Do you feel like grooving the moment you hear your favourite jam?
Do you get the satisfaction and the awesome feeling every time you dance to your full potential?
How often do you feel that you have no stamina to keep going?
I recently got some feedback from people who dance for fun and fitness and also from trained professional dancers. I wasn’t expecting this feedback. It was fascinating.
There was one common theme. They all shared that often they have been advised to exclude Strength & Conditioning from their schedule as it can be terrible for them. It can make them bulky, it cake make them manly, they can get a lot of big muscles and it can impact their aesthetic and also it can cause injuries. Hence they have never included strength & conditioning as part of their schedule.
Have you ever come across this? What do you think? Is this a myth or a fact?
As a dancer, you are missing out on so much if you haven’t paid attention to strengthening your body yet. I can share this with you passionately as I have learnt this the hard way as a Dancer myself.
I will ask you 3 questions and help you analyse and figure out why I say that.
1- As a dancer, Would you want a body that has confidence, passion and enough energy in the tank to always allow you to get up and dance whenever, wherever, and however long you want?
If you are always tired, you lack energy and your body doesn’t allow you to dance when you really want to then what's the point of all the love and passion for dancing? Wouldn’t it defeat the purpose altogether?
2- Would you want a body that is not prone to injuries?
If you have an injury in any form or shape, you wouldn’t be able to perform all the steps the way you want and in some extreme circumstances, you wouldn’t be able to do any dancing at all. Do you think that could affect your mental health?
We know Accidents can happen, so even if you do get injured, would you want a body that can rehabilitate fast and come out stronger from an injury? A body that doesn’t take forever to heal?
3 - Would you want a body that has a good relationship with food?
This means you are not continuously in the cycle of dieting, feeling guilty after eating certain foods, punishing yourself, and counting calories. Instead, would you want a body that has a bigger engine with fast metabolic rate that can burn fuel, and can burn fat fast while you rest so that you can enjoy food, enjoy dancing, have more confidence and self-esteem, and enjoy this special life?
These are all the benefits you get when you include functional strength & conditioning in your lifestyle.
So what are the top 4 mistakes you can make as a Dancer?
1- You might not be fully aware of the benefits of Strength & Conditioning?
There is so much information on social media. It's easy to get confused. As a Dancer, You could be scared that strengthening can make you bulky and you could gain a lot of big muscles.
Unfortunately, it's not that easy.
As women, we already have low levels of testosterone and human growth hormones, we rely mainly on estrogen. For a regular female to put on a lot of muscles with strength training, you need to eat a lot in surplus, make a lot of diet adjustments, have supplements etc.
All we can do safely is save what we have got otherwise we are going to lose them all as you know, with aging, we lose our muscles and bones, and can get osteopenia, and sarcopenia, from an early age. Unfortunately, a lot of young females are getting these diseases.
Did you know that research also shows that women can increase muscle fibres, and have more muscle fibres to contract and exert force without really increasing the size of the muscle belly? Isn’t that awesome?
2- You might think that Dance is already making you strong?
Dance is a sport with a special combination of strength, fitness, endurance, and flexibility. There is immense pressure that is put on muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons. You definitely get fitter dancing, But it's not possible for muscles, and bones to get stronger than you are without overloading them. Our muscles and bones only get strong if you overload them and to allow muscles to get stronger, and lay down more muscle fibres, you need enough recovery, you need your muscles to recover, regenerate and super compensate.
3- You might follow others and do random exercises?
You can get into strength and conditioning on your own but could end up doing the wrong exercises altogether, putting sheering forces across your joints and ending up hurting yourself. You might make your joints, bones, muscles and tendons worse.
4 - Poor nutrition leading you to poor recovery?
Your recovery rate might be different to others as multiple factors such as stress, sleep, and activity levels affect. If your diet, and your nutrition is poor and you don’t allow your muscles to recover, regenerate and super compensate then it starts impacting your dance performance.
Have you made these mistakes?
What can you do to avoid these mistakes?
How about following the basics?
1- Understand the safety and lifestyle factors involved before you start any training.
2- Stick to safe, functional and compound exercises.
3- Have good sleep.
4- Eat properly.
So when are you planning to have a bigger engine for your body and take your dancing passion to the next level?
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