30-minute Conditioning for Dancers
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Jennica McClure is a personal trainer, a professional dancer, and a Dance Labs Instructor. Last week she taught an Instagram live class on "Quick Conditioning for Dancers." The purpose of this workout is to provide dancers a conditioning program they can do at home to stay in shape or during their dance season. No equipment is needed for this workout. So here it is:
DYNAMIC WARM-UP Lateral Lunge Reach hands above head to stand. X 8 reps each side (1:30 min) Challenge: Lateral lunge to press up passé
Swing Lunges Forward and back X 8 reps each side 2 rounds (1 min each side. 2 min total) Challenge: Grab a weight
Jump Drills Jumping from side to side, front to back, then on one foot and rotating) *Train neuromuscular activation to train the body and reduce injury. (1 min)
HIPS/GLUTES
Clamshells: For strengthened external rotators. Lay on side knees at 90 degrees. Hips and shoulders are stacked without letting pelvis rollback. Feel in your glutes- If you feel in the iliopsoas (or hip flexor) find a neutral pelvis and you can draw your feet back further so your knees and hips are in a straight line. open up and keep heels together Challenge: do with resistance band X 10 reps 2 rounds on each side (20 total each side) (2 min total each side: with 15-second breaks) 45 seconds of work.
Side-lying Leg Lift Strengthen your gluteus medius (behind your hip and under your gluteus Maximus) this will keep you from overusing you’re psoas (hip flexor) and prevent anterior tilt (sticking your butt out) 1. Start lying on your side. Straight-line from head to toe with buttocks about a fist distance away from the wall. 2. Extend top leg into a mini arabesque to touch your heel to the wall 3. Lift and lower the leg slowly, going as high as you can without hiking the hip (won’t be high!) keep both legs parallel. It may help to think of turning in the working leg slightly. 2 sets of 12 reps (1 min = 12 reps) (2 minutes each side)
Kneeling Donkey Kick Elbows on the floor, bend the leg at 90 degrees. Strengthens Gluteus Maximus. Stabilizers and core X 8 reps X 8 pulses each Donkey kicks from plank X 8 reps X 8 pulses each Challenge: Use ankle weights- take to the side ( 2:30 min)
BACK
Arch Back 1. Lie on stomach: tricep pushup to arch back. Legs stay on the ground with pointed toes and slightly turned out X 8 rep 2- tuck toes under. Arch up, tuck chin to downward dog, dolphin down to stomach. X 8 reps (1:30 min)
Arabesque Arch (Superman) 1. Lie on stomach, arms out. arabesque back with opposite arm extending. X 8 reps 2. Lie on stomach arch up both at the same time. X 8 reps (1 min) 2 rounds (2 min)
V up to Superman X 10 reps each side -Arms straight up or high 5th (2 minutes)
CORE
Toe Taps 1. Lie on back. Extend legs towards ceiling, hands under hips to keep back flat, keep a slight bend in the knees then tap toes towards ground in front and return up. Knees together and constant contraction in abs X 8 reps 2. Tap toes side to side. Knees together. Look at toes and engage lower abs/obliques X 8 reps each side (16 total) *extra challenge extend arms up above head (1:30 min)
Scoop Knee Tuck 1. Lie on back. Hands extended towards the side. Neutral pelvis, press through lower abs. Scoop your hands below hamstring and lift up. X 8 reps 2. Take legs up to the ceiling with bend knees. One leg in and drop the other. X 8 reps Attitude: supporting leg straight and other is bent in front (2 min total: 30 sec each leg)
Beating Abs 1. Hands under glutes. Legs up and down with beats. Pointed feet and then flexed. Turned out, engage inner thighs and scoop lower abs. 4 counts down then 4 counts up. X 2 sets of 8- pointed X 2 sets of 8- flexed Repeat 2 rounds
2. Beat in first position at the top X 2 sets of 8 (1 set pointed, 1 set flexed) Beat at the bottom X 2 sets of 8 (1 set pointed, 1 set flexed) *Engage the inner thighs- Adductor muscles (2 min)
Hold plank (1 min)
COOL DOWN
Cat camel stretch: scoop your abs, round back, then arch.
Pigeon Stretch Split position with the front leg bent. Shin forward.
Split Stretch: Lie on back and pull one leg towards face, bend knee with flexed foot and extend. Press leg into hands and release for 8 seconds. Pull towards shoulder. Repeat 4 times.
Extra Stretch Hip flexor stretch: Lie on your back, feet on the floor, lift into a bridge. Slide a foam roller under your sacrum. Pull both knees into chest. Hold while you lengthen one towards the floor. Keep one hand on your knee and the other on the foam roller to keep it in place. Keep lengthening leg; then allow the knee to bend and the heel to the floor. Foam roller keeps pelvis under for stretching top of hip.
Be sure to keep an eye out for Jennica's hip hop tricks course launching in a few weeks! Also, you can follow Jennica at @jennicamcclure. |
