Caring for Muscles During the Performance Season

            "Take care of your body.  It's the only place you have to live." - Jim Rohn

          With the Nutcracker performance season upon us, dancers will be spending extra hours in rehearsals, numerous hours in theaters, and will be expending tons of energy entertaining countless audience members.  While performing is the ultimate goal of dance training, it still takes a toll on the body.  My last post addressed the risk of injuries that result from overused and fatigued muscles.  Over the long term, cross-training and periodic training can help prepare dancers for the stress of performance, but it is also important for dancers to know how to care for their muscles during the performance season.

            It is extremely important for dancers to warm-up before all rehearsals and performances.  Warming-up increases blood flow to the muscles, which ensures the delivery of oxygen and fuel, and raises the internal temperature of the muscles, which leads to the increased flexibility necessary to perform beautiful grand jetés and développés.  Most companies will hold a formal warm-up class before rehearsals and performances, but if there is not one available, it is each dancer’s responsibility to take the time to sufficiently warm-up his or her body to reduce the risk of injury.

            After the warm-up is complete and while the dancers are waiting for their turns on stage, is the perfect time to don all those fashionable sweaters and leg warmers that dancers always carry around in their bags.  Many dancers mistakenly wear these clothes at the beginning of class and peel them off as the body grows warm.  Their intended purpose is to keep already warmed-up muscles from growing cold while waiting.

 

            Drinking water is also a necessity to keep muscles working well.  Hydration is extremely important when trying to avoid muscle cramps.  Muscles are 70% water, which is why the fibers can move freely against each other.  When muscles are dehydrated, the lubrication decreases and movement becomes painful.

            Muscles should definitely be stretched once a performance and/or rehearsal are completed.  Static stretching in the wings before an entrance will not help a performance.  Instead it may hinder it!  My post on different types of stretching will help you understand why static stretching before a performing may actually decrease a muscle’s ability to contract efficiently.  When static stretching follows a performance, however, it is a valuable part of the cool-down that keeps dancers flexible and allows time for the internal temperature of the muscles to gradually decrease.  Stretching and cooling down reduce the chance that muscles will cramp or go into spasm when leaving the studio or theater.  Being sure to wear warm clothes over dance clothes  will also help keep muscles from cramping when dancers leave a warm studio or theater and move out into colder air.   

 

            Finally, a snack that is high in protein will help repair any minor muscle damage that might have occurred while dancing and help ensure that the muscles will be ready for another several hours of rehearsing and/or performing the following day.

            

Warming Up - Is it Really Necessary?

“If you do not have enough time to warm up correctly, you do not have enough time to train.” – Author Unknown

It’s time for the rehearsal to begin, and there is only a short amount of time so it may be tempting to skip the warm-up and just jump right in.  What happens during the warm-up that makes it so important anyway?

We are given one body and our job, as dancers, is to make certain that we care for our bodies and insure that they are working at an optimal level.  A warm-up not only prepares us mentally by focusing our thoughts, it also leads our body through steps to prepare for the demands we place upon it.

When we first begin to move, our bodies are able to create energy immediately by using the phosphate that has been stored within our muscles as a substance called ATP.  ATP stands for adenosine tri-phosphate which is a substance made up of three phosphate molecules.  When the molecules are separated, energy is released. Although this energy is readily available it can only last for 8-10 seconds.  After those ten seconds, the muscles must use the glucose, or sugar, that is available to create energy for the next few minutes of exercise.  Our muscles are able to create energy for this brief period of time without having to rely on oxygen.

As this energy is created and the warm-up continues, the autonomic nervous system receives a signal to stimulate the nerves around the heart.  The heart receives a signal to contract, or beat, faster and stronger.  The stronger the heart’s contraction, the stronger the release, resulting in more space in the heart for a greater volume of blood.  This greater volume of blood means that, when the heart contracts, more oxygen and nutrient filled blood is pumped out and circulated through the body with each heartbeat.

At the same time, the nerves that control the blood vessels are activated and signal the vessels to constrict, or get smaller, meaning there is less blood flow to all parts of the body.  Concurrently, the energy creation, or metabolism, that is occurring within the muscles overrides this signal, and the blood vessels in the muscles get wider, or dilate, which results in greater blood flow to the muscles.  Therefore, blood flow is diverted away from the organs so that the working parts, the muscles, may receive an optimal amount of nutrients and oxygen.

As all of this is occurring in the circulatory system, the brain stem, which controls our breathing, is receiving signals to stimulate and increase the activity of the respiratory system.  As a result, our breathing speeds up to supply more oxygen to the blood, which is being rapidly delivered to the muscles.

This oxygen is used for the next step in creating energy as the warm-up ends and more rigorous physical activity begins.  This process is called aerobic glycolysis and allows the body to continue to breakdown stored glucose to create energy for a sustained period of time.

As a result of all this activity, the temperature of the muscles increases, leading to increased flexibility.  Additionally, the heat that is generated during the warm-up serves to liquefy the synovial fluid that is in our joints.  While we are resting, the fluid becomes jelly-like, but as heat is generated, the jelly breaks down into a liquid that is able to lubricate our joints and keep them “well-oiled” and moving smoothly. 

Our bodies are amazing machines that are equipped to do so many things.  However, much like a computer, the human body is wired to complete tasks in a series of steps.  In order to be able to provide the optimum physical performance required for a class or a rehearsal, the body needs to be able to sequentially go through the above steps.  We, as dancers, demand so much from our bodies.  Our bodies will definitely respond, but we need to make sure we are going to let them.

This post originally appeared on Access Dance for Life's blog - a blog that promotes health and wellness within the dance community - this past January.  

Stretching Part 1 - When Not To Do It!!

Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made. ~Ted Shawn

            When we consider everything that happens in every system of the body on a daily basis, we begin to realize that the human body is truly a miraculous creation.

            My students hear me repeat daily that we are only given one body, and it is our job to take care of it.

            If I had a dime for each time I have heard a dance teacher tell his/her students to go into the studio and start stretching to warm up, I would be rich.  Yet, every time I hear it, I cringe.

            Stretching is certainly an important part of a dancer’s training but should never be done at the beginning of a class or rehearsal.  Time in the studio should always begin with a cardiovascular warm up.  The warm-up should include the entire body and could consist of rapid walking or jogging, prances, small jumps or full body circles.  I have been known to spend the first 5-10 minutes of class having my students move through circuits that included jogging, jump roping and jumping jacks.

            This type of warm-up does exactly what it claims to do; it creates heat in the body.  These large movements increase the heart rate, which increases the blood flow to the muscles.  The blood, therefore, is able to quickly carry oxygen and “fuel”, in the form of glucose, to the muscles.  The heat combined with the increased oxygen and glucose delivery, increases the speed of muscular contractions and increases the speed of messages, or impulses, that are carried along nerve pathways between our brains and muscles.

            Additionally, warming up the different joints of the body releases something called synovial fluid, which acts as oil would in a car engine, lubricating all the bones that move against each other.

            Beginning a class or a rehearsal without a cardiovascular warm-up increases every dancer’s risk for injury.  All dancers are aware of how difficult it can be to heal from an injury and how quickly technique begins to deteriorate when a dancer must take time off to heal.  Taking care of our bodies takes a little bit of knowledge and some effort, but the payoff of having a body that continues to function optimally is well worth it.

            We are only given one body.  A musician has an instrument to use to create his/her art and a dancer has his/her body.  Musicians respect their instruments and take great care to protect and keep them working well.  Shouldn’t we do the same?