I use videos online to help me create strategies for executing that move and work on the strength and mobility exercises I need to use that specific part of the body. In the off-season, I’ll focus more on building up my basic strength and endurance.Įvery morning, I start the day with some light stretching and practice a new move. These dynamic mobility exercises are what keep me moving like a cat. In the lead up to a competition, I’ll focus on doing a lot of speed and explosive training. In addition to this, I’ll also hit the gym three or four times a week. I usually do dance training about five or six times a week. It’s a lot like the way people use breath control in cold water swimming.
Over the years, I’ve learned how to control my breathing, which really helps when I’m doing a battle. That’s a pretty intense dance workout if you go all out in each set, as I do. A battle will involve three to five rounds, so during a whole competition, you could end up doing 20 rounds. One individual round (or set) lasts for 30-60 seconds. I can move really fast so I use this as one of my strengths.īreakdancing is a really intense cardio session, like HIIT. I’m not crazy flexible but I’m very mobile. Some breakers are yogi-level flexible so they’ll use it to their advantage. Mobility and flexibility are also elements that vary from dancer to dancer. I’m taller and heavier than most breakdancers, so it takes more effort to lift my whole body up on one hand, so I work to my other strengths instead. Other dancers have a lot of strength in their upper body, so their style will involve a lot of resting weight on their hands. For me, it’s in my legs – I use them a lot in my breaking. If I’m running a training program for dancers, I’ll really study each of them first to find out where their individual strengths are. When you’re doing lots of crazy movements, it’s important to make sure your core is engaged and you’re protecting yourself from injury.Īfter that, your strengths are very personal. It keeps the rest of your body safe, especially your spine.
So it’s important to understand what your strengths are and work with these.Ī strong core is essential. There is no set way to breakdance as the focus is on creating your own style. Which key areas of the body does breakdancing work with?
It will be interesting to see how that fits into something like the Olympics now. This is why their champions are so young.īreaking is about expressing a rawness that originally comes from the streets. With something like gymnastics, there are mandatory moves that you do again and again. This creativity is also why being a bit older can be an advantage because you can develop your own style and expression. The artistic element is what makes it so different from most other sports. It’s about reacting to the music, being free, and confident to express yourself. It’s also about artistic expression instead of performing certain moves and scoring points.īreakdancing combines creativity and fitness. The competition is real: it’s a battle for respect. This is what separates breaking from other types of dancing. In time, it developed into a dance battle between rival crews. This is where the idea of ‘breaking’ comes from – they would go so nuts that they would ‘break’. DJs would add an extended drum break in records, which would make people dance like crazy. What is breakdancing?īreakdancing was born in 1970s New York. We caught up with breakdancer Johannes Hattunen (aka Hatsolo), a member of the Finnish Olympic team who features on the Polar Verity Sense video, about his passion for ‘breaking’, how demanding it is on dancers’ bodies, and why strength and mobility exercises are essential for avoiding injuries. In fact, it’s so challenging that the International Olympic Committee recently decided to add it as a sport for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. Breakdancing is one tough form of a dance workout.