Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition

Despite the stereotypical assumptions people might make based on my hobbies and physical stature, this sounds like an interesting series and I look forward to reading it.

Hello moorec74,

Engineering and dance may seem like an unusual combination,

you'd be surprised.....

Having taken up ballroom dancing, (west coast swing, and waltz mostly), I find this is very interesting,

It may be for the most part a non-contact sport, but the physical demands are extremely high.

At my peak in high school, I was dancing 45-50 hours each week (between taking and teaching classes). I am very lucky that my most serious injury was simply a sprained ankle. The effects are long-lasting, however, because a sprain never heals back to its original capacity. Moreover, each sprain puts you at risk for another one (I lost count at 11 on my left ankle).

40-50 hours a week, dam you must be good.

Having sprained my ankles few times playing sports...and dislocated it once , I've have found you do have to retrain it to let the body know the position your foot is in.

Looking foward to this article.

phoenix911

Hi moorec74 and welcome to CR4!!

I too am looking forward to this series.

A sport certainly does not have to be a "contact" sport to be physically demanding. I would argue that the most physically demanding sports are non-contact sports. And 45-50 hours a week is truely commitment, dedication and hard work and I applaud you for that.

I myself compete in a sport that may not require that many hours of actual training per week. But when you factor in everything that goes into it, it is a 24/7/365 process which all comes down to one day of competition.

When I think about it I bet competitive bodybuilding is more similiar to competitive dance than I had realized....hmmm as this series continues I can see myself relating to it even more. But a dancer I am not...(ha!? - although I do a choreographed individual routine to music at the evening part of a competition.....wow!)

Looking forward to Part 2!

I am so fascinated with dancing, even if I never really tried it. So You Think You Can Dance really intrigues me! I think you should do a video to go along with your series Miss National Clogging Champion! I would surely find it fascinating and it may help me to understand the terminology used in dance better. Just a suggestion...

That's a great idea...let me see what I can get together for the remaining parts of this series. Thanks!!

there seems to be a sense of lighthearted humor to naming of dance clubs.

I took a 3 part workshop on the hustle. 2:30 to 9:00 and open dancing after. That club was called "Shut Up and Dance". And themes like that seems to be prevalent in Wisconsin.

Six hours of workshops, I started going to the fitness center more often.

phoenix911

Welcome moorec74!

I can't even remember a time in my life when I wasn't enrolled in one dance class or another. My base is in ballet, but I've found that I thoroughly enjoy jazz and hip hop too. They may be the same mechanically, but the approach to each is so different!

I've seen lots of falls and injuries, but luckily I've never suffered any injuries myself. I am interested to learn about the different injuries that are more likely to occur with different dance forms.

I definitely look forward to reading the rest of this series!

Out of curiosity...
I definitely do not look like the dancing type. It was especially noticable in the ballet classes where men and women were tall and skinny and seemed to have extremely long legs!
Because you'll be discussing muscle use, will you also be discussing the different body types that each style of dance 'prefer" (for lack of a better word)? I'd also find that very interesting.

I know the feeling! I'm fairly short, so I can usually be picked out quite easily. And from all the clogging I did, my thighs are fairly thick (maybe not noticeable normally, but put me in tights next to a few tall, skinny ballerinas and I definitely stand out!).

I hadn't planned on discussing different body types...I don't want to discourage someone from learning more about a form of dance or from trying something new if they don't "fit the bill" of the typical dancer. I hope you understand, and that my discussions of the muscles that help will satisfy your curiosity!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! And keep up the dancing!

Do slim and tall people become dancers or does dancing make them slim and tall?

Ballet and other forms of dance can definitely make you slimmer, but not taller. If it did, I wouldn't still be 5'3" after 17+ years of dancing!

It can make you appear slightly taller, however, because of the good posture that it teaches you.

I figured as much. And I understand completely!

I know a few people who were discouraged from dancing because they didn't look like the other students. At the same time, some of the best dancers I know don't necessarily "fit the bill". I was just curious.

Still looking forward to your next entry!

Great to see this topic come up. I studied classical ballet for 7 years and then went into Tae Kwon Do. I now own a TKD school and teach all levels. The experience I got in dance combined with my knowledge of physics allows me to give very accurate instruction to my TKD students on how to use their bodies to generate maximum speed and power while minimizing the risk of injury. I am in the process of setting up instrumentation and doing research for a book I want to write on those topics.

I look forward to seeing more of your blogs on the biomechanics of dance. Thanks!

Hi, could you pls give an illustration of how you keep up with the study and at the same time dance 50hrs a week? Can I have your schedule?

I really want to know if my children can do like you.

M. H. K.

It definitely requires a passion to want to keep up a busy schedule. Dance was not just a hobby for me, but exercise, stress relief, time to hang out with friends, and my part-time job.

