Excercises for stamina???

[skipper]

What do you do for stamina and energy? A routine? Program?

[pruthe]

I know exercising is very important, but sometimes I eat pasta for quick extra energy/endurance. For me, it's a quite noticeable effect. I'm able to dance quite a big longer and with more energy. I don't think all people have this same effect when eating pasta. I read somewhere that Yulia Zagoruychenko and Riccardo Cocchi eat pasta prior to competing or performance. Also long distance runners, for example, prior to a marathon. (Admins, if this is too far OT, feel free to move.)

[SwingWaltz]

I wonder whether light muscle building helps with stamina?

Sometimes half way through the last dance I feel like my arms are falling and now strong enough to hold the lady up anymore. So I'm doing some light muscle building work on my arm (ok, the real reason is that it looks good )

[pinkstuff]

Am in the process of acquiring an exercise program to improve stamina & over all fitness & core strength (partly because I need to become more fit & partly that I have noticed myself being somewhat out of breath after some dances!).  I am think it will be mostly running with interval training etc (was told by a coach that this was the best way to improve stamina & over all fitness...)  Will let you know if I am too sore & exhausted to ever dance again or if it is of benefit 

When I did run long distances (> 2 hours continuous), I used to have energy drinks during the run, banana about an hour before and pasta or carbs the night before (that was the plan (carbs) but to be honest, it didn't seem to make that much of a difference, although friends that regularly run marathons always do this, but if anyone wants me to, I can investigate more.).

[cornutt]

When I did run long distances (> 2 hours continuous), I used to have energy drinks during the run, banana about an hour before and pasta or carbs the night before (that was the plan (carbs) but to be honest, it didn't seem to make that much of a difference, although friends that regularly run marathons always do this, but if anyone wants me to, I can investigate more.).

Yeah, I did distance running in high school and I used to hear guys talking about carb loading, and I tried it a few times and didn't notice much difference.  I think the main problem is that all of those carb-loading things are designed to, essentially, raise your blood sugar (easily-available sugars).  That's great for sprinters who only have to run a few minutes.  For running 30 minutes or more, it's not much help... the body simply can't store that much in simple sugars.  Endurance has to come from the ability to convert fats, and carb loading doesn't do anything to help that -- arguably, it hinders it. 

[MusicChica]

I know some military guys do the carbo-loading thing too, especially guys in special ops before they go out on a mission.  Of course, those guys are in such prime physical shape that they probably don't necessarily need the pasta for energy and peak performance.

[elisedance]

[My first glance was that this was excercises for Samina ]

I just dance a lot.  We are into doing 'finals' - one after another...
But I think I need to do something else - the obvious is the excercise bicycle - but thats just tooooooo boring

[Dora-Satya Veda]

I used to be on the bike all the time. I would go to and from school, run errands and to and from dance training. That was enough to keep my stamina really good. Later when I got more efficient in my dancing then I just did finals like ee says she does.

[pinkstuff]

May be I will start biking to work in the spring but traffic is so heavy & there are no cycle lanes.....

[SwingWaltz]

So does cycling really help with stamina required for dancing?

[elisedance]

So does cycling really help with stamina required for dancing?

can't hurt

Its a good question - I think it must help with stamina but the more subtle one is does it help for ballroom movement and i would guess very little...

[dlgodud]

I used to run, but have stopped a quite period. It helped me build my stamina.
I want to go back, but it is so painfulllllll.

[SwingWaltz]

So does cycling really help with stamina required for dancing?

can't hurt

Its a good question - I think it must help with stamina but the more subtle one is does it help for ballroom movement and i would guess very little...

More about respiration i guess.

[QPO]

don't think it would work. Stamina for bike riders is about long distances....where as dancing is more like short interval training, you do bursts of 1.20, because we generally get small breaks in-between. So you would need to ride the bike steady for 10 minutes and then do really fast stuff for 1.00 minute back to normal and then repeat.

[elisedance]

I used to run, but have stopped a quite period. It helped me build my stamina.
I want to go back, but it is so painfulllllll.

If its painful - its probably not good for you.

I used to run - until my knees started hurting.  The best stamin excercise (work without wear) is, I think, swimming