Olympic Weightlifting for Dancers and Non-Traditional Athletes with Angela Sorensen, PhD

Total Performance with Siobhan Milner

Find the show notes for this episode here.

In this episode, Siobhan Milner and Angela Sorensen discuss the role of Olympic weightlifting (and its derivatives) beyond “traditional” sports, particularly for dancers and other athletes who may not typically recognise the value of weightlifting.

Angela addresses a common critique that Olympic lifting is overly complex for non-competitive athletes and suggests this complexity is due to a lack of understanding among coaches, asserting that it can be simplified into manageable movements. She emphasizes that weightlifting is valuable for developing power, strength, and stability, which are beneficial in dance (and all athletic pursuits!). She explains that while dancers may initially resist weightlifting because it doesn’t look like dance, specific Olympic lifting movements can simulate and enhance the biomechanical demands of dance, such as lifting partners overhead, jumping, and managing rhythm and timing.

Angela highlights how weightlifting prepares dancers for “load acceptance” (absorbing external forces), which is useful for safely lifting partners and decelerating movements—skills that dancers often need in partner choreography. She argues that lifting builds power, flexibility, and dynamic stability, all of which improve performance and safety. Additionally, she acknowledges that while not all athletes need to learn full Olympic lifts, coaches can adapt sub-movements (like high pulls or shrugs) to achieve targeted benefits.

Angela Sorensen also touches on the essentials of stability and strength training, emphasizing the importance of foundational movements over trendy, often superficial exercises seen on social media.

Angela encourages athletes new to strength training to master the basics with precision and consistency, laying a solid foundation before adding complexity. This approach, she notes, will set dancers (and all athletes) up for long-term success.

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About Angela Sorensen:

Dr Angela Sorensen holds a PhD in sports biomechanics from Middlesex University. She has been serving as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at English National Ballet School since 2018.

Previously, Angela has served as the Director of Sports Performance at Loyola University Chicago for 6 years where she was the strength coach for the back-to-back Men’s Volleyball National Champions in 2014 & 2015. She has also worked in private sports performance, co-authored and instructed international coaching education courses, worked in physical therapy, works with private weightlifting and sports performance clients, and has presented her research at international conferences.

She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science at University of Nebraska – Kearney in 2004, her Masters Degree in Sport and Exercise Science from Middlesex University in 2018, and PhD in 2023.

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Where to find Angela:

ResearchGate – https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angela-Sorensen

X/Twitter: https://x.com/angesorensen

Instagram: @beastessathletics

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