Working out arms

[ddrChick]

I am looking for suggestions on how to workout my arms while I ddr?

[abrannan]

The simplest would be to hold a pair of lightweight dumbbells (5lbs or so), and keep your elbow bent so your hands are at least above your waist while you play. It gives a surprising upper body workout.

[nonskanse]

If I'm not in continuous mode, between songs I do pushups. There's 3 or 4 levels of pushup difficulty (google it), including wall, table.

I know that its not "during" ddr, but between songs if I'm warm from the exercise anyway, I find its better than doing them cold later.

Also, if I do some sort of cardio with weights, I find I tend to do less of the cardio stuff. I have seen recommendations for and against walking with weights, but ddr is so intense... i would drop one on my toe!

During ddr, if you know any ballet/jazz/modern dance arm positions, you look foolish but it is good to switch between them and hold them for your upper arms/shoulders/back. Depending on your current strength level in your upper body, this will really tone your arms. Dancer arms are pretty toned if you've ever looked.

5 pounds would be too much for me personally, if you have a lower strength level try bottles of water (many are 16.9 oz) or 2 pounders first, if you prefer the weight methods.

[ddrChick]

Those are both great ideas. I never thought to use weights while I ddr. I have 2 lb. weights that I will try using tomorrow. I can even do a couple of curls in between songs. Since I mostly do ddr on endless mode, I can do push-ups and/or stomach crunches at the break points. Thanks.

[urbanjunglekitten]

nonskanse said:

During ddr, if you know any ballet/jazz/modern dance arm positions, you look foolish but it is good to switch between them and hold them for your upper arms/shoulders/back. Depending on your current strength level in your upper body, this will really tone your arms. Dancer arms are pretty toned if you've ever looked.

I was going to post something about this earlier when ddrChick first posted this question, but I couldn't find a good website showing the different arm positions. Here's one: www.nationalballetschool.org/pages/firststeps/

Scroll down until you see a little girl holding her arms in different positions. The position that requires the most back strength and will tire your arms out the fastest is second position. If you want to see how effective this is, try holding the second position for 5 minutes straight. The key to getting benefit out of these positions is to hold your arms not straight but not bent . . . with a graceful curve to them. Also, second position is not held straight out from the shoulders . . . it is slightly forward of your shoulder line, like you're holding a giant ball.

Most professional dancers also engage in light weight training to complement their dancing anyway though, so investing in some light weights (I have 2 lber's myself) wouldn't hurt. Depending on how much weight training you've done, 5 lbs might be a little too much at first, especially for a female. Our upper body strength is much harder to build than most males.

UJKitten

P.S. The foot positions on the bottom of the webpage I cited are done by a professional with perfect turnout. Almost no dancer has 100% perfect turnout, and if you attempt to place your feet like that without strengthening your turnout muscles, you can ruin your knees.

[nonskanse]

OMG i can't believe that little girl's turnout. Unless like many full-time ballet dancers she looks about 5 years younger than she is... I had very very good turnout my last couple years and it definitely wasn't perfect, but then I only did 3 types of dance 6-8 hours/week. haha. ^_^;

The 2nd position arms are the right ones though. Your arms are a long way from your body and the slightly-in-front (giant ball was a good way to say it) position is easy to judge once you've got it right and hard to maintain for long periods of time, so you know you're doing something with your muscles.

[urbanjunglekitten]

Yeah, her feet are crazy. I never had good turnout, but I had a great ballet teacher who always told me that she knew professionals who had less turnout than I did, which kept me motivated. Of course, I started taking dance classes when I was 20, so my body didn't have the advantage of being trained since the age of 4 or 5.

I switch between arm positions while DDR'ing as well, particularly when I'm jumping. In addition to working out my arms, it helps with balance. I may have chubby arms, but I have some crucial muscles underneath the chub. The whole reason I got into DDR in the first place was that it was dancing! Basically, dance is the only kind of exercise I will stick to, but I was having trouble motivating myself without a teacher . . . DDR serves the place of a teacher. Yay fellow dancer!

UJKitten

[ddrChick]

Thanks for the dancing arm position UJKitten. I tried my arms in those positions today while ddr-ing and it is harder to do than using the weights. I love dancing and hope to take some dance classes once I lose this extra weight.

[urbanjunglekitten]

You're very welcome. ;D

I was over 180 lbs my last year of school and that didn't stop me from taking dance classes . . . if you start taking them at a community college, you're more likely to find students of all shapes and sizes - and there are classes at all times of the day (mornings and evenings). If you think dance is something you might enjoy, I say go for it now . . . why wait?

UJKitten

[StarDrifter]

I bought a pair of dumbbells to do curls with after DDR. The thought of holding them while playing seemed dangerous on a couple of levels, so I added an extra 15 minutes of weights to the end of my routine.

[0rion.78]

i use 10 lb weights, with my elbows slightly bent, and play Riverdance style, (no arm movement). it works, but after a while my fingers started to ache a bit.

[ddrChick]

UJK, you are right, I should take a dance class now, but I would like to lose a little more weight to feel comfortable. I wish they had dance class just for fat people here in Chicago like they do in San Fran. Maybe I will get some instructional dance dvds to get started.

[urbanjunglekitten]

Definitely do what you're most comfortable with. Where did you see a "dance for fat people" class in San Fran?

Videos are OK, but in all honesty, you get the best instruction from a live teacher because he or she can come to you and show you what your body is supposed to be doing - with a video you have to kind of figure it out for yourself. If you do decide to get a video or a book about dance, definitely read up on it a bit and be *very careful* with turnout. People say "turn out your feet (or toes)" all the time, but the actual movement comes from your hip so your *entire* leg is turned to the outside of your body. If you don't do it correctly, you can mess up your knees bad. Especially when jumping.

Good luck with your weight loss!

UJKitten

[xstatic]

don't they sell low weight wrist bands somewhere?? That would be much more effective then holding weights in your hands... I'm guessing.

[abrannan]

xstatic said:

don't they sell low weight wrist bands somewhere?? That would be much more effective then holding weights in your hands... I'm guessing.

Those would tear the living daylights out of your wrists. What they do make is weights with straps that go across the back of your hands that help take some of the strain off of your fingers.