Will my strength progress be hindered by long dancing sessions?

Hi there,

 

I currently do a lot of breakdancing and this involves some long training sessions of around 3-7 hours a day, 5-6 days a week.

 

I do a lot of strength/handbalancing moves like straddle planche, OAHS, handstand pushups, l-sit spins, hollowback etc. and so I always have long breaks between my dance sets (approx. 5 mins) (I heard this is optimal for 'strength' training?). I also don't go 'crazy' hard each day workout-wise. I usually spend about 4-5 days of the week feeling a teeny bit sore, but not so much that I can't train again. Over the weekends I tend to rest.

 

But, I'm not sure if I can increase my strength training like this. It's not very 'focused' strength training, in that I'm not focusing on just the one muscle group and doing an intense workout, resting for a few days and then hitting that muscle group again. With dancing, it's like every muscle group gets hit almost every day, except not as intense.

 

I was wondering if doing this (working most muscle groups a little bit each day) will be less efficient than doing focused strength training? 

 

Also, will these long dance sessions produce a more catabolic effect (as opposed to anabolic)?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

 

If you want to make specific strength gains, you'll need to reallocate some of your training time to include specific strength training. 

 

You don't need to think in terms of muscle groups as much as element class.

 

In other words, we organise our training around building up certain elements Front Lever, straddle Planche etc...

 

(see here for a full description https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/gb-courses/foundation-series/)

 

You'll want to approach developing the strength elements in a methodical way and dedicate a certain block of time to that each week.