I was recently asked if there’s an issue with doing the same dynamic warm up every single day.
My answer? Not at all! Especially if the warm up hits the whole body.
A dynamic warm up is a series of exercises that warms up the body and mimics the movements you’re going to expect from your body later in class. This can reduce injuries like muscle strains and rolled ankles while eliminating the need to do a separate warm up for your turns or jumps.
A few jumping jacks and crunches (the outdated way to warm up) does HEAT up your body, but they don’t PREPARE the body for balance, jumping and explosive movements.
Here are a few of my favorite exercises that can be done daily and will prepare your dancers for any type of class.
NOTE: These are best to do BEFORE you stretch.
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•Begin with legs together and arms at your side
•come to Relevé squeezing quads and keeping ankles together
•squat down to the ground
•walk your hands out to a plank position
•reach one hand forward
•walk yourself backwards to the squat position
Repetitions:
Repeat 8 times each arm
[+]stand all the way back up between each repetition
[-] Hold a plank and reach hands forward one at a time
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Shiva Squat:
• With your hands on the ground and stationary leg in plié, lift your back leg while straightening your stationary.
Return to plié with your back leg behind and repeat 8-10 reps.
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Partner Wall Sit High Knees:
•[P1] Holds wall sit with arms extended outwards. Make sure to keep core engaged and back flat along the wall.
•[P2] Completes quick high knees aiming to reach P1’s hands.
Repetitions and Modifications:
•Repeat 12-20 times
•Switch Partners after 30 seconds
Looking for more specific exercises to add later to class? Grab a free copy of 5 Best Exercises to Increase Jump Height & Power These are some of my favorite exercises to use with teams so I thought you may like it too!