some questions...

[fireisfun888]

I just started playing ddr at the beginning of this summer, and its awsome. I'm 5' 11" and i weighed 210 and lost 20 pounds in about two months. So far so good, losing about 2-3 pounds a week is supposed to be safe and healthy. I havent changed my eating habits at all, and I'm not really playing ddr to lose weight, just for fun, i guess losing weights a good side benifit. Anyways, my questions are:

Ive read some things about your body getting used to the stresses that ddr puts on you... would this stop the weight loss?

and also, how much should i stretch before i play ddr? (i play most songs on heavy)

[MATS]

you don't really need to stretch alot mostly just stretch your quads cause thats the muscle that usually hurts after a while

[abrannan]

FireIsFun888 said:

Ive read some things about your body getting used to the stresses that ddr puts on you... would this stop the weight loss?

Not so much. part of what happens is that you lose enough weight to change your base metabolic weight, but you keep eating the same amount, so your caloric intake minus your exercise = your BMR. What happens with your body adjusting to DDR is that you'll hit a plateau where you don't notice any weight loss. If you keep going as you're going, you'll eventually push through that plateau. But "shocking" the body by changing routines can help prevent that from happening.

and also, how much should i stretch before i play ddr? (i play most songs on heavy)

I'm going to disagree with matt on this one. You do need to stretch to help prevent injury. It's doesn't have to be a marathon 15-20 minute session, but make sure you stretch your quads, your hamstrings, your achilles tendons and your calves at a minimum. Both before and after playing.

[Laura Moncur]

Stretching is very important. I do it gently before I dance and then stretch afterward. I can always reach just a little further afterward than before.

A lot of instructors say that you should warmup for a bit before you stretch. Maybe do two or three easy songs on light, then stretch, then do your heavy workout.

Here is a link to a set of stretches from Self Magazine that is very helpful. It says it's a Full Body Yoga Workout, but that's all Yoga is: Stretching.

www.self.com/printable/?/workouts/010828wo_fullbody_org

Abrannan's right. If you improve your flexibility, you won't get injured as easily. Plus, your muscles won't hurt as much the next day, even if you dance all night.