Month: February 2017

“Body image” is a concept that is sometimes hard to digest for dancers. It refers to how you see yourself, in a literal sense  – like when you’re looking at yourself in the mirror – but also in your mind – the way you think you look. As dancers, we spend a lot of time looking at our bodies pretty closely as we work towards perfecting our craft, but sometimes, looking too close too often makes it easier for us to point out the flaws rather than to acknowledge our beauty and strengths. We tend to become far too critical of ourselves, which damages the way we think of ourselves.

Body Image Makeover

There are two kinds of body image: positive and negative. When you have a positive body image, you feel comfortable and content in your own skin, but when your body image is negative, you feel uncomfortable and unhappy with your body. If you’re like the average person, your body image lies somewhere in between the two types and it varies depending on the circumstances. When you catch yourself often having negative thoughts and feelings towards your own body, it is quite possible your body image is not in good shape.
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The tricky thing about negative body image is that it’s not like a switch that you can turn on and off whenever you’re tired of it. It takes some work to heal from that and promote a better, healthier body image.

These are a few “exercises” you can do to help yourself right those wrongs in your mind:

Restrain those negative thoughts

Our mind dictates what we think about ourselves, but when we become aware of the negative thoughts that come over us, we have the power to swap them out for good ones. The first step is to pay attention. Stop those unwanted, destructive thoughts and replace them with positive affirmations. These are proven to have an encouraging effect.

Let the mirror be your friend, not your enemy

Use the image you see in the mirror for a productive purpose in your dance training – you know, to correct poses and technique. However, if you’re unable to do so, stop looking in the mirror right away. Shift your focus and whatever you do, remember it’s not accurate; it’s just a reflection and it should not define your body or you.

Compare yourself to your own self, never mind others

Just like the mirror, if comparing yourself to others is used as a productive tool that will help you improve your dancing, there’s no harm in that. Otherwise, stop doing it. Everyone has their own weaknesses.
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It’s always better to compete with yourself. Realize how far you’ve come when compared to a younger version of yourself.
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Define goals and action plans so that you can keep growing.

If there’s one person you can’t run away from, it’s yourself. Take time to cultivate a positive relationship with your body. Love yourself and treat yourself right.

Dancing is a super fun way to get in shape. You get your body moving and use tons of different muscle groups. You start building muscle mass and burning fat, slowly but surely. Depending on the style of dance, the class can be really strenuous or super laid back, which will impact the number of calories you burn. We brought you a list of dances and the calories each of them can make you burn, depending on a series of factors.

Calories per Hour Burned by Dancing

Hip Hop

Hip hop involves large movements of the entire body, which places it high on the expenditure scale. It also often involves freestyling, meaning that muscle groups are kept guessing and are less likely to stop responding to the exercise or hit a plateau. In 60 minutes, hip hop will use between 370 (for people of lighter bodyweights) to 610 (for those weighing 180 and up) calories.

Ballet

We estimate that there are 380 to 450 ballet calories burnt per hour. As an added bonus, this form of dance tends to be associated with great posture, a strong core, increased flexibility, and very strong legs. It is known for building that long and lean look that women so often strive for, but make no mistake; ballet requires a great deal of strength. For example, pro football players have been known to use ballet training to improve their performances.

Samba

You can burn anywhere from 288 calories to 576 calories per hour depending on your body weight and the intensity of the dance.

Ballroom Dancing

Slower paced styles will expend between 150 and 220 calories, while quicker types will range between 250 and 320 calories per hour.

Belly Dance

Roughly 270-320 calories for less intense versions, and between 290 and 360 calories for faster & higher intensity styles.

Breakdancing

This kind of dancing can require a great deal of strength and agility, as some of the moves require impressive poses holding one’s own bodyweight. We estimate that break dancing burns 400-650 calories per hour.

Country or Western

Again, the amount of effort put forth and the speed and difficulty of the movements will make a big difference, but generally speaking, this type of workout will use up between 290 and 420 calories.

