The countdown to the World Championships is on – and the remaining preparation in these final weeks is crucial. No matter what organisation you will be competing in within a matter of weeks, the home stretch can often feel like the most challenging time. After months of consistent training and mind work, it’s easy to unravel as the pressure of the big day looms over us.
But as dancers try to keep their heads down and stick to everything that has carried them this far, we might experience the sudden urge to do something completely different – out of fear, panic, and doubt.
We spoke to 25 top Irish dance trainers, mindset coaches, fitness experts, and more to craft the definitive list of 15 things you should absolutely not do in the final weeks before Worlds. Steer clear of doing any of the below, and you’ll be in with the best shot of reaching your potential and shining on stage when the big day arrives.
1. Panic Train
“The biggest issues I see with dancers leading up to majors is panic over training in the last week and lack of recovery,” says Dr Teresa Drew, physiotherapist and personal trainer, aka The Dancing Doc. “It’s very easy to get caught up in nerves and try to calm them by adding in extra practices, extra training sessions, and adding more to your plate to make you feel calm.”
However, she explains that “adding extra training without allowing for rest and recovery is actively hindering the performance and can lead to overuse injury or burnout”.
Your hardest work, she says, should actually be finished 10-15 days prior to the competition. “At that time you should start tapering and focusing on getting quality sleep and nutrition, and active recovery.” She continues: “When you deal with nerves, remind yourself that rest is an active tool to help your performance even if it feels ‘lazy’. Don’t add in extra hours in the studio or gym the week before.”
Just like with an exam, it’s not uncommon to worry that we haven’t done enough work, even when we most definitely have. “If you are overtraining leading up to the World Championships you will burn yourself out both mentally and physically,” says ISSA certified personal trainer and TCRG Abigail McKeever.
“Work smart, not hard, do not cram in as much as possible into your dance practise or training. Have a weekly plan making sure you are adding in as much rest and recovery as needed along with hydration and a nutritional diet.”
She also emphasises the importance of both mental and physical rest and recovery along with a good nutrition. “Overtraining may cause injury, I cannot stress enough how important a steady progressive structured plan and stretching is to your end result.”
2. Practise Everyday
“The most important thing to not do in the weeks running up the World Championships is dance or practise every day,” says world champion and Irish dance fitness specialist Megan Kerrigan. “I know, unpopular opinion and I can hear the dance teacher’s sighs already, but hear me out.
“Rest days are when our body gets stronger, repairs, and our mind replenishes, allowing us to get more out of our future training, to focus more, and leave us at less risk of injury too. Schedule your weekly rest day now!”
Connor and Lynsey Smyth of Fit ID emphasise the same thing, sharing that it’s important dancers don’t train every day. “Remember, your rest days are just as important as your training days and mental down-time is just as important as physical rest,” they share.
“Rest and recovery can improve your performance allowing your body to repair and rebuild in preparation for the next dance class or training session. Taper off your training in the days leading up to Worlds, meaning you’re at your peak on your dance day.”
Jeanne Weller, fitness specialist and trainer who runs the areyoufeisfit Instagram, adds that “some dancers prefer to take a few days off from practising while others may prefer to simply cut back on harder practice sessions a couple of days before competition day”.
She continues: “Regardless of how you choose to modify your practising, it is important that you do not do heavy workouts or do some new type of training the days leading up to a major.”
3. Maintain the Same Volume of Training
Just as you start to reduce your dancing practice days, you should pull back on your cross training, too. Founder and coach at Target Training Ellen G. Waller shares: “Do not maintain your same training volume in the final weeks leading up to the Worlds.
“Research has shown that reducing your training volume (how much you are training and dancing), otherwise known as tapering, allows your accumulated fatigue to decrease which benefits your performance by increasing power, force and energy. Keep the high intensity up, just decrease how much you’re doing.”
Dr Scott Ruth, dance physical therapist and trainer at Dance Performance Training adds that the weeks before Worlds is not the time to “advance your stamina and power”. “Instead this is the time to be fully recovered. In the two weeks leading up, try to increase rest, but keep your intensity. You can push hard, but for less total time (shorter bouts of training) with more rest to ensure you always fully recover and ready to have your best competition yet.”
Three-time world champion James Devine of S&C & Sports Therapy echoes this, emphasising that the lead up to the Worlds is not the time to ramp up the amount of training you’re doing. “Instead, taper volume while keeping intensity high relative to stage performance,” he says.
