Alternatives to Stretching
I don’t stretch anymore and I truly believe we don’t need to do it - ever. Absolutely not before a workout, dance class, rehearsal, or performance as a warm-up but also not after any of those activities either. I have a post that you can read here explaining why you should stop stretching. If you’ve read that post and are ready to replace your warm up stretching routine, or are still skeptical and looking to see how you can stop stretching and yet prepare your body to move to its fullest potential without risking injury, read below!
Stretching is NOT a Warm - Up
When I was dancing, I loved how directors would say, “Warm-up!” but never showed us how or explained to us why it was so important. So what did I and many of my teammates do? We stretched (smh). Stretching is not a warm up. Warming up is exactly what the word says we should be doing: increasing the internal temperature of our bodies. When we stretch, all we’re doing is pulling on cold muscles and making them weaker. Read my post here on how that happens. To increase our internal body temperatures, we need to actively move our bodies and there are so many benefits to warming up this way.
When we actively move and warm up:
our arteries dilate to increase blood flow - carrying oxygen, nutrients, and fuel to our muscles
we recruit more of our muscles and make them more receptive to the demands we’re about to put on them (think: it takes less muscle fibers to get up from a chair than to to do a jump squat)
the fluid in our joints become more viscous so that everything between the bones and bones themselves have extra cushion through any jumping or impact movements.
our muscles have more pliability, making those dance moves look more fluid (and who doesn’t want that!)
it prepares us mentally to switch from outside world to dance world and focuses our attention to what we’re about to do.
All of this and more improves our performance as a dancer.
Now that you know why it’s important, here is a general how to:
Isometrics - fancy!
Isometrics is just a fancy word for holding a muscle contraction in a certain position. If you’ve ever done a plank, you’ve done an isometric. I LOVE isometrics. They are low impact, can be done in a variety of positions, and the perfect way to start engaging more muscles and increase your internal temperature without doing anything crazy first.
Move Through YOUR Whole Range
After isometrics, I suggest you move your body through your entire range. This is where you see how far your body goes from one end to the movement to the other, while doing the movement SLOW and CONTROLLED. Here is where people loooooove to pull on the limb to get it higher to gain that flexibility - Resist! Flexibility without the strength is just going to set you up for injury. Just keep doing the movement and if you’re muscle is strong enough to be there, it’ll go.
Once you feel you have mastered the movement in a slow and controlled manner, try moving through the movement at a medium speed and then finally at the pace you’re going to need either for your class, rehearsal, or performance. A few repetitions of this should be enough to recruit your muscles for the appropriate speed of your dance routine.
Activity and Pace Specific Movement (APSM)
After a general movement warm-up, you might want to focus on specific movements for your dance routine. For example, if you know your routine involves kicking your leg up high, then start doing that movement first on the floor, laying on your back, then maybe on your side, then try it standing up but holding on to a bar or wall for balance, and then finally try the move how it will be done in your routine. This sounds like a lot but a few repetitions in each position should be enough to prep those muscles considering you already did isometrics and a general warm up. You never want to tire your body during a warm up.
Also, consider the speed of the dance routine you’re doing. I say this knowingly that salsa routines are generally fast paced. So if you know that your routine is fast but your warm up is nice and slow, that warm up is not appropriate to get your body ready (although it’s better than nothing). If your routine is fast paced, start your warm up with slow movements to safely begin increasing body temperature but then move to a higher speed movements to prepare those muscles to move at the speed required for the routine.
Move in 3 dimensions
Our muscles do not run in straight lines - they twist around bones at various angles. When we warm-up, we need to maximize the recruitment of the muscles by doing movement in the 3 dimensions: forward and back, side to side, and rotation. These movements can be done separately and then together. Remember Salsa dancing is hardly, if ever, linear. So you want to make sure that your warm up incorporates the three dimensions of movement.
A good warm-up should include all of the above and only take you 10-15 mins. You want to increase body temperature but not fatigue your muscles by doing too much. After a warm- up your body should be ready to move comfortably through whatever comes next - whether its learning new choreography, a run-through, or a full-on performance.
Now what if you did this new warm up and you’re not satisfied with your range of motion. This is a sign that your muscles are not strong enough to bring your body into that position. Instead of stretching your body to get into that position, decreasing your strength, and risking injury, you need to figure out what muscles are weak and strengthen them so they can support your body at the end range, safely.
If all of this sounds great but you are feeling overwhelmed and confused as to where to start or you are not satisfied with your range of motion and the lack of strength, then you can always schedule an evaluation with me. I work with you, keeping in mind your goals, and will personalize an exercise program and warm-up routine to fit your body addressing your specific areas of weakness.
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~ Rebecca xoxo
