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You MUST begin with a good thorough warm up to get the blood flowing in all the major muscle groups. Once the muscles are warm do an overall body stretch to ease the body into the deeper flexibility development that will follow throughout the practice session and to loosen them up for the endurance section of your practice. Attending an aerobics class will give you good ideas on how to warm the body and briefly stretch out prior to more intense muscle work.
*Aerobics or jogging (5 min)
*Overall body stretch (15 minutes)

Follow your warm up with a session designed to create muscle endurance. Since routines are generally only a few minutes long, train with “sprints” of activity. This will train the heart to react to these more demanding situations with more stamina. Building some flexibility exercises into this stage will give your dancers a chance to rest yet will use the heat built up in the muscles to maximize the resting time.

• Jumps
  • Tucks- jump and tuck knees to chest for 2 sets of 30 seconds with a 30 second break in between. Make sure dancers land on their toes and come out of each jump with a plie’ as not to jar the knees.
  • 10 in a row toe touches (1 minute)
  • 3 prepped toe touches (30 seconds)
• Speed Drills – Three sets 30 seconds each with a 15 second break in between sets.
  This would be plyometric exercises designed to move the feet quickly from one position to the next. Have your dancers find a “box” on the floor. Work different sequences into the session ranging from both feet together and jumping in each corner of the “box” or jumping them side to side, corner to corner, or front to back. The move the feet apart as in a basketball stance and quickly lift one foot after the other in quick alternating steps.
  
• Wall Stretch – for 1 minute on each leg/dancer (5 minutes).
  Partner up, have each dancer take a turn with her back to the wall. Have the other dancer lift her partner’s leg up until in gets to the point where it is stretching. Hold in this position for one minute. Have the holders gently bring the leg down to the floor and then do it again with the dancer’s other leg. Once one dancer has completed the stretch on both legs, switch partners.
  
• Pancake/Straddle (4 minutes)
  Have two dancers partner up and sit back to back. Have one dancer open to a straddle stretch and lean forward. Have the other dancer lift up a bit, using her own arms for stability, and lean back against the one stretching to add additional force. Hold for one minute and alternate to the other dancer. Then repeat but have the dancer’s extend their feet in front of themselves instead of in a straddle position.
  
• Endurance Training (15 minutes)
  Include kicks, leaps, jumps, circuit training, running, sprints, jumping rope, etc. anything to elevate the heart-rate.
  
• Flexibility/Split Check – (5 minutes)
  Give the dancers a minute to get ready for split check. Then take about 1 minute per leg to hold and check form of splits.

Team Time - 5 minutes
Use this as a breather, yet keep their focus by engaging them in a thoughtful discussion of your team’s goals. Let them get a drink. Then, sit them down and have them switch into dance shoes while you read a quote of the day that applies to any issue you feel needs to be addressed. Pick quotes on teamwork, perseverance, friendships, desire, anything that you feel applies to what is happening with your team at that particular point of the season.

Routine work - 40 minutes
Now it is time to either learn or clean your routine. Keep them moving and stay productive. (This practice schedule is based on a 2-hour session. If you practice for over two hours add the additional time in this category.)

Strengthening/Pilates/Yoga: 22 minutes
Adding a strengthening session into this period of your practice will build additional muscle endurance while taking away any impact movement that can injure tired muscles. Both Pilates and Yoga are incredible tools to gain muscle strength and should be added to any dance practice session as they work to strengthen core muscles as well as add flexibility. Look into purchasing a Pilates or Yoga video to get ideas for the different exercises you can incorporate. Also, check out the Endurance article on page (?) for a more detailed explanation of each category below.

• Lunges – across the floor 25/leg (2 minutes)
• Arms – Series of motions, add weights to maximize time (3
  minutes)
• Abs – Combination of contractions and crunches that incorporate
  the many different abdominal zones. (5 minutes)
• Legs – Rotations and lifts (with or without weights) that are
  slow and controlled. (5 minutes)
• Trunk Work – Rolling bridge, superwoman, superwoman pulses, hook
  line position (3 minutes)
• Hip Flexor Strengthening – holds and lifts with legs out in
  straddle position (1 minute)
• Feet & Ankles – crawl in and out, rock feet back and forth, side-
  to-side motion, and rotations. (1 minute)
• Back – lengthen and stretch the spine and back before you let the dancers leave. This will help keep their back strong throughout the season. (2 minutes)

Straddle Stretch – Keep their body down and extended in the stretch changing from the middle to one side, back to middle, to the other side, etc. every 30 seconds for a total of 3 minutes. Use this time to discuss information about up-coming events or answer questions that arose during the practice session.