Dance, Dancers Who Lift, Page 2

What Not to Do With Plantar Fasciitis: Expert Advice for Dancers

Plantar Fasciitis is a common overuse injury among dancers. And it’s no surprise as tight calf muscles, high arches, and unsupportive shoes are often the culprits of this type of foot pain. (I’m looking at you ballet flats.) That’s why it’s so important to learn what not to do with plantar fasciitis; so you can get back on your feet and dancing in no time!

Don’t keep going–Take time to rest!

When discussing what not to do with plantar fasciitis, the most important thing you must learn is to take time to rest.

Dancers are very good at working through pain. However, since plantar fasciitis tends to be an overuse injury, “working through the pain” will only make the injury worse.

Observing a period of rest (no, not just one icing session, a couple hours 👀) and icing the foot within that period will get the inflammation under control enough to begin some PT.

But if you keep dancing, that inflammation will only increase causing more pain and requiring a longer rest period to decrease that inflammation.

weight lifting for dancers personal training

Don’t wear high heels; Don’t wear zero drop sneakers.

Footwear is a big contributor to plantar fasciitis pain. So reconsidering what fashions you’re sporting is a big part of learning what not to do with plantar fasciitis.

High heels require a lot of your arches. And, because the inflamed tissues associated with plantar fasciitis run right through your arches, putting undue pressure on them is not ideal. So, while you’re recovering, opt for flats instead.

Now this might be surprising, but due to the heel pressure associated with plantar fasciitis, zero drop shoes can actually exacerbate the pain experienced in the heel.

The sweet spot for alleviating pain from plantar fasciitis is a slight elevations of the heel (3cm or less). This relieves the pressure on the heel without pushing that pressure elsewhere.

Don’t stand or sit with your foot in same position for too long:

Standing for long periods of time keep your heel in what’s called “dorsiflexion” (a flexed foot).

Take a look at this image:

plantar fasciitis

This is the position your foot is in when sitting or standing on your feet. You can see how keeping your feet in this position for long periods of time could trigger some pain in that inflamed tissue.

Bottom line? Take breaks from standing and sitting with your feet in the same position. During these breaks take time to work through pointing and flexing your foot, working through your PT stretches, and icing.

Don’t skip your stretches:

If you rest without consciously taking time to do your stretches, you’re likely going to flare up again once you return to exercising at your normal level. These stretches help to create more ankle mobility and release the tight muscles in the underside of your foot.

These exercises should become a staple in not only your PT but preparation for classes, rehearsals, and shows!

While painful, luckily plantar fasciitis can largely be managed with PT and rest, meaning you’ll be back out dancing like a fool in no time!

Did you find any of these tips helpful? Give us a follow @dancerswholift on Instagram and give this interview with Coach Amber in Dance Magazine about Plantar Fasciitis.

Is Your Gift Giving En Pointe?: The Best Gifts for Dancers

Finding the perfect gift for the dancer in your life can be a challenge. Dancers do so much that choosing gifts for dancers can be a little overwhelming.

Do you lean into their cross-training routine and get them the best weightlifting accessories?

Do you help them step up their audition outfits and get them some fierce matching sets?

Or do you support their self-care routine by making a little home spa kit for tough auditions and long rehearsal days?

Well, we’ve got a guide to the very best gifts for dancers this season to help you narrow down your search.

So let’s get started! Those presents aren’t going to wrap themselves!

Mindfulness:

If your dancer wants to start journaling or already loves it, contributing to her mindfulness routine is a great gift!

The Daily Stoic is a lovely book with 366 guided meditations focused on building wisdom, encouraging perseverance, and helping the reader embrace the art of living. This is perfect for someone who values the wisdom of great leaders. Chock full of translations from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and so many more, this book has daily quotations from history’s greats accompanied by historical anecdotes and commentaries. Even better, the hard copy of this book is only $16.81, making this thoughtful gift a great bargain for givers on a budget!

This Gratitude Journal is one of the best gifts for dancers heading into a busy audition season. The Mayo Clinic says that practicing daily gratitude can not only improve sleep, mood, and immunity but can decrease depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. This journal will take five minutes at the start of the day and at the end of the day, which keeps us focused on the good in our days–something that can be challenging for a dancer during a full season of auditions!

