Working out in a gym and dancing

[rothshahar]

Hi,
How important do you think it is for a dancer to work out in a gym? I don't mean pumping up heavy weights. Just "toning" the muscles.
Do you think that just dancing is enough to develop the necessary muscles? I've started to practice samba rolls with my partner and I feel that my stomach muscles are not strong enough.
Thanks,
Shahar

[pygmalion]

Hi rothshahar. Long time, no see. Thanks for posting. :D

I'm not sure how important additional toning is for social dancers (although it can't hurt,) but I think it's absolutely essential for competitive dancers -- not just lifting weights for toning, but also cardio for aerobic fitness and stamina.

What do others think?

[Sagitta]

I notice the difference if the gym is an active part of my weekly routine. However, now with work (40 hr/week job), class (over 10 hrs a week), plus dancing it has become really hard to accomplish this. :?

[standardgirl]

I think regular workouts in the gym is really important for dancing. You need to be physically, and cardio fit for dances and comps. Dancing by itself doesn't really bulid the strength you need for dancing. Weight training, gym workouts will help you achieve the strenth and cardio needed.

[dTas]

i think good conditioning is essential to dancing. maybe not gym work but some sort of physical toning should be incorporated to condition the body for the demands of dancing. Pilates, yoga, core work and strengthening would be very benneficial.

actually i think those would work better than just going and pumping iron at the gym because they work more on stabilization and balance than brute force.

i need to invest in some equipment; reflex balls, basu 1/2 ball, and elastic bands, for my studio to show students how unstable and weak they really are. and what they need to work on in order to improve their dancing technique.

[Swingolder]

I don't work out in a gym (although I would love to get into the habit. We have great facilities here where I work-a university-but I can never get over there) . I do run five days a week and that is so important to my stamina (and weight). I just started dancing a couple of years ago and if I hadn't been running, I don't think it would have been so easy to keep up the dancing a couple of hours at a time. I know you younger dancers might not understand that problem!

[dancin_feet]

I was going to the gym regularly before I started dancing. Gave it up because with working 45+ hours per week, dancing 2-4 nights per week and trying to get enough rest I just ran out of time and the gym just seemed to drop out of my "to do" list.

I have some wrist and ankle weights that I use at home from time to time and a fitball that I use for my abs workout. Probably don't do a workout as much as I should, but the weights are good for putting on while doing housework, etc. A workout when you're not having a workout. :D

[Lucretia]

I believe building muscles with help of heavy load help you to get a good posture. Especially the muscles at your back - latisimuss and shoulders. You cannot train them by dancing or running. You need some kind of weights to achieve a result. And you look better if you train the whole body and not just burning fat and carbohydrates.

And I'm sure you get help of all the others muscle you train as well at the gym. For example – muscles on your back and upper leg is essential for dancing Merengue.

I have lifted weights for more than 15 years. After times with breaks - sickness or to much work – I always get a kick of improving posture when I start up again. Self confidence shines through all of me. I glow.

/luc

[Sagitta]

I do try and stretch and do a weight lifting at home regularly as I have some weights at home, like dancin_feet daoes.

[Elizabeth]

I like working out in the gym because it helps take the pressure off my practices. Before I started going to the gym I got really frustrated in practice because part of what I wanted out of practice was a workout, whereas my partner was mostly concerned with just figureing things out and fine-tuning our technique. Now I take care of the workout on my own and don't get so frustrated during practice.

I agree that strengthening my back and shoulders has helped my posture. I don't know if strengthening anything else really helps. It seems like it should, but I'm constantly seeing women with clearly weaker feet and legs placing higher than me. :?

[BodiesByBija]

Dancing itself is not enough exercise to fully prepare you for dancing well! You don't need to do traditional machines-in-the-gym workouts. Machines and heavy weights serve a different purpose. Some people are so weak, they would actually benefit from the stabilization of machines.

But for the generally-fit, generally-healthy dancer, the best bang for your buck would be exercises that strengthen you CORE... i.e, the muscles of your torso that connect with your extremities. Exercises done in an UNSTABLE position accomplish this quite well. Push-ups strengthen your chest and arms, but if done with your thighs resting on a stability ball, they also strengthen your abdominals, back, and even your hip flexors work to 'stabilize' you. So a stability ball workout, or a pilates class would be a great addition to your dancing. You can get a video and do it at home if going to the gym takes too much time.

