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5 Ways Dancers Reduce & Prevent Muscle Soreness After Training5 Ways Dancers Reduce & Prevent Muscle Soreness After Training

5 Ways Dancers Reduce & Prevent Muscle Soreness After Training

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As a dancer you are no stranger to the aches and pains that often accompany your rigorous training routines. Relentless demands of rehearsals, the physical strain of performances, or the intensity of cross-training sessions, you are continually pushing your body to the limit.

This article will introduce 5 effective ways to alleviate muscle aches and (even better) ways to prevent soreness before it even starts. These techniques are effective for all athletes, but we are going to focus specifically on how dancers can use them to minimize muscle aches, optimize recovery, and feel their best when performing on the dance floor.

 

5 Techniques for Reducing Muscle Soreness

Warm Up Before Hitting the Dance Floor

You already know an effective warm up is absolutely necessary to perform well, but did you know science tells you this is also an effective way to reduce that next-day soreness? Yes! Just one more reason you need to spend some time getting your muscles and joints ready. It is important to think about the muscles you are going to use most in your routine and spend some extra time getting them ready.

Great Warm Up Exercises for Dancers
  • Jumping Jacks: These are fantastic to get the blood pumping and give great full-body warm up.
  • Heel Raises: Target those big, powerful leg muscles you are going to use a ton in your routine.
  • Hip Swings: Move those hips around and get them ready for your movements.
  • Dynamic stretching: Do this near the end of your warm up after your muscles are already mostly warmed up.
  • Ankle Circles: Let’s get the muscles and connective tissue around your ankles prepared.
  • Plie Squats: Legs, hips, knees, ankles, you are going to be warming everything up with this exercise.
  • Should Shrugs & Neck Turns: You can’t forget about our upper body and how important these muscles are to warm up as well.
  • Mountain Climbers: Another great all over excise that is also going to work your upper body and shoulders while working on mobility through your hips.

 

Massaging

Massage away sore muscles

Yeah buddy! I know you were just waiting for someone to give you an excuse to get a quality massage. Let’s be real though, we don’t always have time for a luxury spa day, so this article is going to focus on massage techniques you can do at home or in the dance studio in less than 10 minutes. These will be 10 minutes very well spent and a quick massage will do wonders to help reduce soreness and improve your performance. Below are some techniques and tools you can use for massaging your muscles to avoid soreness.

Foam Rolling

Get yourself a foam roller. Foam Rollers are among the best tools you can use for releasing tightness and massaging out the knots from exercising. There are tons of options for foam roller options to choose from ranging from classic styles, to specialized shapes and densities, and even fancy powered ones to add vibration therapy to your foam rolling.

Targeted Massaging with Massage Balls

These simple massage tools are not only effective, but you can take them anywhere. Spending just 3-5 minutes massaging your muscles with a massage ball is an easy way to help prevent soreness after dance class. These are especially great tools for hard-to-reach places like your back and glutes. Plus, they are super budget friendly. Bonus tip, you can put your massage ball in the freezer to ice your muscles while massaging them. The cool temperature will reduce the inflammation from exercise and further help reduce soreness.

Portable Massager (Massage Gun)

Portable massagers are a total game changer for eliminating aches and pains. A portable massager makes it super easy to give yourself an excellent massage in just a few minutes. The percussion motion of a portable massager relaxes your muscles and stimulates blood flow to the area carrying nutrients and oxygen necessary for your muscles to recover. This effect greatly reduces stiffness, tension, and soreness common during dancing.

Foot Massage! It’s not just for your feet

I don’t need to tell you about how good a foot massage feels. Massaging your feet not only helps soreness in your feet, but it may also help release tension in your calves, Achillies, and even your knees can benefit. If your hands get tired massaging your feet there are tons of foot rollers and massagers available to massage your feet. You can even use the massage ball mentioned above for your feet.

 

Hydration and Nutrition

Fuel your body like the athlete you are! Chips and coffee while driving to rehearsal doesn’t count as a meal. Proper nutrition is a major factor in injury prevention and preventing many of the common pains experienced as a dancer. Time is often limited as a dancer, so taking meals in Tupperware containers and nutrient dense snack bars are often a must have. Ps… As your dance teacher has already told you, drink more water!

 

Rest & Recovery Are Training Too

Dance often requires long hours and leaves little time for your body to properly recover. It is important to consider recovery time as “part of your training”, not “time off from training”. Your muscles must have time to rebuild and recover properly for you to continue performing your best. This is not only important to reduce pain, but also to reduce the risk of injury. Schedule time in your routine to rest your body; this includes relaxing and getting a good night of sleep. Some of the techniques listed in this article assist your body to recover faster, but they cannot fully replace giving your body the time off it needs to recover.

 

Cross-Training

Cross training for dance

Dance requires just about every muscle in the human body. Dance class does an outstanding job for a full-body workout, but cross training outside of dance class gives you an opportunity to develop the strength required to perform some movements. Some of the soreness experienced as dancers comes from muscles simply being overworked and underprepared for the movements we are being asked to perform in class. Cross training allows you to specifically focus on building strength and target specific muscle groups that will help you in your dance class. Examples of cross training common for dancers are yoga, pilates, strength training, or classes focused on flexibility. Incorporating cross training into your dance program will ensure you are utilizing the proper muscles and have the strength required to perform big movements in your performance.

 

Bonus Information

Stretching

Stretching is fantastic! Stretching is included in nearly every recommendation for exercise routines. Stretching is going to assist with developing range of motion, mobility, and flexibility. You may like to perform light static stretching at the start of your warm-up and then incorporate some dynamic stretches near the end of your warm up. Static stretching often helps with developing range of motion and flexibility and dynamic stretching will help with developing the strength needed for your powerful leaps and maintaining balance during your movements.

Stretching is best when incorporated with these other recommendations and working the stretching into your routines. Stretching by itself may only have a minimal impact to reduce soreness.

 

Further Reading and Sources to Help

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