how useful is dancing in mma?

[LoneHusky]

alot of mma practitioners find gymnastics and yoga helpful. do you think dancing would be useful in combat aswell? I imagine being light on your feet would help, also alot of boxers are great dancers. opinions?

[DickHardman]

whenever i see people who are too into dancing, i just shake my head and wonder whey they didnt just man up and take a martial art instead.

[LoneHusky]

hehe I know what you mean but theoretically you could do both.

[Garland]

...I actually...was enrolled in a dance class in highschool that I think benefitted my muay thai. If anything, it helped with flexibility, rhythm and timing...which are all essential to the game.

Also...if you look at the footwork in any type of good stand-up art: boxing, muay thai...any of the FMA's...you'll notice that there is fluidity and an immense amount of grace involved. It's important to be light on your feet.

I mean, shit...the triangle footwork in kali, and the tapi-tapi side to side stuff is alot like Salsa dancing...Muay Thai is a little more spring loaded than ballet...you can tap your foot, rock your feet, or rock your arms...but you always keep the back heel up a little bit...all the steps in thai boxing are straight forward, or angular to set up a kick...

if you're doing feints a'la Jun Fan style kickboxing...it's pendulum style footwork, or back and forth like boxing "front-back" footwork.

I really do think it helps...
But just about as much as going through the footwork of your art with music set to it...Hell...if you're going to a rave, or a nightclub, you can even practice your prummb and your pummeling drills on a chicka...they won't know what's up, just do it lightly and with the music...maybe even an arm drag done softly to let her know you want to work the back.

Am I right, or am I right?

[Red Rum]

I don't think dance classes will help the MMA fighter as there are too many fixed motions and certain types of music that you can dance to, but I strongly believe that going to a club and dancing for your lifes worth is a great training aid.

First of all, on a crowded dance floor you are learning manouverability having to dodge round people. Secondly it gets you in the right cardiovascular shape for tournaments, cage fights etc.

[Garland]

It's helpful, sure. So is any athletic pursuit.

All I'm saying is that one is likely to benefit in Muay Thai by doing Muay Thai more than dancing.

that's a journal of duh finding.

But there are some physical attributes that aren't overly stressed in the art, that one may find better worked through other disciplines, correct?

i.e. flexibility = yoga
cardio= running
rhythm and balance = dance
strength = weightlifting and calisthenics.

[Tom Yum]

I see where Garland is coming from.

Some activities build attributes that are helpful for other activities. For example, dance builds timing, balance and rhythm - which are attributes that are good for muaythai or FMA.

Mike's saying you will improve exponentially more by working on the sport in question, than an activity that builds a few attributes that it has in common with the sport in question.

Solution: Why not spend your 4-5 days of intense training on the sport that's important to you and 1-2 days on the other for cross-training?

- You get variety.
- You get 'active' recovery + overlapping attributes.
- You get to meet attractive gals in yoga, dance or gymnastics who otherwise don't train in MMA...

[Tom Yum]

No ballet training here; I do enjoy partner dancing though.

It keeps my cardio and stamina up for sure, its fun, plus I get to meet some interesting ladies. In terms of coordination, balance and footwork, I think its somewhat beneficial - but obviously not as good as working on footwork itself. At the same time, it provides a little variety.

I get ragged on for going dancing with the ladies, from the perspective of "who do you think you are!" but I'm just supplementing my MA training while enjoying a recreational activity...even though I have two left feet and absolutely suck at it.

[jonbey]

I think that it can help, especially styles such as Salsa. Dancing encourages you to loosen the hips, which often tense up in stressful situations, such as fighting. Keeping loose in the hips increases your turning speed and power, makes you more agile.

I have trained a bit with a professional dancer, and he was extremely well conditioned - flexible, strong, agile. I have never trained in MMA, but I could see that what with groundwork, grappling and pounding and grounding, agility and footwork may not be worked on enough.

Remember the great man himself - float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Even in MMA there is a bit of floating to be done in those few seconds before the pound and ground!

And, for the record, Bruce Lee won some cha cha championship didn't he? Although ofcourse, he was no MMA fighter, so don't flame me for that!

[Tom Yum]

Remember the great man himself - float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Even in MMA there is a bit of floating to be done in those few seconds before the pound and ground!

And, for the record, Bruce Lee won some cha cha championship didn't he? Although ofcourse, he was no MMA fighter, so don't flame me for that!

Bruce Lee was the Hong Kong cha-cha champion in 1958. For the uninitiated, cha-cha is a fast, flirty latin dance done with a partner.

Rambaa "M-16" Somdete, a decent pro-muay thai fighter, seems to be a pretty good dancer as well. No information on any dance training, but he could probably break it down at a club...lol.

De La Hoya can cut a rug.

Mark Dacascos is probably the closest thing you'll get to a trained dancer/martial artist. He seems proficient at both.








.....and how about Van Damme in that bar scene in the movie Kickboxer. jk.

[Blue Wave Gym]

have you ever watch the ball room dancing championships talk about foot owrk, I think the best way to work on foot work for ma is to do drills in the gym that are the exact foot work movements you need to aquire. Skill specificty is key and doing the skills you need in the training environment instills aliveness.

[Tant01]

Who was that PRO Wrestler that used to dance around in the ring with the ballet type dancing? Did he wear the costume too?

Pro wrestling is called Blue Collar Ballet, right? I see nothing wrong with adding dance to your art. I'm not saying it will make you a bullet proof martial artist by any stretch but there is some value to rythm and fluidity.

The connection between MA and dance is an old one.