Thread: Endurance & Flexibility... What do you do?

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to know what you all do to keep your body in shape. What kind of exercises do you do to keep your knees strong and "bendable" ? Leg endurance? Flexibility and toned arms? How about keeping those undulations going, and smooth looking too? Besides practice, what are your suggestions for these types of exercises?

Bellydancefanatic

This is it, baby..it's all I do. But I do it about 4 hours a week.

When I taught 7 classes a week, that. When I could afford it, static trapeze and corde lisse, sometimes silks (aerial arts).
Until I get back into the schwang of things, it's going to be that yoga VHS you just sent me!
I'm also considering walking up and down that killer hill near our building, in conjunction with my usual warm up/stretch routine, currently in DVD production, which I better get warmed up to do!!! ACK!

Originally Posted by Bellydancefanatic

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to know what you all do to keep your body in shape. What kind of exercises do you do to keep your knees strong and "bendable" ? Leg endurance? Flexibility and toned arms? How about keeping those undulations going, and smooth looking too? Besides practice, what are your suggestions for these types of exercises?

Bellydancefanatic

cardiovascular endurance and stamina, spinning.

Endurance and strength, stair stepper. It's an evil machine, but you know you've worked out

Flexibility, and mental stability, yoga

I also weight train, with free weights, no machines

you can't really work the knee joint, but you can build up the muscle surrounding it so that it has strong support:

squats with excellent form, abs in and up, shoulders back and down, spine in good posture, hips square to floor, when you look down past your knee you can see your big toes.

plie squats

hamstring curls

standing side leg raises, weighted or unweighted

good stretching will keep them flexible

Yoga for flexibility, inner strength and peace, I train in Raks Sharqi for lower and upper body strength and endurance, and for cardio - don't laugh - lots of horizontal mambo (if you know what I mean) *wink wink* - I swear by it!..l;,

Originally Posted by Amaryllis

Yoga for flexibility, inner strength and peace, I train in Raks Sharqi for lower and upper body strength and endurance, and for cardio - don't laugh - lots of horizontal mambo (if you know what I mean) *wink wink* - I swear by it!..l;,

I know you said "don't laugh", but seriously!!!
..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;,

Horizontal Mambo? Bwaaahhahahahahahah.

Originally Posted by Amaryllis

Yoga for flexibility, inner strength and peace, I train in Raks Sharqi for lower and upper body strength and endurance, and for cardio - don't laugh - lots of horizontal mambo (if you know what I mean) *wink wink* - I swear by it!..l;,

Actually, according to one of the cardiologists I know, there's not that much cardio in the Horizontal Mambo. Mainly because most people can't sustain the elevated heart rate long enough. . .

But it is fun to try!

{{{HUGS}}}

Great advice ladies! I'm going to sign up for a yoga class this month then and the gym (arrrggghh! the gym!). Thanks Kina for your descriptive advice. I wanted to get some advice on working out and what to work before I worked out. LOL! I start my study with Faten Salama next month, and I want to make sure I'm great shape and prepared. I've lost touch with my body, which is a horrible thing.

I'm off to the class membership websites!!

(I'm still accepting advice, btw. Not the end of this thread!!)

Oh, I have always wanted to do yoga and took my frist class a couple of months ago. LOVED IT!! and totally wrecked my shoulders... I have rotator cuff inpingment in both shoulders (work related) and spent the last 5 months getting them sorted out, only to be back at square one after one yoga class. Broke my heart - I felt like I had come home! Bugger!!
I do the standard bellydancer type stuff for flexibility and for fitness I walk and jog. I only do around 5km for walking or jogging. I spend a bit of time with level changes while drilling for leg strength.

choo choo shimmy for 15 minutes and see how THAT affects your cardio and stamina!!!!

Yoga, yoga yoga.

I also like to lift weights (I use the machines, though) and I love to walk/jog, either with my dog or on the treadmill.

I also ADORE the New York City Ballet Workout for strong legs & abs.

Originally Posted by khalilaNZ

choo choo shimmy for 15 minutes and see how THAT affects your cardio and stamina!!!!

Horizintally? ..g.:

LMAO!!!

Belly dance- in full 20-25 minute sets it's cardio, or it can be. So that's my cardio, mostly, but also the classes I take can be cardio sometimes. In the summer it's supplemented with walks with my husband. I also take Kathak classes- definitely cardio. Does doing debke or Turkish folk dance with friends at clubs count?
For strength and flexibility I do Pilates several times a week. I don't do the "ab focused" classes. Pilates was designed to be much more holistic than that. When I have extra time I do yoga as well.

I do a lot of yoga for strength, balance, flexibility...particularly recommend Iyengar schools, but that's a personal preference. I get most of my cardio from belly dance, other dance classes (I take jazz for basic technique, for instance), and do a lot of hiking ('cause nature is pretty?), or going out to clubs and dancing all night.

Regular cardio for endurance--I use the eliptical machine mostly, but sometimes will fast walk on a high incline on the treadmill (I can't run... bad for my knees).

Then weights for strength. Squats do wonders for those moves that require fast level changes.

Also, pilates, yoga and ballet for core strength and flexibility.

Cross training! Lift weights, pilates, power walking, biking, canoing. I do snake arms with light weights, wear heavy beaded hip belts for shimmy drills, lots of leg presses and weighted squats. Take walking breaks at work--up hills and stairs. Shimmy drills are great for cardio endurance and leg strength. Epiptical machine, mountain biking, swimming.

Souzan

I love running on the treadmill and spinning for cardio; use free weights while stepping and I love yoga- incidentally, if anyone can recommend a super yoga video for at home, please let me know!

PS: I haven't done this, just saw the link today but it looks very interesting and a good way to combine efforts. It's called Iron Yoga:

Buff-Body Yoga - Page 1 - MSN Health & Fitness - Fitness

At the moment, I dance (a mix of ballroom and belly) 6.5 to 7 hours a week, plus I do speed intervals on the (dreaded) treadmill four times a week for fifteen minutes as a warm up/cool down to my strength training program.

I'm wicked blessed to have a gym and certified trainers on location at work (not to mention a massage therapist who comes in twice a month - love her!!!!). My current strength training program consists of both free weights and equipment (my preference 'cause it means I HAVE to go to the gym) for arms, shoulders, back and legs, along with ab and quad work on the stability ball, step-ups, and lower-back floor-work. I specifically asked the trainer to incorporate exercises to strengthen my lower back and the muscles that support my knees so I could become a stronger belly dancer. ..g.:

I didn't start all this at once; nine months ago, I began ballroom dancing, and over the intervening months, I've added a little more here and a little more there. (And dropped 25 pounds and three dress sizes!)

Miranda Phoenix