Cardio for improved dance performance

Ieyen

Hi all, I am trying to prepare for dance performance and find I'm getting winded by the end of the performance. It lasts just under 3 minutes and very high intensity.

Although I'm logging 10-15 hours a week of dance practice, it is generally a lot of stop/start, low-med intensity exercise. It's burning a lot of calories but rarely builds and holds the level of intensity needed for performance. Regular rehearsals aren't doing enough to build my aerobic capacity. Is there something I can do in the gym to improve?

I thought intervals could work, and I tried to look up some information online but it all seems geared towards maximizing fat loss. Which is great, but my goal is essentially to improve my ability to do a 3min sprint, and I'd like to do it in as smart a way possible, since all the dance, etc , is putting a lot of miles on my joints.

heatherwartanyan

You need to increase your anaerobic ability so you can handle the dance cardio. Best would be to do HIITS. I'm doing turbofire and while I'm dying in my 15-30 minutes of hiit workouts my 40 minutes cardio workouts are a breeze. The idea is to get your heart rate up to the max literally so you can't breathe do active rest then repeat. this will increase your cardio so much. Other great workouts that incorporate this is insanity max 30. However, turbofires hints are hardcore and incorporate some dance moves. Good luck

Ieyen

Thanks, I'll look into that!

MeanderingMammal

fwiw I'm not sure that high intensity intervals are what you're after. That's 20-30 seconds of maximal effort, rather than what's essentially aerobic conditioning.

If you want to gain endurance, you need to train for endurance...

I suspect a spin bike might give you what you're after. 5 minutes warm up then 15-20 minutes of threshold intensiity.

HIIT has some potential to improve VO2Max, but without an aerobic base that's not going to give you significant improvements.

rybo

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

fwiw I'm not sure that high intensity intervals are what you're after. That's 20-30 seconds of maximal effort, rather than what's essentially aerobic conditioning.

If you want to gain endurance, you need to train for endurance...

I suspect a spin bike might give you what you're after. 5 minutes warm up then 15-20 minutes of threshold intensiity.

HIIT has some potential to improve VO2Max, but without an aerobic base that's not going to give you significant improvements.

I'm with this

StealthHealth

Do the dance multiple times per day? with adequate rest and food intake it should get easier as:

Your technique improves (that's the point of practice)
Your aerobic conditioning improves

IMHO when training for a specific sport there is nothing that is better training than playing that sport frequently - I can't thing of a reason that dance would not be the same. Cross training is a tool that many people employ but should only be used when further training in the sport would be detrimental.


edited to add; I've just read more carefully your original post and can see that you are worried about joint issues. If you are new to dance and/or this type of exercise then the joint issues may be more of a strength issue that you should discuss with the dance mistress. If you are an old hand at dance, and you choose to practice this dance several times per day, you may need to consider taking out some of the highly challenging moves and replacing then with high intensity moves that do not stress the specific joint you have issue with.

mbaker566

imo
i would work on strengthening you joints to protect them.
but
you can help improve your aerobic capacity with spinning or elipitical, or even swimming.

JoRocka

heatherwartanyan wrote: »

You need to increase your anaerobic ability so you can handle the dance cardio. Best would be to do HIITS. I'm doing turbofire and while I'm dying in my 15-30 minutes of hiit workouts my 40 minutes cardio workouts are a breeze. The idea is to get your heart rate up to the max literally so you can't breathe do active rest then repeat. this will increase your cardio so much. Other great workouts that incorporate this is insanity max 30. However, turbofires hints are hardcore and incorporate some dance moves. Good luck

as a dancer I would strongly disagree.

You should do some moderate longer cardio and use your dance training as your "hiit".

Do you drill at all?

I do not view my dancing (about the same- 10-15 hrs of dance a week)- as equal- rehearsal is a lot of start and stop- but we drill- and we MOVE to help build stamina.

You're GOING to be winded- you SHOULD be winded- if you ever dance your dance and youre not winded- you're not dancing hard enough- even when I was training for a half marathon- when I danced full out- I was winded- it's essentially a sprint.

So yes you can improve your overall cardiovascular health and abilities by DOING more cardio... ultimately you are still going to be dancing your dance full out 100%- and it's going to make you winded- that's okay- means you're doing it right.

msf74

JoRocka wrote: »

heatherwartanyan wrote: »

You need to increase your anaerobic ability so you can handle the dance cardio. Best would be to do HIITS. I'm doing turbofire and while I'm dying in my 15-30 minutes of hiit workouts my 40 minutes cardio workouts are a breeze. The idea is to get your heart rate up to the max literally so you can't breathe do active rest then repeat. this will increase your cardio so much. Other great workouts that incorporate this is insanity max 30. However, turbofires hints are hardcore and incorporate some dance moves. Good luck

as a dancer I would strongly disagree.

You should do some moderate longer cardio and use your dance training as your "hiit".

Do you drill at all?

I do not view my dancing (about the same- 10-15 hrs of dance a week)- as equal- rehearsal is a lot of start and stop- but we drill- and we MOVE to help build stamina.

You're GOING to be winded- you SHOULD be winded- if you ever dance your dance and youre not winded- you're not dancing hard enough- even when I was training for a half marathon- when I danced full out- I was winded- it's essentially a sprint.

So yes you can improve your overall cardiovascular health and abilities by DOING more cardio... ultimately you are still going to be dancing your dance full out 100%- and it's going to make you winded- that's okay- means you're doing it right.

All of this.

I think your time may be better served by ROM training or something of that sort if you want to add in additional benefits to your dancing.