My wife and I work out together twice weekly with personal trainers and we do the same things, so I don't find that there's any difference whether you're a man or lady. The key exercises for dancers relate to increasing leg strength and core/abs. Most of these are so simple they seem almost laughable -- stuff you can do anywhere without fancy machines or things, but they make a huge impact. A ball is the best piece of equipment, in our view. Here's a couple of ideas:
- Make sure you're warmed up (treadmill or bike for example, at least 5 minutes). Muscles need to be warm before a workout or they can be damaged.
- Start with some abs/core stuff, then large muscle groups, then small muscle groups, then finish with abs/core.
- Always stretch when you end your workout or the muscles can end up contracting and reducing your range of motion, which won't help your dancing.
- Try balance-related stuff, which works your core muscles and improves your balance at the same time. I love the ball for this. You can start with simple things like being in a pushup position with your feet against the ball, then roll the ball towards you by bending your knees and back again by straightening your knees. Great ab workout and helps you develop balance. Later on, as your balance improves, you can advance to kneeling on the ball (yes, both knees) while twisting side to side to work your core -- especially effective with dumbells in hand.
- One cool routine we did yesterday was to lie on the ball, at hips level, hands in pushup position and the rest of the body completely straight from head to toes, like a see-saw board. Then, while keeping the body completely straight (engaging all the core muscles), rock up and down by pushing up from your arms and alternately bending them. It feels like doing pushups but because the legs and body need to be straight you end up using all kinds of extra muscles. It's way harder than it looks. The key is not to let your head ever go behind your hands, it should always stay in front of your hands so you get the right muscles involved.
- Squats and lunges are really critical for dancers. Sure, you use your legs while dancing but standard leg exercises like these go a long way to improving your leg flexibility and strength. Proper technique is essential. When you lunge forward or back, never go ahead of your knee. Make sure you drop and rise perfectly vertical or you'll put stress on your knee instead of the muscles. This can be hard to understand without a mirror or partner to guide you, because it will feel vertical even if it isn't.
