical ballet barre. For the college dancer or tween aspiring ballerina, this is all unnecessary and simplistic, and for the person trying to get fit and no background in dance probably a little hard to follow (although explaining those movements solely with words ain't easy!). Furthermore, if the intention of the book is to teach non-dancers how to carve out a ballet body, a good diet and just doing barre exercises isn't going to get you there.

Diet info is all standard. Good tips if you've NEVER looked at a cookbook or clean eating magazine article. Personally as a vegan, I would have liked to see SOME mention of plant-based proteins and alternatives.

Probably the biggest issue however is the format--this book really ought to be read considering the number of diagrams and tables that are included in the PDF. It's great that the PDF is available, but I assume the reason most people listen to audiobooks is because they aren't able to read something at the moment. Even as someone who has done barre for years, I found it hard to follow or stay focused. Pretty good narrator though.

I also would feel remiss without noting that I really admire Misty Copeland and the outreach work she has done, as well as the inspiration she brings to non-white young ballet dancers.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Video or hard copy needed

Great content but not very good as audio only. I would love a video version to see everything put in action!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great guidance!

***** Balance is a theme well explored. Both physically, mentally, emotionally plus time management tips.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

beautiful encourage to continuing my journey of w

beautiful and encourage to continuing working on my journey of losing weight and better me

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Beautiful book.

So inspiring! Thanks to the narrator, every emotion and thought came across beautifully. I recommend to everyone!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Excellent!

The only criticism I have is not of the author or the narrator, but rather that the exercise diagram portion of the book is difficult to translate into audio. It really needs to be seen to be understood. Misty's story is amazing and I loved how she wove her personal history and anecdotes into a narrative to show her journey towards healthy eating.