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The Broscience for Bboys and Bgirls

by Erryl Ho

Disclaimer

This is a personal blog. Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated within a professional or personal capacity unless explicitly stated.

What is Broscience? 

Before I explain the definition, I want to give a shoutout to Tristan from the Breakin Sneaker Club for suggesting this topic idea to me! I never heard of this term before, and after some research — the Breakin' scene definitely has "Bboyscience" that needs debunking. 

According to dictionary.com, "Broscience is a term for misinformation circulated among men, usually body-building claims not backed by science." Some common myths include: "No carb diet is the only way for fat loss" or "Bodyweight work isn't effective compared to lifting weights." 

Not only these are inaccurate, but they had been debunked by actual science. 

In my 9 years of dancing in this culture, I've noticed some possible "Bboyscience" claims that I believe can be debunked. These are just based of my personal experiences and what I've witnessed throughout my Bboy journey. 

So take it with a grain of salt. 

1. "Who needs to warm up?" 

When I go to public practice spots, there are always some dudes that arrived and go straight into powermove training without any proper warm up. Honestly, I used to be one of those guys as well. I would go straight into power, feel empowered, but face the wrist pain not so long afterwards. 

I even had people come up to me saying that warm up isn't necessary. They would suggest pointers like, "If you execute "smart" then you won't get injured." However, these people are usually quite young and the older guys would tell me otherwise.

"Yo when you get older, injuries come quick and take longer to heal. Don't ever neglect the warm up." 

I think I'll side with the older dudes' advice. 

In the Breakin Sneaker Club, we have a weekly Breakin' workout training called "BreakFit" — a hybrid of Breakin' movements, conditioning, and a yoga session. One warm up sequence that Dyzee showed us that intrigued me was a type of stretching called ballistic stretching.

According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "Ballistic stretching uses the momentum of a moving body or a limb in an attempt to force it beyond its normal range of motion."

Implementing ballistic stretching into my warm up routine has exponentially improved my Breakin', with less severe pains and injuries in the long haul.

I see a numerous amount of bboys and bgirls perform static stretching before practice, such as the typical forward fold. Static stretching is best performed after an intense activity, a cooldown per se.

If you are going to indulge into any sort of vigorous activity, I suggest maybe it's time to chill out a bit and put some time aside to warm up properly. You'll thank me later. 

2. "I can't be bothered to stretch after, it doesn't matter anyway." 

From the previous myth, we discussed the importance of static stretching AFTER a practice session. I see way too many people leaving the session without setting out sufficient time to stretch afterwards. 

This is understandable as most bboys and bgirls practice at night, and need to rest ASAP to start work the next day. But I don't think it would hurt to set out 10-15mins of post session stretching right? 

The Rebound Physical Therapy states that, "Stretching in the correct way can limit the strain on your muscles and joints. It will help your muscles stay flexible and toned. This will ultimately reduce the chance of injury after exercising."

I have to admit though, I'm guilty of this during my rookie days. I would just leave straight after practice to chill with my homies or go straight home. But the following day is when I faced the consequences. I would feel so sore immensely, I wouldn't even want to get out of bed! 

But after stretching a little bit after practice, I felt a way better the next day so I could do some sort of exercise still. 

Train smart, not hard. 

 3. "If you get injuries while learning a move, then you're doing it the right way."

I asked members of the Breakin Sneaker Club possible "Bboyscience" myths they've heard of throughout their Breakin' journey. I was surprised to hear that someone actually said this. Personally I've never heard of this one, but let's go straight into some debunking. 

I think it's common sense that if you are getting sprains and injuries while learning a new move, you must be doing something wrong. Would you keep doing windmills if you have a lot of back scraps? Well maybe you're body isn't accustomed to them yet, so that's a plausible reason. But what if you do floats and you felt wrist sprains all over? 

Probably you are overtraining or you are using the wrong technique. 

Not the greatest sign to keep going the same way. 

If you do get severely injured while learning a new move, I believe it's a blessing in disguise. 

Olympic Javelin Thrower, Cyrus Hostetler, had his share of injuries during his training. In his blog, "10 Things You Learn When Injured", he mentions how every injury was a chance for him to revisit the fundamentals, discover your physical capabilities, and a chance to learn more about our anatomy and biomechanics.

There's this one quote that Cyrus' professor said to him that stuck out to me. 

“Never become too happy with your work, or you will never have the balls to make the necessary changes to make it better.”

I guess in some weird way, injuries do make you better? 

Learn from your mistakes, and that's when you will find the magic. 

4. "Weed can make you a better Bboy/Bgirl, trust me!" 

If you can't be bothered to continue reading, watch the video below. 

Banski, former Bboy YouTuber, did a study on the correlations between weed and creativity in the Breakin' scene. To summarize, Banski discovered that it all comes down to personal experiences when utilizing weed towards Breakin'.

Some participants of the study claim that they feel a sense a boost of creativity when it comes to ideas. However, mind-altering substances like weed could affect your sense of coordination when executing your moves. 

Personally I am not a fan of using weed to tap into the creativity realm. Not because it doesn't help — I prefer not to rely on external substances. 

Weed is equivalent to gaining new perspectives when trying to expand your creativity realm, but that can be applied to anything. Experimenting with different dance styles, photography, art, and the list goes on. 

So it is necessary to have weed for Breakin'? Hard to answer. It all comes down to personal preference for this myth. 

5. "Don't need practice. Freestyle baby!"

I've heard of this claim a few times in my life. Obviously there is some truth to this. I mean Breakin' is a dance at the end of the day right? But how far can you go with just freestyling. 

Don't get me wrong, freestyle is important. Very important. But I believe practice is necessary as well. 

When I say practice, I don't mean just going to your practice spot and start your dance session. I'm talking about conditioning. We aren't getting any younger, and we need to condition our bodies to monstrous heights to achieve the Breakin' goals we want in life. If you are in it for the long-term, it is essential to implement fitness-related habits outside of the Breakin' spectrum. 

The physiology and pilates centre, Revitalize, puts emphasis on the importance of dancer's conditioning to prevent injuries, promote healthy bones, increase mood, and higher metabolism.

Freestyle alone is a fun way to enjoy the music, express yourself, and dance in the moment. But if you want to push the limits, we can't solely focus on freestyling alone. 

Train like an athlete, dance like a dancer. 

Did I miss any "Bboyscience" myths? Send me an email or DM me on IG to tell me some of your "Bboyscience" myths that you heard of! 

Peace! 

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