ancewith its three main genres classical, modern/contemporary, and folkmay be defined as a cognizant
effort to create visual designs in space by using the endless
movement capabilities of the human body in synchrony to a
particular rhythm. Given the complexity of the mental, physical, and artistic abilities needed, only a small number of
aspiring dancers eventually meet the strict requirements of
established selection procedures to reach the level of professional dancer.
Muscular strength, along with aerobic and anaerobic
capacity, power, joint mobilitymuscle flexibility, body composition, and body balance, mainly constitute what we understand as physical fitness. Without adequate physical fitness,
most humans would be unable to properly work, study, participate in sports, and, of course, dance.1
Since the centuries of classical Greece, muscular strength
has been perhaps the most desired body characteristic and the
epitome of the healthy bodyhealthy mind philosophical
approach. This has been depicted by many artists in a number
of the worlds greatest statues (Discobolos by Myron, Hermes by
Praxitelis), poems (the description of Achilles and Patroclus in
Homers the Iliad), and paintings (The Creation of Adam or
David and Goliath, by Michelangelo, in the Sistine Chapel,
Rome), to mention just a few examples. Strength training in
particular was the first known exercise regime that was used
for preparing athletes for the ancient Olympic Games, while
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, explained the main principle behind strength training when he wrote that what is
used develops, and that what is not used wastes away, referring to muscular hypertrophy and atrophy, respectively.
The arrival of Christianity and the Dark Ages which followed resulted in a dramatic change of this ancient tradition,
where the body suddenly became the souls poor carrier.
Strength and strength training as a practice were resurrected
only in the middle last century by practitioners who advocated
that exercise resistance must be periodically increased in order
to achieve performance-related bodily improvements.
Most movements of the human body and inside it are the
results of a remarkable contraction-relaxation cycle executed
by muscle fibers. From laughing and swallowing to playing
music, lifting weights, jumping, and dancing, these are all carried out by such muscle action. This article will cover elements of muscle strength in relation to dance.
motor units, which are varying sized groups of muscle fibers all
supplied with electrical impulses from a single motor neuron. A
single impulse originating in a motor neuron passes down the
axonal branches and stimulates all of the muscle fibers at virtually the same moment, generating a synchronous action potential in all the fibers.3
The number of muscle fibers in a motor unit may be as low
as 10 in a small muscle in the finger, to several thousand in a
large muscle such as the hamstrings. Motor units can be large,
fast, and fatigable at one end of a spectrum, and small, slow, and
endurant at the other. Slow fibers are organized into relatively
small motor units, which provide a better measure of fine control. So, if accuracy in a dance movement is required, it should
be executed as slowly as reasonably possible, particularly during
the initial learning stages.
However, what primarily makes a motor unit fast or slow is
not the genetic coding of the muscle fibers themselves but their
capacity to process electrical impulses. Fast nerves tend to transmit their impulses at a rate of about 40 Hz (i.e., 40
impulses/sec), while slow nerves operate at a rate of around 10
Hz. Aging causes fast fibers to lose their nerve connections and
subsequently re-innervated with slow nerve from neighboring
slow fibers. As a result, during aging muscle loses power more
quickly than force, at a rate of 3.5% compared to 1.8% per year,
respectively.4
Speed in muscle movements is probably based on much
more than simply having a fairly high proportion of fast fibers
and fast motor units. For a successful jump, for example, virtually all fibers must be recruited in the smallest window of time
and the closest possible synchrony of contraction. This has
implications for strength training; loading needs to be heavy in
order to enable recruitment through the entire fiber bed.
Even though an individual normally has the same slow/fast
muscle fiber ratio throughout his or her body, it has been
hypothesized that the lower-limb muscles of physically active
individuals are predominantly designed to provide the maximum dynamic output in rapid movements (e.g., jumping)
against the load imposed by the weight and the inertia of their
own body.5 This supports earlier data demonstrating that the
performance of rapid movements (such as vertical jumps)
assesses the same physical ability as properly normalized tests of
muscle power.6
program for female college-age dancers was found to be effective in improving overall muscular strength and decreasing
circumference in the waist-hip region but elicited no significant changes in body composition.21 An elevated neural
involvement may account for some of the increases in muscular strength,22 suggesting that hypertrophy is not a prerequisite for strength gains. Nevertheless, many authors note
that conventional dance-studio exercise alone confers little
strength benefits.2325
The most consistent finding of available meta-analyses is
that strength training can be successfully used in patients
with different chronic diseases without having detrimental
effects on disease progression.26 These authors also suggest
that, in patients with chronic disease, exercise training is
more protein due to differences in digestibility between vegetable and animal protein sources. In such cases, protein supplementation may be necessary for maintaining the bodys
optimal protein levels. In general, animal protein sources
such as meat, fish, eggs, and/or dairy products are referred to
as complete protein foods, whereas vegetable sources are
described as incomplete.
