What can the gym do for you?

So you do your dance lessons, you practice and you make sure you get plenty of competition experience. What else can you do to improve your performance?
Somebody told you it would be a good idea to join a gym. You have, but you have not noticed any improvement. Why not? I ‘m sorry to break this to you, but if you want the gym to be of benefit, you actually have to visit it now and then!

We are fortunate to live close to a great gym at Nirvana Spa - so, we went to see them and asked can the gym really be of benefit to dancers? Well, yes it can!



Gym work enables you to work on specific areas of your fitness without being distracted by the dancing. For example, if your stamina level needs improving, you can use a bike, a cross trainer or rowing machine. You can keep going and not be blocked by another couple on the floor, forget the routine or have to stop because the music finishes.

You can also “challenge” specific muscles, so if you are always dropping your right arm (not that anyone has ever said that to me you understand), you can do exercises specifically designed to strengthen the deltoid (shoulder) muscles. Controlled lowering your problem? OK, hit the calf muscle with some exercises. This will give you the strength or stamina needed and will allow you to concentrate in your dance practice on the technique.

Some people are put off by the prospect of going to the gym a couple of times and coming out with bulging muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sorry folks its not that simple! It’s actually hard work to build mass and takes a specific training regime to achieve it.

The most important thing is to have clear goals before you start gym work. What do you want to improve? Then sit down with an instructor and explain what you want to achieve and ask them to come up with a programme designed for you. You should then review this programme from time to time - what is right for you now, should not be what you need in six months time. As a matter of course, Nirvana will assess your fitness, produce a training programme to achieve your specific goals, then give you tuition on every piece of equipment you may use to check you are doing it properly before you are allowed free use of the gym.

The various stations, (bits of kit), can look daunting, with no clear idea how to get in them, what body part you are exercising, which way up you should be or what sort of weight to use. Again - ask the instructors! It really is very important that you know how to use all the equipment properly, and how to load the muscle through the complete range of movement. On some equipment it is possible to ‘cheat’ to lift heavier weights. This can feel satisfying to get on a machine and up the weights - that’s the competitor in you, but this is actually counter productive as you are not exercising the muscle properly, through the full range of movement.

A good grounding in proper technique is most important - where have you heard
that before!? So what can the gym do for you?

Lets split it down:

Stamina/Endurance
You’ve make it into that big final, you're into the last Quickstep. you're fighting for breath and try as you might, your hold is beginning to sag. It’s all you can do to stay on two feet. May be it’s a Latin Final, and that last Jive is just torture and try as you may it feels slow and heavy. That, my friends is lack of stamina!

You can build stamina on a bike, treadmill, rowing machine, cross trainer or by skipping. There is a difference between the stamina needed for say a long distance run and the stamina for an international final. In a long distance run, you get the work rate up to a certain level, then need to be able to maintain that level for the duration of the race. That’s different from a dance competition where you have one and a half to two minutes of strenuous activity with a short gap followed by another 2 minute burst and so on through the five dances. So, you need to train with that in mind.

You can replicate this on the bike/treadmill etc., by interval training. Try two minutes hard exercise (either fast pedalling, or higher resistance or both) followed by 30 seconds slow, repeat several times. Also, train beyond what you will need in competition, so try interval training beyond two minute bursts, go for 3 minutes hard, 30 seconds slow and even 4 minutes hard and 30 seconds slow.

It‘s also a good idea to vary the training so don’t rely just on the treadmill or bike, but swap to the rowing machine or particularly the cross trainer. Varying the training will be beneficial.

If you want to see an improvement in stamina levels, it is recommended that you do some form of stamina training three times a week. (that can be a mix of gym and dance practice).

Strength
Holding the top line, driving of the supporting leg, lowering with control all takes a degree of strength. Again, you need to ask your gym instructor for specific exercises for specific muscle sets. Obviously there is no point building strength in the legs if its your shoulders that are the problem! As a basic rule, you need to do about 15 - 20 repetitions of the exercise and then do two or three sets. To gain the maximum benefit, these should be done slowly, through the full range of movement.

For maximum benefit here, it is recommended that you go twice a week.

Poise and balance

Now here’s something you probably didn’t expect! There’s a dinky bit of kit called a BOSU, which stands for Both Sides Up. This helps with the development of the core muscles - the internal muscles that keep you upright . This also helps with the feeling of weight distribution through the feet. For the more adventurous amongst you, you can try other exercises like deltoid raises at the same time.

One common use for the fit-ball is to do stomach exercises on it as this also helps develop the core muscles, but here is another great use for a “fit-ball”. The ball is held at shoulder height and the trunk of the body and shoulders are rotated from side to side. Notice the similarity to Contra Body Movement Position? The position you take when dancing outside steps? This exercise helps develop, tone and stretch the same muscles used in CBM & CBMP- uncanny huh?

Flexibility
Obviously stretching is the best way to increase flexibility, but as mentioned, by using the weights through the full range of movement you are also increasing the level of flexibility.

But there is one more thing you need to do to get the maximum out of your training at the gym. REST. After a work out your body needs time to replace lost fluids and nutrients and to rebuild. So, can the gym be of use to dancers? Yes, as long as you go, and as long as you exercise properly, and rest afterwards.
With thanks to Nirvana Spa for their time and effort in helping with this report and for the pictures taken in their gym.

Report written and photographs by Martyn.