Rest and Progress

Rest and Progress

The dance world is full of stereotypes, contradictions and misunderstandings, this is in part due to the old school way of thinking even when newer strategies have been shown to bring better results.

What we are going to discuss now is not a new topic and most people/dancers/teachers/ballet masters know a lot about it but very little actually use it, and in the right way!

Rest & Recovery

It's the number ONE reason that dancers get injured,

not enough of either!

During rest the body gets time to recover from the daily activities, whether that is mentally, physically or emotionally but unfortunately due to the physical and emotional nature, and demand of our art, rest is all too often forgotten.

Lets take an example;

After a performance most dancers need at least two hours once they are home in order to refuel and calm their bodies down before being able to sleep, do they do this, most don't! And this is a very BIG mistake. Some will just go home, toss and turn in bed and the next morning wake up feeling terrible, and wonder why they didn’t sleep. Some will go for a drink, and some will go home, stare at Facebook before retiring to bed with square eyes. So let's address these issues before we get onto the real culprit.

Your body needs time to wind down after a performance, but it also needs something to help it recover due to the hormones cortisol and adrenaline that have been coursing through your body, one of the things you can do is take a post performance/workout shake, what we have done is to give you a recipe for the shake to make it easier.

So here goes;

1. Protien, this is the number one source for muscle repair (remember Pro- in greek means first)!

2. Carbohydrates, simple ones such as blueberries, strawberries etc, etc

3. Green powder, these are ground up vegetables, but the great thing about them is your body absorbs them as though it wes getting a full portion of veggies, which helps with immunity, plus all the vitamins, like vitamin c which helps a great deal with muscle soreness amongst other things.

4. Glutamine is also very useful,(this is one of the first supplements we recommend if a dancer is feeling run down). It acts as a carbohydrate but more importantly it helps your body to recover, as it's the stuff your immune system lives on. After intense physical exercise your immune system is depleted for at least 3 hours after, by roughly 30%! What happens is Glutamine goes to your muscles leaving your immune system more open to attack (hopefully you're getting the picture by now). Between 10 and 20 grams is a good amount.

Remember the faster you recover, the sooner you can work again! 


5. Magnesium. Now before you go out and buy any old Mag, make sure that it's Magnesium Citrate and/or Magnesium  Glycinate as these two are the best at helping to reduce cortisol, and muscle cramps,(as a general rule of thumb, anything with 'ide at the end, such magnesium oxIDE is not good, and anything with 'ate such as citrATE is good), if you can find a combo that's even better, between 400mg and 800mg is great.

6. Glycine will help reduce cortisol even further 500mg to 1g should do the trick.

Obviously for some, budget is an issue, if that is the case then take; Protien, Greens Powder and Glutamine.

Now if you are only going to take away one thing from this article remember this, you are most insulin sensitive for approximately one hour after a performance/workout so you MUST have your shake or snack within this time to restore glycogen levels and reduce protein breakdown,  That's why we think every dancer should have a blender!

Remember the faster you recover, the sooner you can work again!

The next thing is to eat something, it doesn't have to be a large meal it could just be a snack of some kind as long as it has everything in it (protein, fats, carbohydrates), this will help restore glycogen levels further.

Remember the faster you recover the sooner you can work again!


Sleep:

When you sleep a whole cascade of things happens from muscle repair to liver cleansing. Rest is one of your most precious times, repairing all those damaged fibres that have been worn down during the day, your brain has a chance to recuperate, from learning all the new steps and actually digest and make sense of them. One of the most important things you can do for your body and mind is get a minimum 8 hours of sleep a night, and when you think about it, compared to rest of the day it's not that much your body is asking of you. A simple thing you can do is make the room as dark as possible and make sure there is nothing electrical near you as these can interupt sleep.

Remember the faster you recover the sooner you can work again!

So we have now arrived at the part where we believe most injuries happen, rehearsals.

Rehearsals are of course necessary otherwise everyone would be able to dance, but it's the repetition that's the culprit. Repeating something over and over again is subject to the law of diminishing returns, meaning the more you do it after a certain point will not make it better but will in fact negate all the work that has been put in, instead of leaving it for that day and trying again tomorrow, or if it is a really demanding part leaving it alone for a whole day and then coming back to it. Have you ever wondered why something feels easier when you've had a chance to rest?

It's like sudoko, sometimes you get stuck on a particular part and no matter what you do you just can't seem to figure it out, so, you leave it alone! The next day you figure "I'll have another shot" and when you look at it, the answer is staring at you right in the face. The same goes for rest.

One thing all ballet masters should learn is to know when enough is enough instead of looking at the clock and trying to fill up the time because they have to, and like we said, you can repeat something up to a certain point but after that point you will not get any more out of the dancer. This is one reason that dancers get injured, overuse injuries, not knowing when to stop and too much repitition, which in turn wears the dancer down to a point where one slip of technique could be catastrophic! Maybe you think we are exaggerating, but we have seen this first hand and it is NOT a pretty sight.

Working smarter and more efficiently, not working longer, is imperative to reduce injury!

Not to finish on such a dramatic note, we hope that you are able to take something away from this and if you have any questions please feel free to contact us!

Yours in Health,

Clarke&Russell