upper body strength

[pittsburgh ballet theatre 08]

So, i just turned 16 years old. I am 6'3 and still growing, and I am starting to see that as I keep on growing, my muscles tend to stretch out. Now, I am getting to this part of my dancing where in pas de deux classes, im doing press lifts and things where u start from the legs and then u extend ur arms. For me, I have a hard time to extend my arms all the way, and I do push-ups everyday. So I was wondering, what can I do or what are some strategies that can help me out with this?

[Mel Johnson]

Simple strength is less than 50% in most lifts. The leading factor in doing them is timing. You have to practice lifts with your partner over and over and over again to make sure that you and she are doing the lift together. And make doubly sure that you are both trying to do the SAME lift! Pushups really don't help much with lifts, as they build a strength that projects forward, not up. This is really useful if you're going to punch your partner, but not much if you're going to try to lift her over your head. Switch off the regular pushups and try them vertical, with your feet well up on the wall so that you are doing a sort of handstand. Do pushups that way. Chances are also good that your partners are being a bit tentative in lifts, and this only makes the job that much harder.

[pittsburgh ballet theatre 08]

Simple strength is less than 50% in most lifts. The leading factor in doing them is timing. You have to practice lifts with your partner over and over and over again to make sure that you and she are doing the lift together. And make doubly sure that you are both trying to do the SAME lift! Pushups really don't help much with lifts, as they build a strength that projects forward, not up. This is really useful if you're going to punch your partner, but not much if you're going to try to lift her over your head. Switch off the regular pushups and try them vertical, with your feet well up on the wall so that you are doing a sort of handstand. Do pushups that way. Chances are also good that your partners are being a bit tentative in lifts, and this only makes the job that much harder.

ok cool. thank u so much Mr. Johnson

[Mel Johnson]

You're welcome, but you don't have to repeat the whole preceding post to reply, just scroll down a couple of lines more until you see the "Add Reply" button, and use that. Use " "reply" for quoting posts separated by others in a thread.

[PerfectFeet]

Those inverted pushups Mel described are pretty hard. (unless you could partner and lift yourself over and over!)

 

If you can't do those right away, just do military presses with dumbells. It will be a reasonable amount of weight to lift and also help develop the ability to balance something over your head. You can do them with your arms out to the side, or in front of you like you are doing a drape lift. These two excercises build muscle in the outside and front of your shoulders, respectively.

[Chronus24]

I can attest to the efficacy of the vertical push-ups. Little over a year ago I had a role that required me to do two presses with the girl in a prone position, an arabesque press and a few sustained lifts with a girl quite a bit taller than me, as well as a left shoulder sit and an arabesque shoulder sit with yet a third girl (name that ballet!). At least two months before the show I began doing the vertical push-ups, working my way from barely 5 to at last 20, in addition to working on the actual lifts. Needless to say, the push-ups certainly contributed to a successful ballet. True too that timing, in conjunction with a lack of hesitancy and a slight aire of abandon, of both partners is absolutely pivotal, even more so than raw strength. Only talking and working with your partner (knowing the mechanics of the lift, voicing concerns, agreeing on counts or music cues, marking the preparations, or even utilizing a spotter if necessary) will improve this.