Building up strength for dancing?

[Magelet]

So I have been out of commision for a week and a half from sciatica or something like it. I *think* it was from dancing really hard (irish folk dance, ceili and set), getting a little stitch/pulled something a bit, and not taking care of it. Or maybe from walking barefoot too much too fast. Or something else.

Anyways, what it brought home for me is how very out of shape I am. I hate "working out" and "excercising" prefering fun activities that happen to be active, but clearly, I need to build my body up a bit, and get in better shape to prevent injury.

Other than stretching before and after (I'll do my best, it's at a pub, but I think I can stretch at home, and a wee bit there), what would you recomend to build me up? I think maybe I can do some crunches every day/most days if I think about strengthening my body for dance and to prevent back pain, but beyond that, I have such a hard time sticking to excercise, because I hate the concept of excercising (or doing anything) solely for exercises' sake.

Are there any fun easy (free or only a few dollars) things I can do to slowly build up my core muscles in particular?

Advice on specific exercises to protect my back and hips? Advice on motivating myself and actually doing them?

TIA

[nola79]

Pilates is great for strengthening your core. It's not strenuous at all, and I enjoy it. You can rent DVD's free from the library, or if you have netflix they have a lot of options. The best thing is it can be done in about 30 minutes and you will see a significant improvement, way better than crunches.

[Magelet]

thanks, netflix does have at least one pilates video that seems pretty good (streaming). Pilates is a great idea, I had had it suggusted by various friends, but classes are so expensive, and I forgot/didn't know there might be free videos.

DP was doing his exercise while I did a little of the video, which was nice. If I can convince him to help me exercise while he does(/remind me that I want to, etc), that would be a great help, since he works out most days. It's kind of fun if I do it with him.

[nola79]

I do pick your level weight loss pilates and crunch pick your spot pilates. They both are available via streamline and are 30 min long. I have about 12 in my instant cue but I like these 2 and haven't gotten the time to try out the others as they are longer and dd doesn't nap for long in the morning when I like to do them.

[Magelet]

I did a bit of the jennifer kries, perfect mix one. I had to adjust a few things, and not do some things, and I only did the beginin but it seemed pretty good, I sort of liked it, at least as much as I could like an excercise video.

[nola79]

I'll have to check that one out.