Why don't men bring a towel/change of shirt?

[ducasi]

So, assume I dance 2-3 times a week. What benefits would I get by also doing "proper exercise", whatever that is?

Well, for example, "proper" exercise would allow you to target and tone particular muscle groups that dancing alone would not.

Balance and posture can be enhanced by improving the strength of your core muscles. Dancing, on its own, won't have as much of an effect as "proper", targeted exercise.

[Lory]

So, assume I dance 2-3 times a week. What benefits would I get by also doing "proper exercise", whatever that is?

Proper exercise, would be a programme worked out to improve/target 'your' specific needs.

Be it aerobic/cardiovascular fitness, muscle size/shape, flexibility/suppleness or balance and coordination and core strength

Dancing alone, will never help you gain body mass. It won't give you a six pack (unless you've already got one hiding under a layer of fat)

Yes, you might loose weight but not many of the muscles will work hard enough to really tone up. In order for that to happen, you need to work them to exhaustion (yes, really!), its the healing process that makes them stronger!

Once you've been dancing 2-3 times a weeks for a few weeks, your body gets used to it and after that, your simply on a maintenance plan and that's OK if your where you want to be already.... but with a proper exercise regime, you'd be upping the anti every time you reached your target!

Every few weeks one should change one of the following F.I.T.T Frequency, Intensity, Time or Type, that's if you want to continue 'improve'

And sadly, at my age, I'm fighting against the tide!

[Gojive]

And sadly, at my age, I'm fighting against the tide!

You're still one hot beach to me Lory

Regarding the bit about the fitter you are, the more you may sweat - is this true? I thought someone had said something like that to me in the past, but wasn't too sure. Anyhow, if so, then UP is king fit, eh Paul?

[Georgious dancer]

I bet Flavia doesn't

:

I wouldn't be so sure about that! I studied Sport and nutrition as part of my degree and you would be shocked at some of the food diaries I got back from professional dancers!

I suppose its as simple as this... It doesn't matter how many nights a week you dance or how much energy you use... if you eat more calories than you burn, then your going to stay fat! :

Yeah, that's basically it! If you want to loose weight you need to consume less calories than you use!

I wonder who's healthier. A slim inactive person or fat active one

I'd go with a fat active one, unless you mean REALLY fat!!

The excess fat carried by the overweight person is obviously going to put certain strains on the body that could potentially be harmful to the body but conversley the slim inactive person is likely to have a higher level of toxins in their body as they are not allowing their lymph system do it's job properly!

The lymph system is the bodies cleanser, but unlike the circulatory system it doesn't have it's own pump (the heart) and relies on the the movement of muscles to move the fluids around the body, therefore someone who is active has a more efficient lymph system and will generally have less toxins in their body. Weight bearing excercise is also important in the prevention of osteoporosis so the fat active person has another advantage over the inactive person!

[Filthy Monkey]

Get you, smarty pants. Brains and beauty!! I like your thinking

Now, where did I put that bar of chocolate...?

[Georgious dancer]

Get you, smarty pants. Brains and beauty!! I like your thinking

Now, where did I put that bar of chocolate...?

Aww thanks! Yeah my parent's will be pleased that their hard earned cash didn't go to waste!

Now did you say chocolate... mmmmm!

I'll have an 85% cocoa bar please, all the pleasure without the nasty sugar high effects of milk chocolate!

[MartinHarper]

David: Resistance work is an activity, not a benefit. What benefits would I get from resistance work?

Ducasi: posture and balance are important for health and life, but it seems to me that dancing is relatively good at promoting those things. Certainly dancers spend a lot of time thinking about their posture, and balancing on one leg or the other, and "internal frame" is all about core muscles. To be sure, it's not as good as Yoga or Pilates, but it has to be better than, say, rowing.

Lory: I'm not sure why I'd want to have a six-pack, and I don't think I need to lose weight. What are my specific needs? That's not obvious to me. My body does what I need it to, by and large. My dancing would probably benefit from more flexibility, I guess.

[Steven666]

Just dance seven nights a week. I lost a stone in four months yet I was still eating a load of crap and as much crap as I wanted.

Yes, my dentist loves me.

[Lory]

Lory: I'm not sure why I'd want to have a six-pack, and I don't think I need to lose weight. What are my specific needs?

Martin, if your happy with yourself, then that's all that matters hun!

And your very lucky!

[Andy McGregor]

What are my specific needs? That's not obvious to me.

If I was your mum I'd say you needed a decent meal, a proper haircut and a nice girlfriend*


*And we're talking about your "specific needs" stop slouching and bring your washing down from your room, there's a dear

[David Bailey]

David: Resistance work is an activity, not a benefit. What benefits would I get from resistance work?

Well:

• Improved posture, tone and balance, leading to better ability to dance.
• Hotter chicks.

I'm extrapolating on the last one, I've no idea how many hot chicks you have now

[Double Trouble]

I'm extrapolating on the last one, I've no idea how many hot chicks you have now

Oh I heard he has thousands on the go.

Mind you, I also heard he works on a battery hen farm.

[David Franklin]

Well:

• Improved posture, tone and balance, leading to better ability to dance.
• Hotter chicks.

Note you can also make your posture worse if you exercise the wrong muscles. And you can't 'tone' muscle. What most people call 'muscle tone' is actually simply a consequence of low body fat.

I'm extrapolating on the last one, I've no idea how many hot chicks you have now

Well, if he thinks dancing is exercise, they're probably all pretty hot by the end of the dance...

[Filthy Monkey]

And you can't 'tone' muscle. What most people call 'muscle tone' is actually simply a consequence of low body fat.

