The Ultimate Cross-Training Guide For Dancers

Whether you’re into ballet or prefer grooving in a dance cardio class, it never hurts to look for ways to cross-train as a dancer. While dancing is already a full-body workout, cross-training can help improve your strength, balance, agility, and endurance even more.

What Is Cross-Training?

According to Alayna Curry, a fitness instructor and Zumba teacher, cross-training simply means doing different types of exercise. By switching things up, you’ll boost your strength and agility — and ultimately feel more capable on the dance floor.

Go For A Run

Running is one of the best ways to boost your overall fitness, which is essential for dancers. “It’s a great form of cardio that can help improve your stamina and endurance,” Curry says. And because running engages so many muscles at once, it makes you stronger, too.

Do Walk/Run Intervals

To really up your fitness game, Curry recommends adding walk/run intervals to your routine. She says interval training is a great way to improve your breath control for effortless breathing — a key factor during complicated dance routines.

Take Up Yoga

Want to be bendier? “Yoga is a great way to improve your flexibility and balance, and it’s also known to help your mind-to-muscle connection,” says Curry. “Being aware of the way your body moves and flows is crucial to becoming a better dancer.”

Turn Up The Heat

Broadway dancing veteran Laurie Kanyok says hot yoga, in particular, is what helped her recover after long stints on stage. That’s because high temps can allow your body to increase its range of motion as you move through poses.

Try Pilates

Attending regular Pilates classes is another way to help improve your core strength and ignite your deeper muscles, says Julia Kummerow, the director of Dance Forever Studio. It can also help correct your alignment and form, Kanyok adds.

Sign Up For Dance Cardio

The high levels of energy and endurance needed in a dance cardio class will prep you for other forms of dance, and vice versa. The cardio aspect also works your breath control, Kummerow says, while the fun atmosphere provides a nice mental break.

Take Barre

Jackie Lucas, the owner of Evolve Mindful Movement, suggests supplementing your usual dance classes with barre workouts, which focus on the core, glutes, posterior chain, arms, shoulders, and the muscles of the legs and feet — all key areas in dance.

Add Strength Training

Training with compound exercises — like burpees — is another way to change how you feel as you dance. “Doing combination moves that use multiple muscle groups at a time can help improve your coordination — something that you need when dancing,” Curry says.

Train Your Legs & Back

Focus on your leg and back muscles with lunges, squats, and back extensions, says Cheryl Corej, co-owner of Across the Floor dance studio. Move like these can improve your leaps and jumps, help increase bone density, and reduce your risk of injury.