Search results for: cross-training

Here’s how interesting and fun cross-training exercises have propelled me forward in my goals of stabilization, strength, stamina and emotional support.

Between social media posts of ballerinas balancing on BOSUs and fitness influencers doing push-up challenges, dancers are inundated with new cross-training regimens on a daily basis. There’s an endless amount of exercises that could be valuable, but do we need to do them all? How do we create a cross-training budget that leaves us with […]

In this period of social distancing, many dancers have taken up new forms of cross-training they can do at home. Workouts such as HIIT and yoga can help maintain your conditioning and will reduce the risks of injury once your regular training resumes. We know that inactivity for just two weeks results in significant muscle […]

In Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16, dancers on chairs perform a quick series of emphatic gestures, flinging back their heads and limbs, with the last dancer eventually throwing their body to the floor. The first time Atlanta Ballet performed the piece, the company saw a number of injuries to the neck and low back. So when […]

If dancing across a stage is the greatest way to break a sweat, pounding a treadmill under fluorescent lighting has to be among the worst. “A lot of people hate the gym,” says Lauren McIntyre, an athletic trainer and clinical specialist at the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at NYU Langone Health. Luckily, you don’t […]

Summer is almost upon us, and whether you’re a student about to go on break or a pro counting the days till layoff, don’t forget that with warm weather comes a very serious responsibility: To maintain your cross-training routine on your own. Those of us who’ve tried to craft our own cross-training routine know it’s […]

New York City Ballet principal Sara Mearns wasn’t sure she was strong enough. A ballerina who has danced many demanding full-length and contemporary roles, she was about to push herself physically more than she thought was possible. “I said, ‘I can’t. My body won’t,’ ” she says. “He told me, ‘Yes, it will.’ ” She […]

Today, dancers are cross-training more than ever. And though there are some recommendations about what types of cross-training might be best for dancers’ bodies, ultimately it comes down to what works for you. We asked 13 pros about their go-to cross-training routines as part of our “Spotlight” series—and each one of them has a totally […]