[cocodrilo]

My current situation allows me to dance one a week or less, but I do my weights/sit-ups and lunges religiously every day to keep toned. Would love the extravagance of having the time to go to a gym, but I make make do with dumbbells and working out in my livingroom! :D

[rothshahar]

Thanks everybody for your comments. I'll try to squeeze in some gym workouts :)

[Sagitta]

Okay I'm going my my once a week workout. At least once a week I say... :wink: :)

[DanceMentor]

For a couple of years I taught SalsaAerobics at LA Fitness, and got a free membership for my wife and I. I got pretty defined muscles during that time, but now I don't work out quite as much, but I still try to stretch and drink plenty of water to prevent muscle soreness from dancing. I do lift weights a little, but not often enough.

[rothshahar]

For a couple of years I taught SalsaAerobics at LA Fitness, and got a free membership for my wife and I. I got pretty defined muscles during that time, but now I don't work out quite as much, but I still try to stretch and drink plenty of water to prevent muscle soreness from dancing. I do lift weights a little, but not often enough.
If you care to explain: How does drinking plenty of water prevents muscle soreness?

[Joe]

Perhaps it's got something to do with dilution of the lactic acid that builds up?

[dTas]

But for the generally-fit, generally-healthy dancer, the best bang for your buck would be exercises that strengthen you CORE... i.e, the muscles of your torso that connect with your extremities. Exercises done in an UNSTABLE position accomplish this quite well. Push-ups strengthen your chest and arms, but if done with your thighs resting on a stability ball, they also strengthen your abdominals, back, and even your hip flexors work to 'stabilize' you. So a stability ball workout, or a pilates class would be a great addition to your dancing. You can get a video and do it at home if going to the gym takes too much time.

TOTALLY AGREE! its amazing how much those balls make your body work... double time! not only are you working a major muscle group but all those smaller stabilizing muscles as well. and its those little muscles that are going to give you better body control on the dance floor.

take a yoga class and a pilates class 3 days later. you'll be amazed after 6 weeks. streatch, strengthen, stabilize!

[Another Elizabeth]

If you care to explain: How does drinking plenty of water prevents muscle soreness?
What a timely question! The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/health/nutrition/16sore.html) had an article on this today.

[Joe]

The article doesn't even mention water...

[Another Elizabeth]

Running marathons and participating in other endurance events can cause rhabdomyolysis, said Dr. William O. Roberts, president of the American College of Sports Medicine. Other risk factors include being unfit or dehydrated and exercising in high temperatures.

"It's one of the reasons why you want to stay well hydrated if you are going to work your muscles hard," Dr. Roberts said. "Drink enough so that you have good urine output to clear these waste products."

[Sagitta]

Running marathons and participating in other endurance events can cause rhabdomyolysis, said Dr. William O. Roberts, president of the American College of Sports Medicine. Other risk factors include being unfit or dehydrated and exercising in high temperatures.

"It's one of the reasons why you want to stay well hydrated if you are going to work your muscles hard," Dr. Roberts said. "Drink enough so that you have good urine output to clear these waste products."


Thanks. So now I don't need to read the article? :)

[pygmalion]

What is rhabdomyolysis? A poisoning of your system by its own waste? That's what I'm taking from the context. Yuck!!

[Elizabeth]

But for the generally-fit, generally-healthy dancer, the best bang for your buck would be exercises that strengthen you CORE... i.e, the muscles of your torso that connect with your extremities. Exercises done in an UNSTABLE position accomplish this quite well. Push-ups strengthen your chest and arms, but if done with your thighs resting on a stability ball, they also strengthen your abdominals, back, and even your hip flexors work to 'stabilize' you. So a stability ball workout, or a pilates class would be a great addition to your dancing. You can get a video and do it at home if going to the gym takes too much time.

