T’S E NC LE DA
TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL FITNESS DAY, VICKI-MARIE COSSAR ASKS WHY THIS MOST NATURAL FORM OF EXPRESSION CAN REAP THE BEST BENEFITS
TODAY is the most active day of the year. National Fitness Day sees events taking place across the UK to celebrate fitness. It’s designed to highlight the role physical activity plays in our health and is a chance to raise awareness about its importance. Today, you’ll see people having plank-offs and doing virtual mass HIIT workouts.
But what if slogging it out in a HIIT class or pounding away in the gym doesn’t really appeal? What other options are there?
‘Dance is a great fitness discipline as it is threedimensional movement,’ says Luke Worthington, a sports scientist, personal trainer and strength and conditioning specialist. ‘It requires strength, endurance, mobility, motor control and endurance, so it challenges all aspects of physical fitness.’
Luke has trained some of the casts members for West End shows including Aladdin, 42nd Street, Disney On Ice, Tina and Hairspray. He’s seen first-hand how fusing dance and fitness can create a strong, toned body.
He adds: ‘Most pieces of gym equipment and exercise classes focus on movement in just one direction, a sagittal plane (forwards/backwards). But our bodies evolved to do much more than this, they are “designed” to move in three dimensions.
A dancer’s training program is typically strength-based.
‘Dance is a very athletic discipline and dancers are some of the strongest individuals I’ve worked with. On a pound-forpound basis, they are stronger than some Premier League footballers. It’s not unusual for the female dancers I work with to be able to lift 1.5 times their body weight in a deadlift and perform sets of ten pull-ups. Professional dancers are strong, powerful, fast and athletic.’
Forget Zumba, the dance fitness scene has had a serious makeover recently. We’re talking sassy choreography fused with things like curtsy
lunges, pulsating tunes and even something of an A-list following.
One person who knows about the benefits of incorporating dance into your fitness workout is Monique Eastwood. The personal trainer, lifestyle coach and professional dancer counts Hollywood A-listers as clients, including Emily Blunt, Hayley Atwell, Stanley Tucci and Ruth Wilson, as well as stuntwoman Lucy Cork and athletes like British skier Jack Gower.
Her fitness workout programme, The Eastwood Movement Method, is based on her background as a professional dancer. It uses key principles from ballet, Pilates and dance-inspired, multi-directional movement, fusing them together with high-intensity fitness moves to create a lean body and strong frame.
‘I didn’t just “do” this programme,’ says Monique. ‘It’s been a real passion project. I was completely in love with dancing, but after having two kids, I didn’t move as much and felt like a big part of me was missing. I felt gym classes were boring and one-dimensional and I didn’t want to just squat for 20 reps. I wanted to move my body in multidimensional ways again. As a trainer, I felt the need to get women’s bodies firing up, too.
‘With dance fitness you’re working so many muscle groups as well as stimulating the brain. Dance fitness also challenges your coordination, balance and proprioception skills. Plus it’s fun – it’s much more than just exercise.’ Monique is a professional ballerina and trained in all methods of dance and stage. While performing in Sun City, she would sometimes be doing three shows simultaneously – which she says put her in the best shape of her life. Her method incorporates the movement patterns and strength training elements of all dance styles and, because of this, one of her biggest fans is Emily Blunt. Monique has trained Emily since she filmed 2014’s Edge Of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise. ‘Monique is the most extraordinary trainer,’ says Emily.
‘I love how transformative her technique is. What she does revolutionises the way you look, the way you move, your depth of strength and ability. She trained me for Edge Of Tomorrow, where I was thrown into the deep end of action and I credit her with increasing my strength and capability to such an extent that I didn’t get injured in what was the most challenging experience of my life, physically.’
Emily’s latest film, Jungle Cruise, with Dwayne Johnson, is in cinemas now. The film features lots of action stunt sequences and Emily credits Monique for creating the physical fitness necessary for these roles.
‘Her movement method is so fluid and high-octane, but with no heavy weights, which makes it challenging and exciting. Most importantly, she makes it fun. We laugh through the pain. She’s a hardcore sweetheart who, frankly, got me into the best shape of my life,’ says Emily.
So, if you’re fed up with static workouts and just not seeing the desired results from your usual fitness regime, dance fitness might just be the reason you start to love exercise again and even see a transformation. It sounds like the A-list workout of choice these days.