Just because you work out at the gym doesn't mean you are necessarily advancing your career. In fact, you could be stealing from it.
When I started cross-training for ballet 10 years ago, it was such a taboo thing. Dancers wouldn't dream of lifting weights for fear of bulking up. Now, it's all the rage. Cross-training has become such a part of ballet culture that it would almost seem weird if you didn't go to the gym between your classes and rehearsals.
While I'm obviously a huge proponent of cross-training & the benefits it can award you, I fear we are going overboard with it...as dancers tend to do with our obsessive mindsets *wink wink.
The preservation of your body has to be taken into consideration just as much as the optimization of it. Remember, exercise, although it carries positive benefits, is still a stress on your body. And the WAY you exercise determines how much positive versus negative impact it has on your body. In other words, not all exercise is equal. Two different people can log 60 minutes at the gym, use the same weight loads, do the same exercises...and get completely different results. It's all about the intent behind what you are doing.
As cross-training has become so popular, a lot of people are copying the trend without understanding the purpose behind it. This has the potential to create a lot of wear and tear on your body, while downsizing the benefits. That means instead of your cross-training optimizing your body and making it better capable of doing ballet...it could be stealing energy from your ballet, making you more susceptible to injuries, & leading to burnout & shortened careers.
All this is to say that there's a difference between exercise for exercise sake and exercise designed to make you better. They can look very similar on the surface. But one can detract from your physicality, while the other enhances it. Think of your body as a sports car. Even if you take the best care of it, the parts will eventually wear down and break over time. And the more you drive it, the faster those parts will wear out. You are only allotted so much mileage. Exercise without proper intent churns through your body's mileage faster, while intentional exercise has the potential to extend the life of your body by reinforcing your "parts," making you more resilient & efficient at everything you do...including ballet.
Look at professional athletes. These are the people we worship as physical specimens of health, strength, & fitness. And yet, many of them have very short careers. If they don't sustain a catastrophic, career-ending injury in the first place, many of them deal with painful physical conditions the rest of their lives due to being so hard on their bodies during their pro athlete days. And these are the people we revere for being the epitome of health & fitness! Something is messed up there. Think about it, doesn't that tell you exercise takes a huge toll on the body? Even if you are in prime condition & top of your game...it comes with a cost.
This is not to say the answer is to sit on your couch and do nothing. But you do have to be aware of the cost-to-benefit ratio of cross-training. That's why Bulletproof Ballerina Training is based on efficiency -- do enough focused work to create a positive adaptive response...but don't waste any extra energy depleting your allotted mileage.
I don't want our ballet world losing its grace and artistry because we are so focused on athletics. And I don't want dancers shortening their careers due to burnout & injury. I started Bulletproof Ballerina Training a decade ago for the exact opposite reasons:
- To allow dancers to be LESS obsessed with training so they could enjoy more of what life has to offer outside the studio -- preventing burnout and fueling artistry.
- And to reinforce dancers' bodies -- making them more capable of doing ballet and withstanding the strain of it.
Not all "cross-training" leads in this direction. Just something to think about and be aware of as you are bombarded by social media influencers and trends.
#realtallk
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