Is pre-dance stretching necessary?

[elisedance]

thats exactly what I have to do too.  i wonder how common calf tightness is for ballroom dancers?  its got so bad that I can't move in the morning without first stretching them out.... must be something wrong there...

[QPO]

I think you need to definitely warm up.. we still always do a slow waltz to warm up and do our balance exercises. 

[elisedance]

but I have to stretch before doing even the slowest, least effort waltz
Last night woke up in the night with a pain in the back of my knee - fortunately it was relieved by stretching

[Medira]

Elise, it sounds like you're going through something similar to issues that a friend of mine was having a couple of months ago.  How often do you stretch your achilles tendons?  With all of the dancing you do in heels, it's possible that your achilles tendons are tightening.  (This is actually part of the reason why I mostly wear flat shoes outside of the studio)

[dancing1]

I think the most important thing to distinguish is what kind of stretching you are doing - there are kinds you should do before (dynamic) and kinds you should do after (static) - I do both.  Here's the kind I do before to help warm up - http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/dynamic-stretches.html  I first ready about dynamic stretching in a  very technical (dry) text book - but it really works.  I can even do the splits now and I never could before - even as a child.

Flexibly yours,
D1

[elisedance]

I think the most important thing to distinguish is what kind of stretching you are doing - there are kinds you should do before (dynamic) and kinds you should do after (static) - I do both.  Here's the kind I do before to help warm up - http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/dynamic-stretches.html  I first ready about dynamic stretching in a  very technical (dry) text book - but it really works.  I can even do the splits now and I never could before - even as a child.

Flexibly yours,
D1

A very valuable post D1 - and not one I had thought about before that there might be different types of stretching for before and after excersize. 

[Tanithe]

I tend to only 'stretch' if my muscles are a bit tender from a previous practise or workout; also sometimes if im finding my joints are a bit stiff eg. my hip flexors. 

[cdnsalsanut]

I have a training regimen I follow. We do a standard dance slowly then twice to music. We work this way through the 5 standard dances and then do the same for the 5 latin dances. The once or twice through slowly seems to help warm things up and also remind of us the choreography and pieces we're working on.

[ZPomeroy]

Stretching in my opinion is vital to any dancer! If you don't pre stretch before dancing then you are susceptible to damage to the muscles, but it also elongates them, counteracting the 'crunching' you do as you strengthen a muscle - which we pretty much do everytime we dance. If you don't elongate the muscles again, especially hamstrings and quads you end up with legs that look like they should belong to a kangaroo. Stretching is key to everything.

Also just to add to that, a warm down stretch is also very important as it actually decreases the muscle pain you feel the next day!

Zac

[QPO]

I do a bit of everything. I always start dancing on my own. chaise's across the floor and using ankles and knees to start them moving. I always do hip flexer stretches and inside leg stretches.

Especially with my knee I cannot just step on the floor and dance.

We also then do a bronze level waltz and run though that twice before we start our regular routine.   and starting with the Waltz and then working through our other dances.

[orangepeel]

I would not really do stretching in the normal sense of the word. I would shake and loosen my body, then do a little stretching. Then more shaking and relaxing the muscles and then a little more stretching. I would do it, while walking around in a very small quite area. I found it was really important to get the muscles relaxed and flexible rather then “strong”. When the muscles where totally relaxed and flexible they had no problem stretching all that they needed for the dancing full out. 

Dora-Satya Veda

I appreciate this advice. It seems to work for me too. What do you think of doing Yoga to improve my dancing?

[Rugby]

ONe of the reasons I have now torn my left achilles tendon (year and a half ago it was the right) is because I don't stretch.  Without stretching you don't lossen up your muscles and tendons and it just takes one going back and overstretching it too far to make it tear.

[QPO]

Now that my leg is doing the right thing for me I do not need to strech as much as I did while it was not at full strength. I think loose limbering up is a good thing.  .they say now you should not do streches until you are warm anyway otherwis you can tear a muscle.

[elisedance]

..they say now you should not do streches until you are warm anyway otherwis you can tear a muscle.

I had not heard that - though it makes sense.  Of course it raises the question what should you do first then? Gentle motion?

[Rugby]

Now that my leg is doing the right thing for me I do not need to strech as much as I did while it was not at full strength. I think loose limbering up is a good thing.  .they say now you should not do streches until you are warm anyway otherwis you can tear a muscle.

Yes, you have to work up slow.  I was told to massage the muscles first then stretch.