Conditioning for
Strength
Three principles serve as the foundation for strength training programs. They are: overload,
specificity, and reversibility. Overload refers to increased exercise demands. Specificity indicates the
similarity of a conditioning exercise to the dance idiom that an individual is performing. Reversibility
describes the loss of strength when you stop training. The strength conditioning exercises in this book
are based on these principles.
The
Overload
Principle
The overload principle states that strength cannot be increased unless the muscles are stressed
beyond their normal work load. They need to be worked to the point of fatigue. To achieve this
overload, you can increase the frequency, duration, or intensity of your exercise program. Here,
frequency means how often an exercise is performed; duration, how long an exercise lasts; and
intensity, the difficulty of an exercise.
There are many factors that help to determine the intensity or difficulty of an exercise. In this
book, intensity will be primarily determined by the amount of weight a muscle must lift of move. The
overload principle also suggests that the frequency, duration, or intensity must be progressively
increased for consistent gains in strength.
Overload and Flexibility
Some dancers are concerned that flexibility will decrease if they begin a program that uses
weights to increase strength. This will not happen if flexibility exercises are also performed. All of
the strength conditioning exercises in this book have flexibility exercises included as part of the
conditioning program.
Overload and Muscle Size
Many dancers and teachers are worried that working with weights will build big muscles. In
fact, one of the most common misconceptions about strength training is that it will always result in
large bulky muscles, even in women. This is not true. Hypertrophy, an increase in muscle mass, is
influenced by several factors. One is the presence or absence of certain hormones; another is the type
of exercise program that is followed.
Before puberty, growth hormone increases the size of the muscles, in both men and women, as
the body grows. After puberty, the male hormone, testosterone, continues to increase muscle size. If
men perform certain types of strength training exercises, the presence of testosterone makes it possible
for them to increase the size of their muscles even further. Because the female body produces very
little testosterone, women who engage in strength training do not develop the same muscle mass as
men.
Muscular hypertrophy is also affected by the type of strength-training program that is followed.
Exercise programs that use maximal resistance result in greater hypertrophy. Maximal resistance is
afforded by a weight so heavy that it can be lifted only a few times before fatigue occurs.
Muscular Size and Strength
Two main factors determine strength. The first is the size of the muscle and the second is the
ability of the nervous system to control the muscle. Inside each muscle are numerous muscle fibers.
When these fibers receive a signal from the nervous system, they shorten or contract. If a task requires
very little strength, then relatively few muscle fibers will be directed to contract. As more strength is
required, more muscle fibers are called into action. When you consider that a skeletal muscle may
contain as many as three hundred thousand fibers, you can understand the complexity of the
controlling process. Through strength training, the nervous system “learns” to better coordinate the
contraction of muscle fibers. This increases the strength of muscles without increasing their size.
Exercises in the Gym
Although we recommend the exercises in this book, many fine exercise programs can be found
in gyms. Exercise machines allow you to add more resistance than simple conditioning exercises.
Consequently, greater gains in strength and more muscular hypertrophy are possible. These weight
machines can be particularly helpful to male dancers who would like to build strength for partnering,
increase upper-body muscle mass for aesthetic reasons, or develop leg strength for powerful jumps.
The
Specificity
Principle
The principle of specificity states that the exercises you choose for your strength conditioning
program should be as similar as possible to the dance movements you perform in class and on stage. It
has been suggested that dancers could adhere to both the specificity and overload principles by
wearing ankle weights to class. In this way they would be able to add resistance while performing
specific dance movements. This resistance could be increased by wearing heavier weights.
There is some question as to whether wearing ankle weights is wise. For some warm-up
exercises, light ankle weights may be all right. There is always the possibility, however, that extra
weight at the ankle could hurt a knee or ankle that is not yet strong enough to support the additional
weight. Another problem is that ankle weights distort the timing of your movement. To produce
movement, the muscle fibers inside each muscle act in a complex coordination of contractions and
relaxations. The timing of these contractions and relaxations is altered by ankle weights. Ankle
weights also distort the centrifugal force your muscles have to control when you turn.
For these reasons, we believe a dance conditioning program is a better way to build muscle
strength than wearing ankle weights during dance class. A dance conditioning program will allow you
to condition your body with exercises that incorporate the principles of overload and specificity
without the problems associated with ankle weights.
The
Reversibility
Principle
Reversibility refers to the fact that a loss of strength occurs rapidly when a person stops
exercising. In fact, two weeks after training ends, a marked decrease in strength can occur; as much as
a 35 percent loss in strength can occur after one month. To maintain gains in strength, one must
continue a strength conditioning program. Generally speaking, a muscle needs to be conditioned at
least two times a week in order to maintain its level of strength.
Taken from Watkins, Andrea, and Priscilla Clarkson. Dancing Longer, Dancing Stronger: A Dancer’s
Guide to Improving Technique and Preventing Injury. Princeton NJ: Princeton Book Company, 1990.
Print.