EDD’s monthly newsletter designed to
share our 29 years of EXPERTISE, ADVICE
and RESOURCES with dancers &
parents of ALL ages!
 

PROTIP # 4

A Healthy Warm Up Routine

PRE-WARM UP

HYDRATE

Immediately upon waking, drink a glass of water. Your body has been deprived of water during the hours you have been asleep, so start your day off by giving your body the water it needs to hydrate your muscles. Water regulates your body temperature, lubricates your joints, and helps transport nutrients to give you energy.

FUEL YOUR BODY

Maximize your body’s performance and minimize muscle damage. Prior to exercise, a fuel filled meal with carbs, protein, and fat will give you energy and strength. Carbs help maximize glucose storage for high-intensity exercise, fat helps fuel your body for longer, less intense exercise, and protein improves muscle protein synthesis (muscle growth) and aids in recovery.

Examples:
Whole grain toast with nut butter and banana
Avocado toast with a hard boiled egg
Oatmeal with fruit, nuts/seeds
Smoothie or yogurt parfait

WARM UP

Warming up is a series of activities that gradually increases your heart rate and blood flow to muscles. Two main reasons for warming up are to reduce the risk of injury and gradually prepare your body for the activity ahead.

INCREASE YOUR BODY TEMPERATURE

Spend 5-10 minutes increasing your heart rate to raise your internal body temperature.

A few of the following are good examples:
• Brisk walking
• Jumping jacks or small jumps in place
• Light jogging, marching, prancing, skipping
• Lunges or squats
• Planks and Push Ups

MOBILIZE YOUR JOINTS

Gently working through each of the major joints will prepare them to move through more extreme ranges of motion later. Gradually increase the range with each repetition. Spread and wiggle the toes, gently roll the ankles, flex and point the feet.

• Hip circles: Lie on your back with bent legs and your feet on the floor. Keep your arms in a comfortable position. Let your knees gently fall away from each other in a butterfly position and then draw the knees back towards each other letting your feet trail behind. Repeat several times and then reverse the direction letting the knees fall in, legs to straighten, and then thighs open and knees bend as you pass through butterfly and return to your starting position.

• Bridges: Lie on your back with bent legs and your feet on the floor. Press into your heels, and using your abdominals, slowly curl and peel your tail bone up and off of the floor one vertebrae at a time. Reverse and start to reconnect to the floor from the top of the spine to the tailbone. Repeat several times

STRENGTHEN AND ACTIVATE YOUR MUSCLES

Specifically target the muscles used to engage, increase, and strengthen turn out and parallel positions, as well as, strengthen the muscles that help to stabilize the pelvis. Examples include:

Lateral walks in parallel

1. Tie a TheraBand/resistance band around your mid-calves or mid-thighs (start with a low-resistance band and increase over time as it gets easier).
2. Keep your feet in parallel with your knees slightly bent.
3. Walk sideways (step, together, step, together) across the length of the studio. Repeat in the opposite direction.

Clamshells (with or without resistance band)

Lay on your side with your knees slightly bent, one leg on top of the other (if using, place resistance band around both thighs). Keep your feet together and lift your top knee, focusing on using the glutes to open the top thigh. Lower your knee back to the starting position and repeat 1 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions on each side.

Lateral leg raises (with or without resistance band)

Lay on your side with your hips stacked on top of each other. The bottom leg can be bent to aid in stability. Top leg will be straight with your foot flexed and your toes pointed forward. Bring the top leg up and slightly back. Hold for 5 seconds and repeat in 3 sets of 10. To increase the difficulty, bring the top leg back further while still keeping the hips stacked.

LENGTHEN YOUR MUSCLES

Spend 5 to 10 minutes completing lengthening, full body movements such as a short dynamic yoga flow to challenge core stability and balance while also dynamically stretching your muscles.
Ex. A series of simple sun salutations.

SUMMARY:

HYDRATE
FUEL YOUR BODY
INCREASE BODY TEMPERATURE
MOBILIZE JOINTS
STRENGTHEN AND ACTIVATE YOUR MUSCLES
LENGTHEN YOUR MUSCLES
 

ProTip Advisor: Lindsay Chirio-Humenay

Lindsay is an eight year company member with Eisenhower Dance Detroit and also serves as the Company Manager.