My parents' rule - from the time I was in kindergarten until I graduated high school - was that I could go to dance as long as my homework was done. Some may argue that this forced me to race through everything and not do a thorough job on my school work, but this was not the case at all for me. I also had to keep my grades up (all A's) to continue all my dancing, so it was the motivation I needed to work extra hard at school.

Very fortunately for me, I found school easy. I was able to finish most of my homework at school, between classes or while I ate my lunch. I always tried to get homework and projects done ahead on weekends or on breaks. Whatever I didn't finish, I worked on in the car on my way to the dance studio (that extra few minutes ended when I got my license and started driving myself).

On weekdays, I headed right to the dance studio after school, not stopping anywhere on the way (so I was there by 3pm). I helped teach classes for younger students, and as the evening progressed the students got older. Finally near the end of the evening, my classes were taught so I switched from teacher to student. I was usually done by 11pm and headed straight home to go to bed, so I could rest up and repeat it all over again the next day.

My studio also offered classes on weekends. I taught from 8am-3pm on Saturdays, and then took several hours worth of classes; I was free by dinner time. Sunday evenings I often had classes for a few hours as well.

My years of doing this taught me the importance of time management. Anything else I wanted to do (i.e. my piano lessons, church choir, or school clubs) had to fit in between the dance lessons. I also had to plan ahead; when I left my house for school at 7am, I had to have my lunch, school books, dance clothes/shoes, and my dinner all packed and with me because I didn't go home again until 11:30pm.

It may all sound crazy, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I have not missed a ballet at The Kennedy Center since 2001, and I continue to be amazed. Yes, there is resolution of extreme force- that art insist demur a show of effort.

And cruel: A dancer may devote decades of life, all days every week, to become average on this dreams-of-a-child stage. And there are those who are technically "perfect", who fail to lift our hearts (No names, just now).

But the sniper catch-in-throat instants, are beyond the physics and words that reviewers try to page: Alesandra Ferri's "Juliette"...on a snowy night, and The Bolshoi's having Prokofief woo Cinderella into a new telling of her story....

Yes, do write; I'll read...We'll all read.

For Christmas 2005 my daughter gave us beginner group classes in Ballroom Dancing.

I struggled with two left feet, so I began also taking private lessons. The skills rapidly developed and Ballroom dancing became a passion.

Feb 2007, we were encouraged to enter as Newcomers in a Dancesport Ballroom competition. As the lead I did rather badly. Promptly forgetting the routine and the technique we stumbled around the floor. We have now competed in over two dozen events and are placing in the Gold Syllabus level.

The techniques for controlling balance, forming shapes, controlling inertia, converting linear energy into rotational and back, and utilizing rise and fall for energy control, have become a science of its own.

The human ability to have movement timed to music with energy and grace while providing interpretation with the particular style of dance is truly amazing.

Congratulations! I'm glad you kept trying despite your initial difficulties and continued to hone your skills - it has clearly paid off! I truly hope you will keep up the excellent work on the dance floor.

(Spending the kids inheritance! About 4 lessons per week now!)

My father, a physician, used to say the population falls into a bell curve. There would be some with no talent, and some with natural talent, but the vast majority of us with training can do a pretty decent job.

And in the long run effort and modest talent will always beat natural talent and no effort.

beginning actually instruction for technique. Its a matter of training your muscles to move more fluently as I was told when I first begin taking instructions. ie you have to learn to crawl before you can walk, before you can run.

Prior to that, were I grew up, as from swiss descent we had a Polish settlement on one side, German settlement on the other, with some Irish thrown, one thing you did do, ever Sunday as kids coming home from church is danced polkas with your parents and sister around the kitchen table.

As a 8 yo I never laughed or had as much fun as that.

I am an electrical engineer, I dated a stripper for about a year. Yea, I know exactly what you mean when you say engineering and dance are an unusual combination. I can say from first hand experience it is great.

Great Idea...

What about those of us that need a little "Liquid Encouragement" to even have the nerve to get out and dance around strangers?

My wife and I have never had any formal dance lessons, but really enjoy various types of dancing at the small clubs we go to, here where we live.

We dance many country music line dances, hip hop line dances, of course all the slow dances, and many pop song dances..

We even made up our own little dance to certain beats and seem to get compliments about "are you guys dance instructors?" haha..

We also know about injuries, due to dancing on uneven bar floors..

My poor wife has had both knees operated on, due to torn miniscus, so she needs to be careful..

I find it's all about the beat, if you dance with the beat, people say you are a good dancer, if you dance to your own beat, that's when people laugh at you..

Thanks for starting this blog, hope we can all learn some things, and have fun.

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