This board was requested by me over a year ago, and I’m so glad that it’s worked well,
here’s the link to the thread requesting it, and I hope that it’s helped more people than just me. I’ve decided to create a thread including the different things I’ve learnt from the board, that I wouldn’t even have known where to ask before, and give people something that they can work from too.
Ok, so this is my shameless attempt at a sticky (you know, I might as well admit it – I want the glory! But it doesn’t mean I’m going to get it.)
I'm such a loser! lol
Why strengthen?
Both male and female Dancers need to be strong as well as flexible. I’ve found out that it’s no good to be able to hold your leg up at 170 degrees, if when you let go, you’re only able to keep it at 90 degrees to your body. Or having amazingly flexible banana feet if when you go up on demi-pointe, they’re way too floppy to support your weight. I work on both strengthening and stretching at the same time, for this reason.
I know this was made for triathletes, but it’s got some very good points about why every athlete needs to strengthen (and here is not the place to have that debate – dance is an art that needs someone who is an athlete and an artist):
www.slowtwitch.com . . .
Before you start any exercise however, if you have any injuries, make sure that it’s ok to carry out these exercises, but I’m sure you all know that already. And remember that just like stretching, when you strengthen you need to warm up – doesn’t need to be high energy, just enough to let your body know that it’s about to do more work.
Anyway, Going to work from the bottom up, since bodies have to be strongest from the bottom up – because they hold the most weight from there. I’m going to give a few exercises that I work on to strengthen each body part, and a few links as well.
Feet and ankles
I have a few exercises to strengthen my feet. Some of which were given to me by my podiatrist, and some I learnt here on DDN.
Pick up pens / other small objects with your toes. This works internally. Really helps – I’ve found a big improvement.
Roll a golf ball / similar sized ball along the floor using your foot. Also works on the muscles internally. Not tried this one properly yet, but the little I have, I do feel it working.
Do releves over and over. It helps to keep a rhythm, I usually do these for one fast song on both feet, and one slow song on both feet. Doing both quick and slow rises.
Point and flex your feet on repetition.
Something simple that really helps to strengthen ankles but needs good knees is light jumps, either on both feet, or from foot to foot.
Circling your feet from your ankles or making the letters of the alphabet is better for those with bad knees, and good because it can be done anywhere, but personally, I find this one annoying, because the bones in my ankles do weird things. (not quite sure what, but no matter)
It might help to look at this thread, which was created before the strengthening forum:
www.dance.net . . . PurkleStars has some good advice – I followed it, and found a difference.
This is also an
excellent link regarding strengthening your feet and how important they are to keep them strong.
In addition to these exercises, you could try using a theraband for resistance, read more:
www.dance.net . . .
legs and knees
A huge number of dancers (and other active people) have problems with their knees. However one should remember that one weak muscle is “helped” by other stronger ones, so all muscles should be worked on together.
I requested help to strengthen my knees here on DDN. I received one reply,
Stufu wrote:
Easy. Do one-legged plies turned in.
So I looked up some others.
Knee Exercise: Leg Lifts
Warm up your knee joints by walking around awhile before you start this knee exercise.
· Choose your location.
· Beginners can do this knee exercise by sitting on the floor, or on a firm bed.
· Make sure your back is well supported. Lean back on your hands, or against the headboard.
· Place a pillow under your right knee.
· Lift your right foot a few inches, and feel the back of your knee push into the pillow.
· Hold for 10 seconds, then rest your leg.
· Repeat this exercise until you feel a slight burning in the front of your leg. This knee exercise strengthens your quad muscle, which will help to support your kneecap and knee joint.
· Repeat with the left leg, first placing the pillow under your left leg.
· As with your right leg, hold for 10 seconds, then relax. Continue this knee exercise until you feel a slight burning in your quad muscle.
Do this knee exercise at least twice a day, increasing the number of leg raises as your quad muscles get stronger.
Note: When you can easily do this knee exercise for 3 minutes or more, you can add more resistance by sitting in a chair, straightening your leg and lifting it. Keep your leg straight while lifting, but do not lock the knee.
Knee Exercise: Wall Slide Strengthens Thigh Muscles
Be sure to walk around a bit and do some gentle stretching before you begin this knee exercise.
While doing this knee exercise, wear sturdy shoes that provide good support for your feet. Make sure you are standing on carpet or a non-slippery surface.
· Stand with your back against a wall, and your feet straight in front of you.
· Slide down, keeping your back against the wall, until you are in a slight sitting position. Slide down only as far as you feel comfortable; when you get stronger you will be able to slide into more of a sitting position.
· For the first few times you do this knee exercise, hold the sitting position for a few seconds, then slide back up. As your quad muscles get stronger, you can hold the sitting position for up to 20 seconds.{/li]
· Starting from a standing position, repeat this knee exercise a few times at first. As you feel stronger, you work up to repeating this knee exercise 10 times.
