Thread: Cross Training Challenge 2010 !

who want's to take a cross training challenge with me this year?

what type of activity do you chose?
what do you hope to gain from it?
will you report your cross training activity's effects on your belly dancing, in a monthly thread here?

i chose kundalini yoga as my main method of cross training.
i hope to gain greater mind/body connection, greater flexibility, strength and emotivity (yeah its a word now ) in my belly dance.

ok what about you?

I'm taking a ballet class again this spring before the move and if my Wednesday night class (school, not dance) cooperates and gets out early enough, I'll be taking modern as well.

I'm hoping to fix any bad habits I may have gained without weekly classes in bellydance (not available) and learn to build more tension and emotivity (I like the word Sabrina) by having another dance vocabulary to draw upon. I had taken ballet previously and it was wonderful for my extension, but it's been a few years...

I totally want in on this.

I want to start weight training 3x a week and yoga once a week.

I love belly dancing and practice a few times a week, but I need to build some muscle, lose some fat, and stretch out some tight muscles. :D

weekly ballet (2-3 hours a week) plus daily stretching
hoping to gain better balance, core strength, upper and lower body flexibility

I cross-train in ballet right now. I may start up with classical Indian dance again. I definitely plan on doing yoga (probably vinyasa or hatha), and I want to do Flamenco.

I recently bought an unlimited pass to a yoga studio for one month, and I'm going to 3-5 classes a week to explore the different styles and see which one(s) I like best. So far my favorites are Gentle Yoga and Sivananda Yoga.

Anyway, my goal after this month is to go to at least one yoga class a week. I would be thrilled to gain more flexibility (my hamstrings are ZOMG tiiiiiight), but mostly I don't want to set any expectation, except to do something nice for my body and mind. Lately I find myself getting more easily stressed/discouraged in my dance classes, and putting a lot of pressure on myself, to the point where it's become less enjoyable to go to class. So I want to do something that is physical and will benefit my body as a dancer, but where I have no pressure to do everything quickly or perfectly. Hopefully the yoga will teach me to have some patience, and to be less hard on myself. :)

I'd love to do some more ballet either next summer or fall. I did a semester this past summer (2 classes per week), and while I didn't really enjoy the class too much, I really saw an improvement in my balance, ankle strength, arm carriage, and turns. To anyone that's thinking about trying ballet for cross-training, I highly recommend it!

I already cross train with ballet and yoga, but I would like to add more folkloric dances to my repetoire so maybe I'll work on that....

I'm in! I already take yoga (Iyengar) and flamenco and plan to stick with those, but am also taking a Feldenkrais class through my local community college starting in January. I also want to get a bit more focused at the gym with weight training. I sort of make it up as I go along now. I am thinking long term...I want to dance forever. I also want more body awareness for my own dancing as well as for my teaching.

I touched on some more of my reasons for cross-training and continuing education last month in my blog.

I am really contemplating taking a hip hop class for better control and just to have another dance vocabulary. Have any of you ever taken hip-hop classes before?

As far as fitness goes, I'd really like to add more essential cardio and weight training workouts in my week for stamina. I get out of shape really quickly.

I'm definitely a cross-training convert!

For the past 3 1/2 months, I've been working out three days a week with a boot camp for women only. I'm sleeping better, have more energy, and have dropped two sizes--although my weight loss is less than I expected. It's probably due to the weight training.

I will definitely continued cross training with boot camp into 2010 and beyond, and I'll be teaching a beginning belly dance/cardio belly class there starting next week.

I had no idea going into this what a positive change would come into my dancing (when I'm not too sore ..l;,) from push-ups, sit-ups, running, stairclimbing, kickboxing, weightlifting etc. My shimmies are stronger, isolations are sharper and, according to my long-time teacher, I'm projecting overall stronger lines and carriage.

For far too long, I kept telling myself that more bellydance would make me a better dancer, and that's very true to a certain extent, but intense cross-training has helped me improve and deepend my dance.

I bike, rollerblade, weight train, and walk. I plan on getting a new pair of rollerblades in the spring. I've worn the wheels to the point that they look like Fred Flinestone's on his car.

I just started rock climbing and hope to finally get some arm strength.

Starting in January, there will be a hip hop class right before I teach my belly dance class so I will take that.

I have been taking PiYo classes and they are really helping my core strength (and also killing me!).

I used to train in kung fu twice a week, and hopefully will be getting back into that since my teacher just moved back into town. I practiced daily, like I practice dancing now. If I can get back into that (finances, time, other commitments like dance :) of course), then I'll gladly post monthly on it. I remember that when I trained before I had a lot more stamina and flexibility, but then, I wasn't dancing at that time. I'd definitely be interested to see what kind of effect it has on my dancing.