Body Temperature
It has been found that different body temperatures can affect
levels of muscular strength. Following warm-up, for example,
increased temperature (up to about 39oC) could lead to a
considerable performance increase in muscle power, which is
the explosive aspect of strength (often called fast
strength).60 This finding may be of particular relevance to
dance, which involves similar powerful muscular action.
However, a 45-min hot water immersion prior to exercise produced no significant changes in selected isokinetic or isometric parameters such as knee extension peak torque, angle of
peak torque, time to peak torque, and isometric force.61
In general, body temperatures greater than 39oC affect
muscle function by limiting the ability to maximally activate
a muscle and by changing muscle contractile characteristics.
Such changes are progressive in nature; with increases in core
temperature, there are concomitant decreases in muscle function, which gradually come back to normal as core temperature returns to thermoneutral levels. These phenomena are
due to a centrally induced muscle activation failure, demonstrating the primary role of core temperature afferents in
mediating responses to the muscle,62 regardless of training
status.63 In particular, elevated core body temperatures
reduce voluntary activation during isometric maximal voluntary contraction, and neither skin temperature nor cardiovascular levels can modulate this response.64
Much of the literature investigating cooling on human
performance involves cooling of the core, though many performance effects relate to cooling of the periphery. Nevertheless, there is general agreement that rate properties are
slowed with almost any level of cooling, thereby most substantially reducing muscle power. It is the slowed enzymatic
processes and slowed nerve conduction that impair rate of
force development,65 which can demonstrate reductions of
approximately 10 to 30%.66
Seasons of Year
In line with other fitness parameters, muscular strength
demonstrates noticeable seasonal variations.67 Aspects related
to exercise training or even overtraining may account for these
variations. Indeed, after 3 to 5 weeks of summer holiday in
elite dancers, during which very little physical work was
reported, strength measurements revealed unexpected
increases.68 It was argued that the demanding physical work
and performance schedules prior to holiday triggered an overtraining effect which negatively affected muscular strength
levels; however, this overtraining effect can be lessened with
TABLE 1. Different Training Goals Can Be Achieved by Changing the Components of Strength Training
Variable
Load (% of 1-RM)
Reps per exercise
No. of exercises
Exercise sets
Rest between sets (mins)
Training sessions per week
Training Goal
____________________________________________________________________________
Strength
Power
Muscle Hypertrophy
Endurance
80100
24
45
45
35
35
7090
58
45
48
35
35
6080
815
45
56
24
57
4060
2040
24
24
24
510
FIGURE 3. The most commonly injured body regions in dance. The figure shows the number of injuries recorded in a 2-year period preceding data collection in 608 professional dancers and dance students in the UK. (Koutedakis, unpublished study.)
cular strength in conjunction with increased exercise volumes and reduced recovery periods may significantly add to
such injuries.104 In contrast, overuse (or nontraumatic) dance
injuries are often attributed to faults in technique, partly due
to insufficient muscular strength levels, with poor turnout
and inappropriate compensatory strategies.105 The process
starts when repetitive activity fatigues a structure such as
tendon or bone.
CONCLUSIONS
Skeletal muscle differs not only in color but also in contractile properties.
Muscle fibers can generally be divided into slow and fast
twitch according to their contraction speed. The limited
data on dancers muscle profiles have shown that ballet
dancers have predominately slow fibers.
Strength levels can be affected by several factors, which
include age, gender, type of muscle fiber, nutrition, and
body temperature.
There is no scientific evidence suggesting that different
strength training regimens should be employed for the different styles of dance. However, reduced muscular
strength has been associated with greater severity of injury
in dancers.
The most common location for injury in ballet dancers is
the foot and ankle, while in contemporary dancers is the
low back and knee. Little information is available with
respect to other dance styles.
More multidisciplinary scientific research is needed on
the different forms of dance and dance training.
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