When you are finished, walk around a bit to give your knees and quads a gentle stretch.
This knee exercise can be repeated several times per week.
Taken from: about.com Author: Sharon O’Brien
A great post by sweetyface17 gave the following advice:
Stand with your feet a little further than hip width apart. Point your feet outward at a slight angle.
Hold your arms in front of you as though you were a praying mantis and keep holding them there as you do the exercise. This helps to keep your upper body straight. Do not bend at your waist — you don’t want to work your torso. You want to work your legs.
If you have trouble balancing, stand behind a chair and hold the back of it lightly, as though it were a barre. The exercise works just as well if you’re holding the back of a chair as if you are holding your hands out in front of you.
Tighten your abs to help keep your back straight, stick your bottom out behind and lower yourself slowly as if you were going to sit down. Most of your weight should be back on your heels, not on your toes. The trick to doing a squat properly is to keep your knees over your feet. Standing incorrectly can lead to knee injury, so be careful. Look down at your knees and made sure they do not move out in front of your toes. There should be minimal movement. Of course, the knee has to bend in order for you to do this exercise, but try not to let it go too far forward.
People with knee problems will probably find that doing a squat this way will make it easier for them to do it with little to no pain. If your knees hurt at all, don’t move down so far. If they continue to hurt, don't do this exercise. Some people’s knees won't allow them do squats.
As you stand back up, tighten your thigh muscles. Make them do the work, don't use your knees. Feel your thigh and buttocks muscles lifting your body back to an upright, standing position. This makes your thighs work harder, therefore, you gain more strength.
Read the full post
here.
Another thread which has some great advice contained within the replies is this one:
www.dance.net . . . Which are mostly working on the thighs, and I’ve personally tried the first one suggested by NellRose quite a few times, and it’s definitely high impact, but I can only try it one days that my knees are feeling good. Dragonfly posted an amazing exercise, which is also very high-impact, and I love using it, as it can be done right after a few light stretches in front of the tv!
Bum strengthening
Ok, why do we need to strengthen our bum? Surely that’s just weird? I hear you say… Think of it this way, why do we have a bum? Every single muscle in our body is there for a reason, and a bum is no exception. So here’s a few good exercises for a strong bum.
Lie flat on your back, with your knees up and you feet on the ground, about shoulder distance apart. Lift your bum to create a nice straight line from knee to shoulder. Hold for a bit, then drop. Do this in repetitions. You can also clench your bum cheeks when in the raised position. I find this exercise really helps for the abs as well. You can develop this exercise to work more on the abs as well by raising one foot at a time, and holding it in the same line as the body.
Lie on your side, with your lower arm outstretched and supporting your head. Make sure that your whole body is in a straight line. Raise your upper leg towards the roof, keeping legs in parallel. This works the legs, abs and the bum. Or it should in theory. I love this exercise because I do it in bed.
Abdomen
Even if I do say so myself, I’ve got a pretty good set of stomach muscles, and I’ve got little to no idea how they got started… Although I’ve got a funny feeling it was something to do with all the tail balances I did in dance class.
So one of the first exercises that I did to help my stomach muscles was a basic, sit with your legs in front of you, back straight, lean your hands out behind you, and create a v shape with your body, try to make it as small as you can, imagining yourself as a hard-back book that you’re trying to close, with your bum as the spine you are balancing on. This gets much more difficult once the hands are removed from the floor.
A more difficult exercise, that I’ve only been introduced to recently is this, Lie on your stomach, with your arms at right angles to your body. Lift your body from the waist up, without using your arms at all. Either hold this there, or do pulses of 8. (we have done both in class). This one can lead from or into back stretching exercises, depending on how flexible your back is.
There’s also the staples that everyone knows about, the various ways to do crunches, and sit-ups, however I personally don’t like these very much, because they tend to put unnecessary pain on peoples’ necks who don’t have good stomach muscles.
And in the same way as I’ve said before, stretching can’t go without strength, all parts of your body work together, the same goes for stomach muscles and your back. This is your ‘core’ and I’ve found a much better way of explaining it than I can,
here.
Finally…
Arms and upper body
The only exercises I know for the arms and upper body involve the use of therabands (or in my case – tights), conditioning machines, or push ups.
And everyone knows what push ups are, and I don’t mean in the context of support and enhancement of breasts. I did give the link earlier for therabands, so for those who want to know more about this, then work away with one of those, or a pair of tights or two.
Finally, here’s a few links to some DDN posts that are helpful on strengthening the body, the importance of strengthening, and some stretching links that I find have stretches that also improve strength.
www.dance.net . . .
www.dance.net . . .
www.dance.net . . .
And one link (provided by ABTballet) with many many many exercises on stretching and strengthening. It really works on every area of the body, and should help so many people.
www.tinajuanfitness.info . . .
Good luck in strengthening, and I’m going to work hard myself!
Le gra,
Emma.x