The Five Minute Journal is probably one of the best-known mindfulness journals on this list. And it’s one of the most perfect gifts for dancers who are just beginning their journaling journey. As its name implies takes just five minutes out of the day and has prompts to help you get the juices flowing!

Self-Care & Muscle Recovery:

Something a lot of dancers have a hard time with is giving themselves ample time for rest and recovery. Gifts for dancers focused on these things are a great way to support your dancer.

The Bed buddy heating/cooling neck wrap is an excellent gift for any athlete, but especially those who suffer from DOMS or struggle with hyper-mobile joints. This heating and cooling pad can be used on your neck, back, or any joints that need a little extra love after a tough workout, rehearsal, or audition.

We have now entered into the “accessories needed for spa showers and baths.” This is the elite category of self-care for dancers.

My suggestion? Make a sweet “recovery basket” chock full of these recovery-focused oils, sprays, and salts. Add in a pair of cozy socks and a deliciously scented candle and you’re set to impress.

Not everyone is a bath person, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get great gifts for dancers to use in the shower!

These shower steamers are a great way to amp up any shower. Simply choose the scent your dancer would like the most (we recommend lavender for relaxation and eucalyptus for energizing!) Then pop them in the bottom of the shower. As the hot water hits these, they will release aromatherapy steam that will leave your dancers feeling like they’re in a high-end spa!

Wanting something a bit more immediate? Try this eucalyptus shower spray! Simply spray this into the shower stream while you wait for the water to heat up and enjoy filling your bathroom with a luxuriously scented steam. Trust me, this spray will have your dancer dreaming about their next shower.

Is your dancer more of a bath person after a long rehearsal?

If so, these lavender epsom salts will be a game changer. Not only will the lavender help with relaxation, but Epsom salts are also great for muscle recovery and magnesium absorption, ensuring a good night’s rest post-soak!

Speaking of Epsom salts, this Epsom salt foot mask is a game changer. Dancers are shoving their feet into all sorts of shoes all day. Yet a lot of dancers feel a pedicure is a waste of money because “it’ll just get ruined.” But that doesn’t mean our feet don’t need pampering! This foot mask solves that problem and forces them into a much-needed sit-down!

Whether your dancer is a bath or shower person, they definitely need this Pure Magnesium Oil Spray. Magnesium helps to strengthen bones and improve muscle contraction, and heart health. Magnesium is also linked to better sleep and a decrease in migraines. So, a post-shower/bath lathering of magnesium oil is only going to do good things for your dancer.

Last on our list of self-care gifts for dancers is this acupuncture mat. This, easy to store, mat stimulates circulation and releases endorphins for pain relief and muscle relaxation. Dancers can lay on this while reading, watching TV, or even during a meditation session!

Fashion:

No list of gifts for dancers would be complete without some fashion essentials!

It’s no secret that any good gym session stars with cute gear– look good, feel good, do good…right? These biker shorts from CRZ Yoga are the perfect look for leg day with just enough coverage to keep you comfy at the gym without becoming frumpy. Our trainers and Dancers Who Lift love this brand in general, so anything from CRZ is sure to be a win!

If you’re looking to amp up the audition wardrobe or make your dancer feel like a baddie at the gym, definitely check out these workout sets from ABOCIW. With the price of leotards, tights, LaDuca’s, dance bags, etc., buying a full set can be a real luxury. Why not treat your dancer by picking out a few? At $37.99 per set, it’s a steal!

A fan of dupes? Check out this crop from The Gym People. Just as soft and functional as it’s name brand counterpart without the price tag!

Want something with more pizazz? Give this go to audition top a try!

Gym Accessories:

Dancers Who Lift, obviously lift weights! This next list is all about gifts for dancers who love a good workout!

For our dancers who lift, we have this self-locking weightlifting belt that is sure to help your dancer hit PRs all session long without straining their back. (A big win for dancers who are training while working in a show!)

Speaking of PRs, it’s no secret dancers have strong legs, but sometimes we need a little extra help with our grip strength! For dancers wanting to lift heavier before their grip catches up, these wrist straps for weight-lifting are the answer!

Is your dancer feeling self-conscious about calloused hands when partnering? Get them these Weight Lifting Gloves with Full Palm Protection to keep their hands smooth and rip-free for comfortable partnering sessions! Still feeling the burn? Throw in this mess-free liquid chalk to keep that grip working strong!

