How weight training has made me a better dancer

Those of you who know me know that I have, over the past year, become what some call a "gym rat" and what others call "in the top 2,000 on Fitocracy's leaderboard." I lift weights. Frequently. Passionately.

Because lifting weights isn't really something that most 5'2" 26-year-old women tend to do with any frequency, I get some questions about it. These have included the following:

• "Isn't that dangerous?"
• "Are you trying to look like a body builder?"
• "Won't you bulk up?"
• "But what do you lift?"
• "Why?"
• "Yoga is so much better for you."
• "Running is so much better for you."
• "Do you actually like it?"
• No, really, why?"

The answers to these questions follow thus:  no, maybe, no, weights, we're getting to that, nah, nah, absolutely, and OKAY FINE I'LL TELL YOU WHY.

Simply put, lifting weights makes me better. At EVERYTHING.* I can open jars of salsa! I can rescue a kitten from under a fridge! I can carry more groceries in a single trip! I can lift a box of paper without grunting! I have better balance in the Metro! I can run faster for longer! But what it's really improved is my dancing.

I am a lindyhopping swing dancer. At my best, I look a little like this:

...I mean, those are the instructors from whom I take lessons. So I am significantly less good. But yes! Lindy hopping! It's the best!

Weightlifting has helped me out in a number of ways to improve my lindy. I'll outline how:

1. Balance-- Thanks in large part to weightlifting, my balance is much improved. I used to be so clumsy and unsteady that my feet would routinely go out from under me if my center of gravity was a bit off. All that has changed! I now have a much better innate sense of where my center is, due in no small part to lifting heavy things over my head and not falling over
2. Stamina-- True, this could have come from running, biking, or simply dancing more often. But being more active and weight-training have helped improve my stamina. After four hours of dancing, I'm usually still wanting more!
3. Brute leg strength-- There are times, as a follow, when I have no idea what to expect next. Nowadays, I can literally just hop up and down on one leg indefinitely while the other person pulls me around.
4. Better tension matching-- Something a lot of beginner lindyhoppers get wrong is tension. Basically, you need it at all times. Any time you're connected, you need to match the lead's tension and be ready to follow through with whatever move he (or she) outlines for you.
5. Better able to hold my own with difficult leads-- Occasionally you'll encounter a leader who is less interested in dancing with you and more interested in wrestling. In these situations, I'm always grateful I can match the strength with which I'm being pushed around AND have the muscles protecting my shoulder joints.
6. And last but not least... I have the confidence to just go up and ask someone to dance. This is true in a lot of areas of life. Once you've bench pressed 95% of your body weight, little things like asking someone to dance are not as harrowing any more.

Honorable mention: Someday I'll be doing aerials, probably both as a lead and a follow, and when that time comes you can be sure I'll be pleased with my strength. Also, in part thanks to weightlifting, I look damn good in a dress.

Things weightlifting has NOT made me better at: The Backwards Charleston. Seriously, how the hell does that work?

So yes, weightlifting is awesome. It makes me better at dancing and at life. You should do it too!

*Also it is the easiest way for me to make a bad mood better and to prove to myself that I am a hugely strong and powerful woman and to challenge myself within the bounds of my own physical presence and it makes me feel both lighter and heavier on this earth and I have a better knowledge of how my joints and my muscles and my bones interact and... I just really, really, really like it.