[Adapted from https://www.fitnessblender.com/]

Keep in mind that a variety of factors like age, body weight, the intensity of the dance, and even the weather can impact how many calories you burn. Pick a class and start burning calories now while you have tons of fun with us. We’re sure you’ll have a great time!

There’s not one right type of body when it comes to dancing. Dancers come in all shapes and sizes. However, attributes like thin, lean, and flexible often to come to mind when we are looking to describe them. We usually leave out words like endurance, powerful, strong, and coordinated, which are great words to describe some of the best dancers out there. One thing that all those amazing dancers have in common is their physical strength – their muscle strength – which plays a major role in the quality of their performance.

The Benefits of Muscular Strength

Core Strength & Balance

A good, strong and stable core is essential for a dancer – not just that sexy six-pack. That’s great too, of course, but we’re talking about the whole thing here: abs, back, pelvis – all of it. A weak core means poor posture and a higher risk of falls, lower back pain, and injuries. On the other hand, when your core is well-developed, it becomes the center of all movement, the base for lifts, and what stabilizes you as you jump.

Then there’s balance. This has a kind of cascading effect. If you have good muscle strength and your core is strong also, your balance will be positively impacted. Balance allows you to show grace, fluidity, emotion, and skill through your dancing.

Explosiveness

Dancers are very likely to execute explosive plyo-type movements with minimal foot support. Focusing on strengthening your legs (let’s say quads and hamstrings) will result in less muscle fatigue post-training and will also allow you to accomplish those explosive movements with a lot more strength and less prone to injuries.

Joint Health

All that dancing can take a toll on your joints. They take on a lot of wear and tear from everyday activities, and even more so if you’re a dancer. If you’re experiencing knee pain when working out, one of the reasons might be that the muscle around your knee (and in your leg overall) is not strong enough and, therefore, the actual joint is doing most of the work. Muscles pull on the joints, allowing us to move. The stronger your muscles are, the less work your joints will have to do to help you get through the movements.

So, don’t neglect your strength training. Muscle strength will allow you to have better control over your body. This will result in improved ease of movement and better technique.

As a dancer, it’s not uncommon that you push your body to the limit sometimes while learning a new piece or using your body in new ways. For that very reason, it’s also not uncommon that some days, you wake up super sore and (quite possibly) can’t move as fluidly as other days. When you say “sore,” are you completely sure about what it means and how to deal with that? If you aren’t, this is what we’re here for.

What does “muscle soreness” mean?

So, what is “muscle soreness,” really? Every workout tears away at the muscle and then releases lactic acid, causing that discomfort that tends to occur between 24 and 48 hours after the activity. This is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS for short. Those little tears in your muscles need to heal so your muscle can grow stronger, and those same microscopic tears, coupled with the inflammation that accompanies them, cause the pain.

“The aches and pains should be minor,” says Carol Torgan, an exercise physiologist and fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, “and are simply indications that muscles are adapting to your fitness regimen.”

[Source: WebMD http://www.webmd.com/]

Dealing with Muscle Soreness

Stretching is a good idea; however, your regular “sitting-on-your-split” stretches might not be the best way to go. Dynamic stretches are a much smarter choice (sun salutations, downward dog position, plies a la second…). This way you can warm up while working through the stretch and, at the same time, bring blood flow to the area.

Cooling down is just as important. Take 10 or so minutes at the end of your routine to go over some of the same stretches you did before, except this time, you can hold each position for 20 to 30 seconds in order to elongate the muscle and prevent soreness.

You can also resort to taking an over the counter anti-inflammatory pain reliever or a muscle relaxer, more information on https://thefitnessequation.com/tfestore/soma-carisoprodol/. If you’re already sore, you can take one after class to ease the pain a bit and help your body relax. If you’re not sore and you think the upcoming routine might put significant stress on your muscles, you can also take one before class as a preventive measure.

Most importantly, pay attention to your body. If that “soreness” you’re experiencing goes on for over 48 hours, you might have actually injured yourself. If that’s the case, make sure you seek help from a health professional.