Warm Up Before Class Starts

So we all know the point of a warm up- to prepare your body for exercise, or in this case, Irish Dance Class. But where many go wrong, is they don't do a warm up appropriate to the activity they will be undertaking.

Irish Dancers are a prime example!

It's all too common to see dancers walk into class, sit down and do a couple of stretches, maybe do a little jumping/ jogging around, then go into dancing full pelt. (Is this you? If not then well done!)

What they're missing is the opportunity to make their muscles and joints as receptive to the coming exercise as possible.

The first step to this is to mobilise your joints so your tendons are warmed and lengthened, and the fascia in your muscles are broken down. These exercise will also ready your muscles for contracting and relaxing.

The next thing to do would be to raise your heart rate, and as a result get your blood pumping faster and more to your muscles rather than your organs. This will increase oxygen delivery, and well as make your muscles and tendons more 'malleable'. It will also strengthen your 'mind to muscle' connection, and the efficiency with which your muscles are working.

Below are Ideal Warm Up Exercises for Irish Dancers!

• Deep Squat - take the squat movement from the Healthy Tips and Stretches page, and do 15 repetitions SLOWLY. It is important to really push your hips back, and sink as low as you can. As you stand rise on to your toes to warm up your ankles also. Use the tempo 4:4 (4 seconds to go down, 4 seconds to come up)

• T-Press- in press up position (top of the movement with arms straight) keep your feet wide, and rotate your torso so your body weight is on 1 arm, with your other up in the air- hand pointing towards the ceiling. Keeping your core nice and tight, bring your hand back to the ground and rotate the other way lifting your opposite hand up and bringing yourself into the 'T' shape.  Do 10 reps each side, making sure to look towards the ceiling at the top of the movement. 

• Reverse lunge and reach - Using the lunge position from yesterday, take a LONG stride backwards. As you lower your knee to the ground, reach up towards the ceiling with both arms. Alternate legs, doing 10 each side. Again do these really slow to be sure you are lengthening your muscles and stretching your tendons. 

• Mountain Climber- In press up position, bring your right foot and place it outside your right hand (keeping your left leg straight behind you). Alternate sides doing 10 each on right and left, and really be sure to sink into the movement to feel the stretch in and around your hip.

• Leg Swing - a commonly done exercise but often not done correctly. On your feet (holding on if necessary) bring one leg up in front and let it swing back behind you. Start low and try to go a little higher and further back every time. To target the right muscles you want to make sure you keep your hips still. Do 15 swings each side.

• Extending squat- in squat position, go down as low as you can, grab your ankles, then straighten your legs while keeping your head pointed towards the floor. (as if you were bending over to touch your toes) repeat this movement 10 times, again nice and slowly, trying to get your bum closer to your heels every time you squat down, and head closer to your knees every time you stand (keeping your legs straight!)

Now for the pulse raiser. Do each exercise below for  60 seconds!

• Jog on spot - making sure to land on your toes and allow your heels to flatten every time. Also ensure there is a little 'spring' in your step.

• Star jumps- simple but effective! A beneficial modification would be to cross your feet every time you land to hit your adductors even more. They will also start to warm up the fast twitch fibers in your muscles, and draw even more blood to your Achilles.

• Butt kicks- pretty self explanatory.. Run on the spot making sure to hit your bum every single time. This will loosen up your Quadriceps, and get your hamstrings fired up. Be sure to increase the speed to work the fast twitch fibers when you can.

• Press ups - With your hands close together! Granted you may not be able to go for a whole minute continuously, but work on doing as many as you can. These will send the signal to your brain, that you will also be needing you core and upper body to function as you want them to!

• High Knees- Making sure your knees come above your hips every time, and really engaging your core as you lift up. Imagine you're doing a mini crunch of your stomach as your knee comes up, and increase your speed towards the end. This will warm up your hip flexors which are one of the most used muscles when you dance.

So there you have it! A complete warm up which will target the muscles you use most when you dance, and lengthen and 'stretch' your muscles as you go.

Deep Squats

T-Press

Reverse Lunge and Reach

Mountain Climber

Leg Swings