Well, it's a little more than that... A lower concentration of body fat allows you to see the muscle through the skin, but the more developed the muscle is, the greater the tone will be. Muscle tone / definition is normally achieved by resistance work, but in contrast to body building, which is normally done to increase muscle size, toning is aimed at sculpting and shaping the muscle. This is normally achieved by lifting lighter weights that you would in body building, but doing higher numbers of reps and working the muscle from various different angles. By increasing size and defining the shape of the muscle, it becomes far more visible through the skin.

[David Franklin]

Well, it's a little more than that... A lower concentration of body fat allows you to see the muscle through the skin, but the more developed the muscle is, the greater the tone will be.

It's subjective, because "muscle tone" as used by the general public is really an aesthetic term anyhow. In terms of how I see people use the term, it's far more closely correlated with body fat than with muscle mass - certainly for men, at any rate. Have a look at pictures of Lee Priest in the off season - he's still got a huge amount of muscle, but no-one would even think about calling him toned.

I agree that if you have very little muscle mass, then yeah, no-one's going to consider you toned whatever your body fat level. I see very few dancers who fall in that category however.

Muscle tone / definition is normally achieved by resistance work, but in contrast to body building, which is normally done to increase muscle size, toning is aimed at sculpting and shaping the muscle.

As far as I know, you can't really sculpt or shape a muscle. A muscle has two attachment points, and it flexes between them. I am aware of no evidence that you can control the way in which hypertrophy occurs between those points. There is some evidence that it doesn't have to occur uniformly, but I know of none that it can be actually controlled by form of exercise. (But I'd be interested in a cite if you have one).

[Lory]

he's still got a huge amount of muscle, but no-one would even think about calling him toned.

I feel his pain!

If I lost 3 stone (and then had all the resulting excess skin cut off ) I reckon I'd have a 6 pack!

As far as I know, you can't really sculpt or shape a muscle. A muscle has two attachment points, and it flexes between them. I am aware of no evidence that you can control the way in which hypertrophy occurs between those points. There is some evidence that it doesn't have to occur uniformly, but I know of none that it can be actually controlled by form of exercise.

Then why do all the instructors i've ever worked with, advocate what FM said.... i.e small weight, lots of reps for 'toning' and BIG weights/low reps for gaining muscle mass?

I'm not saying your wrong, I'd actually really like to know the answer.

In both forms of of weight training, your working the muscle to exhaustion (well you should be anyway, if your doing properly) So how come?

[David Franklin]

I feel his pain!

If I lost 3 stone (and then had all the resulting excess skin cut off ) I reckon I'd have a 6 pack!

Course, it's easier if you take steroids and thyroixine (allegedly).

Then why do all the instructors i've ever worked with, advocate what FM said.... i.e small weight, lots of reps for 'toning' and BIG weights/low reps for gaining muscle mass?

Possibly "small/big" have different meanings to them, so the small weight exercises are effectively aerobic (i.e. fat loss) and the big weight exercises are the only muscle building exercises at all.

At the 'elite' end of the spectrum, people tend to actually say pretty much the opposite. High reps bulk you up; to increase strength without gaining weight use low reps. Note that in this context, 15 reps would definitely be high, and by low, they're really meaning 1-3 reps.

I'm not saying your wrong, I'd actually really like to know the answer.

I wouldn't be astonished to be proved wrong, what I know about this is largely anecdotal. But they are anecdotes from people who I generally believe know what they are doing. Not that this proves anything, but if you google for 'shaping muscle' you will find many of the top hits are articles explaining that it's a myth (and most of the hits saying otherwise are trying to sell you something).

In both forms of of weight training, your working the muscle to exhaustion (well you should be anyway, if your doing properly) So how come?

I'm not sure this is relevant to what you're really asking, but if you're lifting a heavy weight, you're not working the muscle to exhaustion. After you can't do any more reps with that weight, you could still lift half the weight, right? So the muscle isn't actually exhausted, just a little tired

[Lory]

I'm not sure this is relevant to what you're really asking, but if you're lifting a heavy weight, you're not working the muscle to exhaustion. After you can't do any more reps with that weight, you could still lift half the weight, right? So the muscle isn't actually exhausted, just a little tired

There's a specific workout that does exactly this...

You start off with your heaviest weight and do as many as you can, then you take a smaller weight and do the same again and repeat until your at the lightest weight. Its quite amusing to see these really big guys struggling to lift 1kg at the end!

[Martin]

Being an ex- body builder and weight training instructor here are my thoughts from my own personal experience...

As far as I know, you can't really sculpt or shape a muscle. A muscle has two attachment points, and it flexes between them. I am aware of no evidence that you can control the way in which hypertrophy occurs between those points.

What you can do is shape a group of muscles. eg. there are many muscles in the shoulder. You can chose to hit the main shoulder muscle hard and grow bulk, or you can chose to hit the front of the shoulder, ther rear of the shoulder etc. specifically.

Therefore you can shape.

Which is what I think FM was saying below

working the muscle from various different angles.

In both forms of of weight training, your working the muscle to exhaustion (well you should be anyway, if your doing properly) So how come?

To gain shape (more muscle) you are actually working the muscle past exhaustion (which is what I think you meant) - You are litrally tearing the muscle - the re-growth adds extra muscle as the tear gets repaired.

It then comes down to the simple science of how quickly you can get the muscle to repair itself, so you can tear it again.
My preference is to do this through the use of the right ballence of foods.
Some people use drugs to assist in this (not something I reccomend)

[TA Guy]

You start off with your heaviest weight and do as many as you can, then you take a smaller weight and do the same again and repeat until your at the lightest weight. Its quite amusing to see these really big guys struggling to lift 1kg at the end!

Yeah, well, spare a thought for us guys that start with a 1KG weight