Strength Training

[BalletDad1004]

I'm a dad of two pre-professional ballet dancers. They are gifted in many areas, but one of their weaknesses is they aren't naturally as strong as some of the other dancers at their level. We would like to find or develop a workout program to supplement their regular dance training to improve strength, increase jump height, and give them a little more muscle definition. The school recommends taking an extra conditioning class once a week, but based on my personal experience with strength training, I believe they need a workout they can do at least 3 times per week to get the kind of results we're after. Does anyone have any advice on this issue? Do you know of any training books or programs for this? Or any good personal trainers we can get in contact with to develop a training program? Thanks for your help!

[Clara 76]

Pilates- either the floor work or the machines or both. Other than that, dancers develop when they develop- some will take longer to develop the strength, others take longer to develop the flexibility. Meanwhile, teach them to take joy in the amazing things they can do well every day! Once dancers hit 18, nobody cares if they weren't as strong at 14 or 15 as another was.

 

Edited to add- Welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers!!!!! I just noticed this was your first post! How old are your daughters?

[sispap]

My daughter, 13, has recently started 'floor barre' and has helped her strength and muscle definition in a very short time. It's like doing barre work but lying down, so you don't have the weight of the body to deal with.

[marigold]

How many sessions a week of pilates do you think a 15 year old dancer should have? If she had an hour of supervised work with a reformer once a week, is that going to strengthen as much as a few times a week of mat pilates? Which would be best for optimal results?

[Clara 76]

I am not a PT nor can I correctly evaluate a dancer I haven't seen or worked with....is it possible to check with her ballet/Pilates instructor to see what they think?

[danceintheblood]

My dd does three 'limber, strength and conditioning' classes each week at her vocational (pre-pro) school. These are considered essential to their training and dd has certainly developed a lot of strength this year while retaining long lean muscles. I would be concerned that a lot of strength programs not geared to dancers could also build bulky muscles, which is definitely not what they want.

A DVD for the lsc classes dd takes is available at the Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy website. Tanya Pearson is a highly respected teacher internationally and I would recommend the dvd. I know there are some teachers on this forum who also use these.