Yesterday I got the pleasure of speaking with Leah Sarago, fitness expert, dancer, and creative genius behind a DVD series that is literally feminizing my body. I say feminizing, because her Ballet Body series goes beyond muscle toning and weight loss, the moves she employs literally lengthen muscle and feminize your body. Your waist will be smaller. Your arms will look more delicate, your legs will be sinewy. “The Ballet Body is focused on strengthening and lengthening,” says Sarago, who was inspired to do the series based on her years as a dancer. Incidentally, she has a degree in exercise science and dance.

One thing that I thought was really notable about this series was the fact that there are absolutely NO breaks–Sarago goes from once set of movements to the next until the end, which is usually between 40-50 minutes. “Not everybody has time for cardio and weight training. There’s no breaks so you can burn more calories. It’s like circuit training.” As an aside, I’ve had some difficultry getting through an entire workout, because my energy peters out. This is probably because I’m on a very low-carbohydrate regimen. She recommended I have a a piece or fruit or something beforehand.

Sarago, 31, realized early on that there was a big difference between weight training on machines versus dance-inspired workouts. Soon after college she was employed as a trainer by a gym that encouraged her to abandon her dance exercise routine and opt for the machines. As a result, she soon discovered that her long muscles became short and stumpy. She’d also heard complaints from her female clients that, while they were working tirelessly to slim down, they started to bulk up. “They could no longer fit into their jeans. Their legs and thighs expanded,” says Sarago, who mentioned that there is some new research to support the anecdotal  findings. That’s probably because the ballet routine both stresses the muscles while doing movements that lengthen and stretch them.

On her web site, Sarago has downloadable video tutorials and workout guides if you want a holistic approach to your feminization.