Strength and Conditioning for Highland Dancers
The Importance of Quality Cross Training
With Luke MacMillan, MSc, CEP, CSCS, CES
Competitive dancers are probably used to being told to incorporate cross training into their practice schedule – working muscles we don’t use while dancing can be vital to developing your dance skills.
That’s why we’re so proud to have Luke MacMillan on the Saorsa Studio Team. Luke is a biomechanist who specialises in strength and conditioning as well as a clinical exercise physiologist. His experience in the field of sport and high performance spans over a decade and several disciplines.
I directly work and manage programming for high performance athletes and have experience with prescription of exercise and testing for special operations of the Canadian Armed Forces.
I teach to large groups in university and military environments consistently, and have several years of experience in managing (...) various injuries and chronic disease.
Luke runs our Competitive Strength and Conditioning class on Wednesday evenings (with virtual option available for those joining from afar!), leading a hardworking group of our competitive students.
The aim of the class is to have the athletes progress physically. Our goal is to record real improvement on physical tests over time.
All dancers are on individualised training routines, created to work on their weaknesses, prioritise their personal goals, and consider all unique mobility and strength differences.
This individualised training program is invaluable to dancers looking to make strides in their development. Through focused work, our dancers are able to target their corrections and areas for improvement with specific exercises.
We apply a combination of strength and plyometric exercises, contrast training, and stabilisation and endurance work to elicit adaptation in our athletes.
All dancers learn the foundations of human movement and physiology, prior to the initiation of their indivdualised routines. Lessons on neutral spine, bracing, lower and upper extremity biomechanics have all been taught.
Luke’s technical background covers areas including data analysis and interpretation, biomechanical analysis, physiological testing and monitoring, psychological assessment tools, nutrition and recovery strategies, injury prevention and rehabilitation, and more.
When working with high-performance athletes, Luke’s strategy for making progress is highly individual. Whether a dancer is working on increasing their turn out ability, or a strong upper body, or anything in between, Luke will find a strategy:
Each athlete is given a physical assessment to measure their mobility, strength, and identify any gaps and weaknesses. That analysis allows me to prescribe exercise to elicit improvement on those weaknesses. [That analysis] is what good quality exercise is.
The dancers are keen to learn more, and are making strides to be better athletes which will contribute to more success as a dancer.
How to Maximise Your Strength and Conditioning for Competitive Dance
As we head into the 2024 championship season, staying in peak competitive shape is on everyone’s minds. There is still space available to register and get your individualised training program started with Luke!
Online format available – join us from anywhere!
