If you’re a dancer who gets involved in cheerleading, taking the time to do some dance exercises at the gym will be a great way to improve your performance and help you be the best you can be.
Many dancers shy away from all weight lifting activities because they think it will make them grow and bulky, when in fact that is not the case.
Instead, dance workouts can help you get much stronger, while increasing your leanness and muscle tone, allowing you to burn fat quickly and maintain a firmer overall physique, which will only come in handy when it comes to cheerleading. .
Let’s look at some of the best exercises to perform in your dance workouts.
Single Leg Split Squats
The one-legged split squat is a good full-body lower-body exercise and will add strength to your glutes that will help you propel yourself up when performing any type of jump.
When you do this exercise, think about pushing yourself up through your gluteal muscle, as that’s where you want your main power generation to come from. Lean back slightly as you perform the exercise and think about pressing up with your heel.
That will ensure that you are aiming at the correct area.
steps
Next, step-ups are also a great lower body exercise. They will also work the glutes, but will also target the quadriceps to a greater extent, making sure to build all-round lower-body strength.
When performing step ups, hold a barbell across your back to add extra resistance to the movement. This will improve the overall amount of strength gains you get while also improving your balance.
mountaineers
Mountain climbers are the next exercise you should add to your list to complete in your dance workouts. These are great for improving anaerobic capacity and for improving total body strength since many muscles are used when performing them.
When doing this, try to jump your legs in toward your body as high as possible to really work your core as you go. Then kick your legs back behind you to full extension so that you place maximum stress on your upper body as you do the movement.
Aim for sets of 20, doing 3 sets per dance workout.
Lizards
Finally, push-ups are the last exercise you should complete. These will target almost every muscle in your upper body very well, helping you generate force without having to use external weights.
Try and do full pushups if you can, keeping your body in proper alignment at all times.
Add these exercises to your dance workouts and you will definitely be happy with the strength gains you receive.