How Much to Too Much?
Training Load Management in Adolescent Dancers
It’s no secret that dancers are traditionally exposed to high training loads and increasingly saturated training and performance schedules. It’s also well accepted that poor load management is a major risk factor for injury, not just in dancers but across athletic populations. One of the questions I get asked frequently, especially from studio owners, dance teachers and parents, is ‘how much is too much?’ when it comes to training load, especially for young dancers.
Before I dive into this, it’s important to note that this is an area where not a lot of research has been done (especially in adolescent populations), and therefore recommendations made are often based on research in other sports or on adult and/or professional dance populations. They are also based on clinical and real-world experience. My hope is that in the (near?) future, we will have more research data with which to make these recommendations, and that they will continue to change as we continue to learn more.
Alright, now that that disclaimer is out of the way, onto the good stuff. In order to answer the question of ‘how much is too much?’, we need to understand a little bit more about what exactly training load is, and how we can measure it. Training load can be defined as
“The cumulative amount of stress placed on an individual from a single or multiple training sessions (structured or unstructured) over a period of time (hours, days, weeks, months, etc)”
Training load is a product of intensity x duration x frequency and can be measured either as external load (time, number of repetitions, power output, acute:chronic workload ratio, etc) or internal load (perceived exertion, heart rate recovery, heart rate variability, blood lactate levels, etc).
In the world of dance, we most often measure training load in terms of time (ie number of hours of training per day or per week). However, this is not without its limitations. Anyone who has danced knows that not all dance sessions are equal when it comes to intensity, amount of cardiovascular vs strength-based demand, and even how much individual dancers participate in any given rehearsal or performance. As new technology (including wearable technology) emerges, we may see other - potentially more accurate - measures of training load utilized more frequently, and changes in training load recommendations as a result.
So now that we understand what training load is and how it can be measured, there are two other big factors to consider when making recommendations for adolescent dancers.
1. Adolescent growth spurt
The adolescent growth spurt is the period of peak growth velocity – that is, the fastest rate of growth in a young person. It occurs at approximately age 11-14yrs in females, and ~2 years later in males. The growth spurt can last for up to 3 years, depending on the individual. The adolescent growth spurt has an effect on bone, growth plates, muscles, balance/proprioception and motor control. For this reason, it’s important to be aware of this and structure training schedules accordingly. *note, this topic is complex and deserves its own blog post, so keep an eye out for that in the future*
2. Periodization
Periodization is the systematic planning of athletic/physical training schedules through a specific timeframe – usually on a yearly cycle. The goal is to reach the best possible physical performance at the most important time of the year in order to ‘peak’ for a competition or a show. Although commonly used in the athletic world, the dance world has yet to adopt periodization in most instances. Taking into account periodization, the recommendations below should not be applied for 52 weeks per year, but should serve as a starting point from which a yearly schedule can be built.
Training Recommendations for Adolescent competitive or pre-professional dancers
*note that hours for recreational dancers would be significantly lower*
Dancers < 10yrs old
Same number of hours/wk as age (ie 8 year old = 8hrs/wk)
Encourage other sports/activities
Dancers 10yrs – 13yrs (or after adolescent growth spurt)
Gradually increase up to 15hrs/wk
At least 2-3hrs of that being supplemental training/conditioning
Dancers >14yrs+
Increase to ‘pre-professional’ training hours, not to exceed 20hrs/wk
At least 3hrs of that being supplemental training/conditioning
Important: Total daily hours should not exceed 5hrs/day, regardless of overall weekly training hours
“It’s not the workload that’s the problem, it’s the workload you’re not prepared for” – Tim Gabbett