Is your dancer struggling with bruising from barbells?

Add this colorful squat pad to protect your dancer’s shoulders and hips from heavy lifts!

If your dancer wants to expand what they can do in the gym, these ankle/wrist cuffs are a great way to expand how they use the machines in any gym!

The best gifts for dancers on tour are resistance bands. If you combine these resistance bands and these resistance loop exercise bands, your dancer will be set to maintain their resistance training on the road without adding much weight to their bag! From physical therapy to workouts each of these bands will serve a different purpose for a dancer on the go!

Protein Hacks:

One of the most challenging parts of maintaining a strong, healthy body for dancing is consuming enough protein. That’s why we’ve included our favorite proteins in this list of gifts for dancers.

Starting us off strong is Isopure Protein Lemonade! This protein isolate dissolves into a drink similar to Gatorade or Crystal Lite, making it easier to drink throughout rehearsals than a thick protein shake. This protein is excellent for a hot day or when you’re looking to hydrate and get your protein in at the same time!

Bedtime Hot Coco is my favorite protein hack! Aside from being seasonally delightful, this protein hot coco from Pure Protein is packed with zinc and other minerals that help the body relax. prepping your dancer for a restful sleep. And with ten grams of protein and minimal carbs, it’s the perfect post-dinner dessert! Make a warm cup thirty minutes before bedtime and enjoy the protein boost and a good night’s sleep.

Last on our master list of gifts for dancers is this Promix Shaker Bottle does not require a metal agitator, making this the *perfect* shaker bottle for any performer.

No more careful sips backstage trying not to make the metal ball clatter. No more carrying around a shaker and a water bottle. When you’re done with your protein rinse, and refill without the worry of being noisy backstage. Want to have your pre-workout backstage? No worries there!

Bonus? This shaker is stainless steel, which makes it easy to wash and staves off that yucky protein powder stink that tends to get stuck in plastic.

So which gift will you be giving this year?

My suggestion? Make a “Bourreé Basket!”

You know, like a “Boo Basket” but make it DANCE!

Buy a good quality dance bag, like this one, and pack it chock full of goodies from the list above, or with your own gift ideas!

No matter what you choose to gift your dancer this year, happy dancing and happy shopping!

outcome goals, goal setting, achieving goals

Performance vs Outcome Goals: The Role of Each in Productive Goal Setting

Goal setting is a tool people have been using to achieve hard things for a long time. But as more and more studies about goal setting are released, the more types of goals there are to learn about. Today we’ll be talking about Outcome Goals and Performance Goals and why we need both of them.

First things first, let’s take a look at some working definitions.

Outcome Goal:

Outcome goals focus on the final point of an event. For example: winning a game or booking a job. These goals depend on not only how you perform, but how those around you perform, or (in the case of booking a job) what casting has in mind.

You can perform to the best of your ability and still may not achieve your outcome goal. That’s why it is so important to have other goals that support this goal to help keep you focused.

Performance Goal:

Performance goals do outline the end product of a performance, but they are mostly focused around personal acheivements and therefore compared to previous performances.

For example: Consistently nailing a triple pirouette with a clean landing. Or, achieving higher extensions and easier kicks.

These goals are generally a bit more flexible and within your control. Bonus, statistically speaking, these types of goals are associated with less anxiety and greater performance when compared to outcome goals.

So, practically speaking:

You may have an outcome goal of being cast in “A Chorus Line.”

You might then have a performance goal of nailing the turn combo in the audition combo.

Now, there is a third type of goal called a Process Goal that can help us achieve performance goals.

Process goals are focused on improving the strategy, form, and anything else needed to achieve performance goals.

So, using our earlier example. If you’re performance goal is to nail that turn combo, a process goal may be working on maintaining a stable and neutral spine in a forced-arch-passé.

As you can see, each of these types of goals work together to help you acheive your desired outcome goals. Keeping this in mind when you are goal-setting will only help you on your journey.

Now, if you really want to start achieving your goals write them down.

Studies have shown that people who write down their goals were 33% more successful in achieving them than those who only set goals in their heads.

Want to take it a step further? More studies have shown that 76% of participants who not only wrote down their goals (all three types), but also provided weekly progress updates to a friend, successfully achieved their goals.