“A planned taper before a major gives your body the chance to fully recover from all the hard training you have been doing leading up to the biggest competition in the Irish dance calendar. Your goal is to peak at the competition, not in the studio the week before.”
4. Push Yourself to Do Heavier Training
Just because you will be doing less, doesn’t mean you should overcompensate with too much additional intensity. “As weeks get closer to worlds, keeping the same heavy training won’t be as beneficial when preparing,” personal trainer, massage therapist, and cycle instructor Sophie Greer explains.
“It’s important, as your competition gets closer, to continue the training but change the amount of reps/sets,” she adds, in addition to a taper at dance class. “Many sports, when preparing for major games or competitions, start tapering so they’re still training hard, but just enough to where energy starts to build for game day or competition day.”
Personal trainer and online coach Audrey Baylor makes a similar point, agreeing that in the final weeks before a big competition, “a lot of people can start to panic and think that they need to do more”.
She continues: “For those dancers who are in the gym and lifting weights, it’s important to lighten the load a week or two before you dance. While you should still do your resistance workouts, lighten each set to prevent your muscles from fatiguing for the big day. In the few days leading up to the big day, less is more. Don’t try and squeeze in an extra workout in the final few days before your competition.”
5. Obsess Over Things You Cannot Control
“As the Worlds gets closer, don’t focus on results, other dancers, judges or your round and rotation,” Siubhan Clark, certified master meditation teacher and creative director of Zen Rince says. “You have no control over those things and thinking about them will only make you more stressed.
“Focus instead on what you do have control over – you! Your mindset at this point will either make all the hard work you have done leading up to Worlds – shine or fizzle. Focus on you and what you need to do to show up and shine, let the rest go.”
Ciara Sexton, choreographer, TCRG, and accredited life coach, says this extends to how you think about your competition day, too. “Do not spend time worrying about things that are beyond your control, that’s when our brain panics and we can allow nerves to steal our very best performance,” she says. “The panel? Not in your control. Music? Not in your control. Stage? You got it, not in your control!”
She adds that you should “spend less time worrying about all of the things that can go wrong” and instead “focus on asking your body and mind to deliver a great day’s dancing”.
A healthy and focused mindset, she adds, “reflects on your performance first before your results”. “Our best performances usually bring our best results, and to be at our very best, we need to harness the thinking of ‘what not to do’.”
6. Ignore the Basics
When the pressure of the big day is looming, it’s easy to overlook the core fundamentals. “In the last few weeks leading up to Worlds you don’t want to sacrifice your sleep, food, or water intake,” Andrea Gelb, personal trainer and nutrition coach says.
“You’ve put in the hard work for months and your body needs as much attention to its recovery as it does to your training. Make sure you are getting enough sleep, drinking enough water daily, and eating enough food, especially protein.”
7. Stress Out
“What you should not do in the weeks leading up to the Worlds is stress yourself out,” Kendal Griffler, professional dancer, certified pilates instructor and personal trainer, says. “Take the time to set your intentions, follow your routine and recognise what you have control over and what is out of your hands. The last few weeks leading up to the big day are not when you should start some crazy new regime.”
She adds: “You ideally want to ‘peak’ the day of your competition, not burn yourself out leading up to it. At this point, your body is more capable than you think. Take care of your mind and body.”
8. Follow The Crowd
“One thing you should not be doing before the Worlds is following the crowd,” mindset coach Annabelle Nunnery says. “Everyone will be preparing in their own individual way because we all have our own individual circumstances and goals. Don’t compare your preparation to your friends and don’t just do something because everyone seems to be. Run your own race.”
9. Spend Too Much Time on Social Media
“In the final lead up to the World Championships, I believe limiting the time you give to social media is integral in maintaining a level-headed approach to your training,” world champion, TCRG and theatre promoter Ceili Moore says. “When scrolling on social media it is easy to get caught up with what other people are doing and then to start comparing yourself to other people’s highlight reels. Not to mention the time you spend that could be better put towards recovery, training or even sleep.”
She says that by limiting your social media usage, you are “allowing yourself to be focused on what you can control and how you can be the best you can be in the lead up to the championships”.
Ciara Sexton also notes that social media, particularly scrolling through dance videos on Instagram and TikTok, can be a trigger for nerves. “Comparison on social media is a killer to our mindset in any walk of life, but I find it particularly damaging in dance,” she says.