TOTALLY AGREE! its amazing how much those balls make your body work... double time! not only are you working a major muscle group but all those smaller stabilizing muscles as well. and its those little muscles that are going to give you better body control on the dance floor.


Hrmm. OK, maybe I'm some sort of mutant, but I find pushups way easier when I've got a stability ball under my legs. Sure, there may be some muscles working to stabilize me, but not enough for me to notice and in the mean time I've shortened my body so that its more akin to doing knee pushups than real pushups.

I've got to say, I've been using all that destabilizing equipment (stability balls, core board, bosu) for the past seven months now, and frankly I haven't really noticed any difference. Doing excercises while standing on one foot on the bosu will make my ankles tired, but I haven't been feeling tiredness in my core unless I do focused abs work. I think focusing on those muscles is better for me than just assuming that they'll get worked because I'm using core equipment.

[Neil]

My wife started taking pilates classes about two years ago. She doesn't go often, but she incorporates a lot of the focus on the core muscles during her regular strength workouts. I can feel a big difference in her dancing. She feels much more balanced and stable on the dance floor. When she misses a few weeks of working out, it almost feels like she's been drinking. Everything is just a little more loose and sloppy.

[dTas]

Hrmm. OK, maybe I'm some sort of mutant, but I find pushups way easier when I've got a stability ball under my legs. Sure, there may be some muscles working to stabilize me, but not enough for me to notice and in the mean time I've shortened my body so that its more akin to doing knee pushups than real pushups.

I've got to say, I've been using all that destabilizing equipment (stability balls, core board, bosu) for the past seven months now, and frankly I haven't really noticed any difference. Doing excercises while standing on one foot on the bosu will make my ankles tired, but I haven't been feeling tiredness in my core unless I do focused abs work. I think focusing on those muscles is better for me than just assuming that they'll get worked because I'm using core equipment.

try this simple exercise... stand on the ball and try and do squats! yes, i said BALL, not BOSU. it takes a lot of practice to even be able to stand on a ball (not legs straight but bent/flexed) but then to execute a squat it takes a lot of balance and core muscles. be sure you have something nearby to grab onto.

start by balancing on your knees. be able to stay there for 3 - 5 minutes. then move up to your feet.

[Dan C]

I realize I'm echoing the basic point that, no, dancing alone is not enough of a workout for a competative dancer, but I thought I'd share my own experience as a quick point of empirical evidence.

For years I'd let dancing be my primary form of exercise - I figured that 20-30 hours a week of varying intensity was enough of a workout and that, besides, I really didn't have time for more exercise. And I could go to a comp and dance 90 entries and be very tired, but fine. Then last spring I made the time and started working out...running and going to the gym three days a week. This workout regimen has increased slowly to the point that I run fast for half an hour and then work out all muscle groups for an hour with a combination of weights and the exercise ball.

A few months ago I danced 180 entries at a comp and wasn't even tired by the end of it. My level of fitness had increased dramatically...and more than I had realized. After that experience, I now dance with a good deal more energy in competition because I know my body has the endurance to keep it up for many dances.

It has helped me a lot to work to improve both endurance and strength, definitely including core-muscle exercises, and to work out with as much intensity as possible to make the most of the time I have to put into it.

[Sagitta]

Very true Dan C. I am beginning to find that I am getting fatigued. I must start going to the gym more frequently and on a regular basis.

[dTas]

any activity in itself is not enough to support that activity. if you dance then you need to do something else to support your dancing. the gym, pilates, yoga, aerobics...etc. or another sport, running, swiming, whatever.

this is mostly true in anything. whatever activity, if you're serious, you need something else to support it.

[Sagitta]

Yes, I am practicing dance steps now. Not just going out dancing... :oops:

[Adwiz]

I have long taken the view that one "lesson" each week with a personal trainer was as important to my dancing as a dance lesson. It is a financial commitment, since it costs almost as much as a private lesson, but there is simply no comparison between working with a professional and trying to work out by yourself. For years I went to the gym by myself, using books and videos and even establishing detailed logs and tracking systems. Yet in the past two years my workouts with a personal trainer have accomplished more than I did in the 10 years prior to that. I have gained incredible amounts of stamina and strength and speed.