This shows the importance of accountability in goal setting. Having someone you trust to report your progress to is an incredible motivator. This person is not only there to be reported to, but also to encourage you when the work toward your goals starts to feel long and arduous.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Amber Tacy (@dancerswholift)

A Challenge for You…

Take a moment right now and write down two of your outcome goals.

Now, write down one or two performance goals that might help you reach those outcome goals.

Next, write down two or three process goals that will help you acheive your performance goals.

Finally, (and this is the hardest part) write down someone you trust to be accountable to each week. Make sure you ask them if they are able to be this person for you.

Having trouble with the last one? If you’re a member of Dancers Who Lift, ask your trainer if they can be that person for you and add it to your weekly check-in.

Not a member of Dancer’s Who Lift, but don’t have anyone to be your accountability buddy? Reach out to us at info@dancerswholift.com or on instagram or Tiktok @dancerswholift. If we aren’t able to help, we’d love to connect you with someone who can!

Ready to dive right into accountability? Check out our Body Mechanics program. Not only will you have access to trainers for accountability, but also the entire Dancers Who Lift community of dancers working together to reach their individual goals.

Making a Split Decision: Tips and Tricks on How to Get Your Splits

If you’re not naturally flexible as a young dancer, learning how to get your splits can be a frustrating process. Unlike learning how to pirouette or tendu, learning how to get your splits requires that you do a great deal of mobility work prior to attempting the move.

What’s more, there is tons of misinformation out there about the best ways to achieve this goal.

How many of you have done a wall split?

What about laying on your back in a straddle with ankle weights on?

Or, for my over split attempters, how many of you have hung out with your front or back leg up on a stack of books?

Don’t feel badly! A lot of us have been the victims of inadequate stretching techniques. And that’s exactly what they are, stretching techniques.

how to get your splits

Do they work?

Well, let’s just say they do help extend your flexibility, but they do very little for mobility.

What’s the difference? Check out this quick read for a full explanation.

But on the basic level, flexibility is how far a muscle group can passively lengthen (think laying on your back and pulling your leg to your face). While mobility is the degree to which a joint can move through its range of motion without influence of an outside force (your arms) or momentum (battement momentum).

The difference between these two is why many dancers are able to stretch their legs up to their ears, but when it’s time for adagio they’re left yearning for that extra 20-40% of extension.

What does all of this have to do with getting your splits?

I’m so glad you asked!

The splits are something dancers use both to increase their flexibility and as a position utilizied in choreography. So learning how to get your splits is important.

But wouldn’t it be great if learning how to get your splits, also involved increasing your mobility as well as your flexibility?

Working through your splits with dynamic stretching will not only increase your flexibility but it will also build strength through your end range of motion, increasing the control you will have working through that position.

Using this dynamic flow as a part of your warm-up will help increase your range of motion while enhancing your muscle force. Unfortunately, just sitting in your splits before an audition, could actually decrease the amount of power and control you might have when it’s time to dance.

Adding dynamic stretching into your toolkit as a dancer will certainly transform your end range of motion mobility.

This dynamic stretching flow is an excellent tool used for how to get your splits.

Let’s dive in!

Good Mornings

Good mornings are an excellent way to simply wake up the hip joint.

Stand with your feel hip width apart, knees soft. Lengthen your spine, bracing your abdominals. Then, slowly, hinge your hips backward while maintaining a flat back position. Continue to hinge until you feel a stretch in the backs of your legs. Push the hips forward to return to your starting position. Repeat 5-8 reps.

Hamstring hinge

These hamstring hinges will not only test your stability, but they are a great way to increase your hamstring range of motion!

Stand with your feet together and extend one leg out in front of you with your foot flexed. Lengthen your spine, bracing your abdominals.

Bend your standing leg as you ing your hips backward, sweeping the floor with your arms as they reach down to the ground, then out toward your extended leg.

The end of the sweep should return you to a standing position.

Repeat 6-8 reps.

Kneeling hip tuck

This one never ceases to surprise me. (If you have cranky knees, grab a pillow or towel to use as a cushion)

Take a knee as if you are about to be knighted! Place your hands on your hips and lengthen your spine. Gently tuck your pelvis, as if you are trying to pull your hip bones toward your belly button. Slowly, extend, returning to a neutral position.

Repeat this for 6-8 reps.

Kneeling hamstring slide with hip hinge

For the kneeling hamstring slide, you may want to place your hand on a coffee table or yoga block for added stability.