10. Skip Rest and Recovery
“Don’t overtrain and skip out on proper rest and recovery,” says ACSM certified exercise physiologist and precision nutrition coach Mimi Phillips of Podium Strength & Performance. She too highlights the importance of tapering and reducing your training loads in the weeks leading up to the Worlds, which “allows your body to prepare for peak performance by maximising muscle glycogen stores, repairing and strengthening muscle and connective tissue, as well as minimising accumulated fatigue”.
She adds: “Resist the urge to do more and give your body the rest it needs in between training sessions and dance classes.”
11. Ignore Mental Preparation
Principal dancer and dance captain of Riverdance Louise O’Sullivan, also a personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach, points to three key mental skills to help you achieve success. Confidence, which “ allows you to believe in yourself”, trust, to help you to “be in the moment because of your confidence in your skills and the work you’ve put in”, and focus, which “puts you in a zone of zero distractions and allows you to focus on only the dance that you are about to perform”.
It’s important, she says, to not overlook the mental work so you can focus on the “dance you’re about to do”, not “the dance after”.
Ciara Sexton underlines a similar point, sharing that dancers should not “waste the final days before a feis worrying about the end of your competition day”. She adds: “Section your day and think about the journey through it. Giving all your headspace to results loses focus of the work you have done with your teachers in class. Stay focused on what’s most important – the dance.”
12. Restrictive Dieting
“You should not restrict yourself or cut out anything extra in your diet, especially carbs. Trust me!” says world champion, personal trainer, and fitness instructor Ciara Loughran. “Yes, you should be eating healthily with plenty of green veg and less of the sugary junk foods (you can indulge after), however, you need to make sure you are eating enough to fuel your body. We need carbohydrates for energy, concentration, strength, muscle building and faster recovery.”
She continues that you need to “fuel your body” for all the work it is doing in the final weeks. “Do not cut back on energy intake now, when you need it most. You don’t want to fatigue.” She also suggests having a protein shake after class or trying her favourite snack of banana on wholemeal toast.
13. Ignore the Cool Down (and Overstretching)
“You want to ensure that you are relaxing your body after all the p work you have put in after class,” certified pilates instructor and creator/coach of Barre Motion Natasia Petracic says. “If your classes are running overtime, always set time aside to implement your cool down session before heading home.”
Following on from ignoring the cool down comes the risk of overstretching. “You will often be more sore the morning after if you don’t complete your cool down, therefore stretching in the morning to aid the pain will do more harm than good. Add your stretches into your dancer routine only when your body is warm.”
14. Let the Doubting Voice Creep In
Riverdance lead and massage therapist at Corrective Manual Therapy James Greenan says that this is not the time to “doubt yourself”. “That negative inner voice in your head will get louder and louder closer to the Worlds. Believe in yourself and don’t let it come between you and your goals.”
Mental performance coach Cliodhna Walsh makes a similar point, sharing: “Don’t let the fear of not being prepared enough stop you from performing your best. This fear weakens your muscles making a bad performance inevitable.”
As a top tip, she suggests dancers “count how many hours a week you spend on your dancing between practise and class. It is physically impossible to be unprepared and unpractised if you’re spending countless hours working on your dances”.
15. Lose Focus at the Final Hurdle
“I would say the most important thing you can do in the lead up to Worlds is to not back off your ‘progress’ training,” explains world champion and mindset coach Scott Doherty. “Yes, you want to create good habits, but don’t be so afraid of not being perfect that you stop pushing for bigger and better dancing.”
That means making the most of the practise you are doing to get as close to being stage ready as possible. “It’s a race to see who’s made the most progress in the last year, so try to squeeze out every last drop of your training.”
Patrick O’Mahony, former principal dancer at Riverdance and personal trainer, gym instructor and nutrition consultant adds: “Do not take your foot off the pedal.
“Do not lose focus. Keep your eye on the prize. These few weeks leading up to the Worlds is crucial.”
Prepped with the key knowledge of experienced professionals about what not to do, now you can focus on everything you will be doing. That means, no matter your result at the 2023 World Championships, you can be confident in the knowledge that you gave this year your absolute all – and there’s nothing more you can do than your best.
This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice and dancers should seek the guidance of a professional regarding any health and fitness questions. Read our disclaimer for more information.