The trainer keeps the workouts interesting by varying things. He knows what my goals are and what my current challenges are (such as upcoming comps and dance steps currently being focused on). He adapts the workouts to the issues I'm dealing with. He pushes me harder than I could ever push myself. Long after I would be stopping a movement because it's simply too hard or too much he says, "come on, you can do {insert number here} more." If I say I can't he responds, "you have to." And he makes me and I do it and when I'm finished I feel awesome.

This physical improvement has given my dancing much more strength and has given me more confidence on the dance floor. While nobody sees my legs (which look really good now), my arms look great, I have a washboard stomach that I didn't even have in high school and enough strength to lift my partner or do other moves beyond my current dance capacity.

I'd recommend anyone serious about dance to consider working with a personal trainer. Give it the same priority as a dance lesson. You'll never look back.

[dTas]

I have long taken the view that one "lesson" each week with a personal trainer was as important to my dancing as a dance lesson.

i totally agree. a personal trainer is an excellent way to get your body in shape and maintain that shape.

unfortunately the financial side is a little steep.

i'd like to go back to a personal trainer but i just can't afford it at this moment. maybe i could get in there once every two weeks and pray that my 3 times a week in the gym is enough to maintain what the trainer is emphasizing.

[Vince A]

I don't think anyone could say that working out in the gym would hurt your dancing . . . EXCEPT . . . if you worked out so much, and became so huge like professional body builders, that the very large muscle masses would slow your abilites to move your body in the mannerisms required by competitive dancers . . . we've all seen the jokes about how weighlifters can barely reach up and scratch their nose, right?

Although I totally disagree, I'm sure they could scratch their nose, but being that large just have the graceful look of a well-toned slimmer dancer. I don't think "Arnie" would look cool executing a smooth Waltz . . . although, I know, out there somewhere . . . there is a huge weightlifter who does a mean Tango with all the grace of a Mack truck!

I re-read this back to myself and it didn't make sense . . . I hope you grasp the idea of the point that I was trying to drive home???

[pygmalion]

Yep. Sounds like by all means go to the gym. It can't hurt, unless you overdo the muscle mass. Yes? 8)

[Sagitta]

Okay the go-ahead to mass up!! :car:

[Sakura]

Interesting topic you all have here!

I'm in an aerobics class at school (part of the reason why I'm so exhausted right now! :shock: :wink: ), and we go into the weight room, run, use the balance balls, etc. It's a very eclectic mix of work, and I really do enjoy it. Adding that to the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) game I play, when I have the tme, I've built up a great bit of stamina. I hesitate to think what might happen to my dancing ability if I loose what I've built up in class!

However, next year I will not be taking the class (I'm gonna be a student assistant for one of the top three coolest teachers in my school! :banana: ), so I'm wondering if I can't convince my parents to get me a set of dumbells at home while I try and figure out a way to get into the weight room and on the track at school.... :roll:

But, back to the point: I, too, would reccomend getting to the gym, if only to tone up the muscles and run a bit. Try doing a fouth of a mile every time you go in. We do that in our aerobics class, and I think, if you actually work at it, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the increase in your stamina and times (if you're counting). At the very least, even if it doesn't help your dancing, the added bodily health is always a plus, right?

Sakura Kitty :kitty:

[Adwiz]

It's actually nearly impossible for someone seriously into dance or other aerobic activity to gain lots of muscle mass. They can't because the aerobics gets in the way of the muscle's ability to grow. You'll get nicely toned but will never bulk up, even if your body type has a tendency to do so. That's why personal trainers in a normal gym setting who are training "bodybuilder" types will tell their clients not to do more than a few minutes of aerobics.

People who only do aerobics, like dancers, stay slim but have no muscle tone. You need to work out with weights to get that. Dancers with a bit of tone to their muscles look much better than the ones with just soft flesh. I think the best example of this is when you watch the "World Superstars" videos. Because they are showcase dances, many of the guys have sleeveless shirts or barely any shirt, so you can really see the muscle tone. The lighting also helps accentuate the muscle tone of the ladies, like Beata and Karinna Smyrnoff. Very sexy look when there's some muscle.