I'd like to start rock climbing agian. A friend of mine introduced me to climbing right before I found I was pregnant with my son ( two things that never mix) sooo now that he is a year old I'd like to find a rock gym and start anew. Not sure what it will do for my dancing, I didn't do it logn enough last time to compare before and after. All I noticed was I could not walk or use a fork for a week lol! It is the ultimate workout! Wish me
luck...
I'd also like to try Bikram yoga. I've been practicing hatha vinyasa yoga for ever but I've found with children and age comes stiffness. Something I have no experiance with till now :-p it takes forever to warm up now!! I feel that being in a hot @$$ room will help cut that warm up time in half! I also hear tell that it is good for hyper thyroidisim, something I apparently have. Grumble grumble.

I'm in, too!

I joined a gym, and I'm going to start strength-training and core-conditioning several days a week in addition to my dancing. This is a great one for me because I haven't lifted weights in yeras. I've done ballet and yoga for many years, but I'm SO not sporty, so I think this will be good for me.

I hope to gain greater core strength and muscle definition, and to improve my lifestyle habits and general sense of well-being. Best of luck to you, ladies!

I go to Gym Jones in Salt Lake City and train with 3 other girls. We have our own trainer and it's a combination of Cross Fit Style training w/over-all kick your butt athletic training combined w/good nutrition and accountability. I've never been in better shape in my life and I love it.

Well hello there madcat! Welcome to bhuz.

My cross training will continue to be weight training and a weekly ballet class.

I'm adding a Yoga class and a general fitness class that has a (mat) Pilates base. This will hurt...but be soooo good!

Yoga and Pilates. . .

I really want to do Turkish style drops again. And Berber crawls. . .

{{{HUGS}}}

Mine will continue to be weight training/pilates and cardio - mainly elliptical trainer,stationary bike, treadmill, but most effective will prob be swimming. I have a hip prob that really limits the kind of repetitive movement I can do at any speed. It's very frustrating. VERY.

I'm registering for an African dance class this session. I'm hoping to try one new dance style a session until I find one that is both fun and useful for belly dance.

I'm looking at doing more swimming. As a gift to myself I've promised myself to register for a contemporary dance class. I do some cardio & I'm upping the amount of yoga I'm doing. I've started working a little with a splits & flexibility video. I also just started out with a mat pilates class on the weekends. I'll been giving the weight training a rest for a little while.

I've been doing Bikram Yoga five days a week for about five months and plan to continue that, but I've been itching to get into the weight room again and do some lifting, and I want to get back to walking at least 3 times a week too.

So today I'm officially back into what will be my "regular" yoga class (Monday and Thursday evenings)! I'm excited... had to share.

Once we move to California, if there's time, I'm going to look up a local water polo club and try to get back into it... I miss my water sports.

w00t for cross training! I'm a big fan of it. Most of my recent cross-training has been focused on circuit training and strength training. I do the vast majority of my training at home because I know how to push myself in that setting, and will alternate between cardio circuit and strength circuit a few times a week, as well as body-weight and dumbell strength training.

Right now, one of my main goals is to actually S-T-R-E-T-C-H for a good spell after I complete a full workout. I do brief yoga vinyasas and cold stretch very frequently at work (for a variety of reasons) but I need to take advantage of my warmed muscles to actually gain flexibility.

Oooh, and I've signed up for karate on Monday night. My husband wanted to get into martial arts again and I miss doing MA with him (we met in Tae Kwon Do), so we'll be going together on Monday nights and he'll be at Karate again on Wednesday while I'm at dance class.

I started taking Flamenco classes with my sister. She has been dancing Flamenco for a while and I just sort of fake along with her-but I am getting better and I can see it helping my posture for bellydance!

Signed up at the gym last week! I've started with a bit of weight training and pilates.

My goals are to strenghten my core, build more muscles and lose a bit of fat.

They have hula classes at the gym so I'm going to try that too, for fun!

I've also promised myself to stretch more, especially after the flamenco classes.

For my cross-training, I've devoted myself to walking two miles a day which I have done now for the past week.

I'm also committed to three hours of Callanetics once a week. Just one hour of Callanetics has majorly improved my leg strength. I can slowly get down to the floor, even while shimmying....getting back up is not so graceful. I am excited to do berber crawling again. I have also been lifting arm weights along with my Callanetic sessions, especially tricep lifts because of the major sag going on there. ,m::

Thread Jack!
What is a "Berber Crawl"?

I couldn't even begin to describe it in words.

Romka does it here between 1:49 & 1:54

It's like a knee walking and lungeing at the same time.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo7mT3F0qjU]YouTube - Romka' Sword Dance[/ame]