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adiemus · 05-14-2008, 08:22 AM

Jane, you've got it!!
The body does need to be a little warmer than normal, the heart rate just a bit faster - then and only then can the muscles stretch!

It's not a 'full cardio', it's like when you go to the gym, you do 5 mins on the cycle before you start your exercise. Kashmir does great warmup - a track or two of something bright and breezy and some quick gallops (well, perhaps the grapevine step isn't exactly a gallop!) then doing a light stretch...then the class.

I think you can dance without stretching and still not risk injury provided that you are not intending to dance and extend beyond your normal ROM, but if you're wanting to increase range of movement which most of us do in normal practice and especially during classes, you need to stretch and you can't do this on cold muscles.

The 'warmups' on most DVD's are stretches - not CV warmups, and I haven't yet seen one that says to do CV warmup before doing the stretch.

and yes I was brought up on ballet and doing plie's and all that before beginning to dance!

The risk is that when we stretch first, the intention is to increase ROM but the reality is that it's merely window-dressing, and does risk injury especially if the stretches move beyond the normal ROM. Stretches before exercise do little to prevent muscle aches and pains, while there is support for stretching AFTER exercise to reduce muscle aches and pains.

Is it just that lots of dancers have danced since they were little and have never ever needed to stretch because they have developed flexibility since they were tiny? Or is it that there is a long history of teachers learning from other teachers who have never been to sports/fitness/physiology training?

Sorry, just getting really annoyed at this today!!!!!

05-14-2008, 08:22 AM	#5 (permalink)
adiemus Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Christchurch, New Zealand Posts: 960	Jane, you've got it!! The body does need to be a little warmer than normal, the heart rate just a bit faster - then and only then can the muscles stretch! It's not a 'full cardio', it's like when you go to the gym, you do 5 mins on the cycle before you start your exercise. Kashmir does great warmup - a track or two of something bright and breezy and some quick gallops (well, perhaps the grapevine step isn't exactly a gallop!) then doing a light stretch...then the class. I think you can dance without stretching and still not risk injury provided that you are not intending to dance and extend beyond your normal ROM, but if you're wanting to increase range of movement which most of us do in normal practice and especially during classes, you need to stretch and you can't do this on cold muscles. The 'warmups' on most DVD's are stretches - not CV warmups, and I haven't yet seen one that says to do CV warmup before doing the stretch. and yes I was brought up on ballet and doing plie's and all that before beginning to dance! The risk is that when we stretch first, the intention is to increase ROM but the reality is that it's merely window-dressing, and does risk injury especially if the stretches move beyond the normal ROM. Stretches before exercise do little to prevent muscle aches and pains, while there is support for stretching AFTER exercise to reduce muscle aches and pains. Is it just that lots of dancers have danced since they were little and have never ever needed to stretch because they have developed flexibility since they were tiny? Or is it that there is a long history of teachers learning from other teachers who have never been to sports/fitness/physiology training? Sorry, just getting really annoyed at this today!!!!! __________________ He wahine, he taonga- Every woman is a treasure(Maori proverb)