In the same kneeling position as the kneeling hip tuck, extend your front leg straight with your foot flexed.

Now, imagine there are headlights on your hip bones, throughout this exercise, you want to ensure your headlights are both facing forward.

With one hand resting on a yoga block or table, place the other on your hip.

Keeping your spine tall push your hips forward and slide the leg out until you feel a gentle stretch. Then, keeping your spine long and abs braced, pull your hips back. This should put you into a pseudo child’s pose position with your front leg still extended.

Then, slowly return to your starting position.

Repeat this for 8-10 reps, getting deeper into your extension each rep.

Kneeling hamstring slide

This is almost exactly the same as the previous exercise with one main difference. For this move instead of hinging into an extended childs pose at the base of your extension, you will instead engage your glutes, abductors, and adductors and slide back up in your starting position.

Engaging your abdominals will help you immensely when working through this move!

Repeat until you slide all the way into your full split. (Do not try and reverse slide out of a full split! That’s a trick for another day!)

Repeat entire flow on opposite side

Now that you’ve opened up one side, it’s time to repeat the entire flow on the other side!

So, give this a try and let us know how it goes! Did it help you get your splits? Did it get you deeper into your splits than before? Did you notice a difference in your range of motion in class? Tell us all about it in the comments We want to celebrate your wins with you!

Tag us in the flow @dancerswholift on instagram or Tiktok!

Should I Be Sore After Every Workout?: The Surprising Truth Most Dancers Don’t Know

Let me take you back to my high school days. I was walking up the main staircase and it was TORTURE. My whole body was wrecked by a new, extra slow, adagio my dance teacher had put us through the night before.

Did I suffer quietly? Absolutely not. I bragged to my boyfriend, my best friend, later on at track practice. I bragged to anyone who was around about how sore I was from dance.

Because, obviously, if I was sore it meant that my workout was really excellent and challenging. Right? In fact, the football team never complained about being sore, so obviously dance was even harder.

I was an elitist about being sore. Where I grew up dancing, being sore was a badge of honor; an indicator that you were working your hardest. The harder you worked, the more sore you’ll be- simple.

Now imagine my surprise when, as an adult and professional dancer I started to learn that soreness might not actually indicate hypertrophy (muscle growth). And on top of that, you can work incredibly hard and not be sore.

I couldn’t believe it. So I took to google:

“Should I be sore after every workout?”

The results were surprising.

According to the National Library of Medicine, muscle soreness does not necessarily equal muscle growth.

DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) occures when muscles are damaged or inflamed. This can happen any time you do a new activity; whether that’s changing up your workout or taking a new style of dance class. That doesn’t necessarily mean you are building those muscles, just that they haven’t been used in that way for awhile or ever.

Now you may be asking, what about weightlifting and cross training. Should I be sore every every workout?

The short answer is no.

When you’re weightlifting, for example, you are training your body over time to handle a ceratin level of load. Once that becomes easy and you move up in weight, that likely won’t yield a large amount of soreness.

Bottom line? If you are increasing weights appropriately as you train, DOMS shouldn’t hold you back too much.

The odds of experiencing intense levels of DOMS decreases even further if you fuel yourself. If you are consuming an adequate level of protein for your activity level, studies show that increasing your carbohydrate intake can help prevent DOMS when leveling up your workouts.

That’s right. Carbohydrates will actually help your body recover faster between workouts.

So, to the question, should I be sore after every workout?

Not if you are fueling yourself well and increasing your workout intensity appropriately.

In fact, despite all of us wanting to be sore after we work out, DOMS (as many of us have experienced first hand) can affect your athletic performance negatively.

Decreased range of motion and decreased shock attenuation (how we land our jumps and absorb shock) occur when experiencing DOMS. As well as alterations in muscle sequencing and recruitment- which leads to excess stress being placed on other muscle ligaments and tendons.

And yes, you guessed it, that’s when muscle fatigue can lead to potential injury or strain.

Should you experience DOMS in an intense way, you should reduce the level of intensity of your workouts for 1-2 days.

However, you should DEFINITELY continue to work out as working out is the best way to alleviate the pain experienced by DOMS.

Additionally, should you experience DOMS it’s important to know that, according to studies, stretching does not make a uge impact on soreness.

Instead you should focus on recovery techniques.

Luckily Dancers Who Lift has an entire blog dedicated to promoting faster recovery. You can give it a read, right here.

That way, next time you find yourself asking, “should I be sore after every workout?” You can go through your recovery checklist.

Odds are, if you are fueling yourself and using these methods of recovery, you won’t be sore after every workout.

What’s better, the faster you recover the more progress you can make!

So quit measuring the success of your workout by whether or not you’re sore.

Instead measure the success of your workout by whether or not you showed up, how well fueled you were, your energy level, and whether or not you were challenging yourself.

Those are much better tools of evaluation and are sure to help you and your coach make a game plan for achieving your goals!

Continue reading “Should I Be Sore After Every Workout?: The Surprising Truth Most Dancers Don’t Know” →

building power and poise: dumbbell and band workout for dancers

Building Power with Poise: Dumbbell & Band Workout for Dancers

When we think of dancers, the first things that comes to mind might be grace, flexibility, and expressive movement. However, beneath the fluidity of a dancer’s performance lies a foundation of muscle strength, stability, and endurance. Building power with poise is imperative for dancers. That’s why this dumbbell and band workout is crafted specifically for dancers; focusing on enhancing their core strength, leg power, and upper body resilience, ensuring they can move with both ease and energy.

Superset 1

Goblet Squat (3×15)

How to perform:
- Stand with feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell vertically by one end close to your chest.
- Keeping your back straight, lower your body into a squat, ensuring knees don’t pass the toes.
- Push through the heels to return to the starting position.
Benefits:
- Leg and Glute Activation: This squat variation deeply engages the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, which are crucial for jumps, turns, and many dance moves.
- Core Engagement: Holding the dumbbell in the goblet position requires a stable core, helping dancers with balance and posture.

Dumbbell Bench Press (3×12)

How to perform:
- Lie flat on a bench, holding a dumbbell in each hand above your chest.
- Slowly lower the dumbbells until they are close to the sides of your chest.
- Push them back up, extending your arms fully.
Benefits:
- Upper Body Strength: This exercise is building power in the pectorals, shoulders, and triceps. Dancers require this for lifts, holding poses, and maintaining posture.
- Stability: Engages stabilizing muscles in the arms and shoulders, ensuring controlled arm movements during performances.

Superset 2

Dumbbell Deadlift (3×12)

How to perform:
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, dumbbells in front of you.
- Keeping a straight back, hinge at the hips and bend the knees slightly to grab the dumbbells.
- Lift by extending your hips and knees, returning to a standing position.
Benefits:
- Posterior Chain Activation: It targets the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back, crucial for a dancer’s strength and posture. Building power in a dancer’s posterior chain is crucial for powerful jumps and safe landings.
- Core Stability: Engages the core, ensuring dancers maintain a strong, stable midsection during intricate moves.

Single Arm Band Pull Down (3×12)

How to perform:
- Attach a resistance band to an overhead anchor.
- Standing underneath, grasp one end of the band with one hand.
- Pull it down, squeezing your lats and shoulder blades.
- Slowly let it return to the starting position and repeat.
Benefits:
- Lat-Engagement: This move works the latissimus-dorsi muscles, crucial for arm movements and certain lifts in dance.
- Unilateral Strength: By working one arm at a time, dancers can address and correct any imbalances.

Finisher

Seated Band Hip Abduction (3×12)

How to perform:
- Sit on a bench or chair with a resistance band wrapped around your thighs.
- Keeping your feet grounded, push your knees outward against the band’s resistance.
- Return to the starting position with control.
Benefits:
- Hip and Outer Thigh Activation: Strengthens the muscles responsible for moving the legs away from the body’s midline; aiding in hip flexibility and wide stance moves in dance. Building power in your abductors results in strong fouettés, table-top positions, and attitude.
- Stability and Balance: By working these muscles, dancers can better stabilize their hip joints and maintain balance during challenging routines.

Dumbbell and Band workout for building power and poise

Incorporating both dumbbells and bands into a dancer’s strength routine ensures they benefit from both the resistance of the weights and the unique tension bands offer.

This tailored workout not only refines the dancer’s physique but also boosts functional strength that directly translates to enhanced dance performance, building power and poise simultaneously. So, save this workout for the next time you hit the gym and let us know how it goes in the comments!