Breaking
Breaking is more than just dance, it's a test of strength, endurance and mental toughness. Three top b-girls and b-boys reveal the workouts that keep them ready for the fiercest battles.
Breaking is a creative dance form all about style, flavour and musicality. At the same time, it's also a high performance discipline that takes incredible core strength, stamina and dexterity. From power moves to holding freezes, dynamic footwork and more, breakers are truly high-level athletes.
This is how six top breakers train to be in peak breaking shape.
01
B-Boy Victor's high intensity core workout
Victor is one a two-time Red Bull BC One champion, who also won the bronze medal at Paris 2024 using his fluid, smooth breaking style, in which he makes everything he does look effortless.
Breaking is all core, you're always twisting and turning
Victor work outs up to four days a week. He does a variety of exercises, including, kettle bell Romanian dead lifts and supine dumbbell presses to build isometric force to aid in his power moves, Nordic hamstring curls, weighted pull-ups with isolated holds and hanging abdominal windshield wipers. As an experienced breaker, Victor says: "I feel like breaking is all core, you're always twisting and turning," which is something that has lead him to this high intensity training.
Victor also does calisthenics, runs and bikes to build his stamina, and practises breaking specific exercises such as going from his back up to the handstand position.
For recovery Victor does a combination of ice baths and sauna, and makes sure that he eats a high protein diet.
02
B-Girl Ami reveals why she skips cardio
I don’t work out for stamina because I do this with my breaking practice
Japan’s B-Girl Ami was the first b-girl to win a Red Bull BC One World Final and is now a two-time Red Bull BC One champion, as well as the Paris 2024 gold medalist.
In her classic, traditional breaking style, Ami is always light and swift in her movements and flow. This comes from her simple fitness training. She trains five to six days a week, stretching and doing bodyweight exercises. For cardio she says, "I don’t work out for stamina because I do this with my breaking practice." What she does make sure to do is a lot of core exercises, including, planks, plank push ups, abs crutches and leg-knee raises while in push up position, all to strength her body and prevent injuries.
Ultimately, Ami's approach to fitness comes from her mindset that she works out to make sure her breaking is as on point as possible: "I care about my silhouette and form when I break."
03
Phil Wizard's fitness secret: "Train like an athlete"
"Think like an artist and train like an athlete," is a motto that Canada’s Phil Wizard has been living by since he started breaking. He won the b-boy gold medal in Paris and has a fluid yet dynamic breaking style where he weaves his body in and out of complex freezes while constantly changing speed and energy.
Think like an artist and train like an athlete
Phil trains five to six days a week, implementing a morning routine of stretching and conditioning his joints, so that he has longevity in his breaking. He follows this up a calisthenics workout and conditions his body by practising freezes.
For strength and conditioning, Phil's had a personal trainer since 2017, regularly hitting the gym to do exercises with kettle bells, weight training for explosive strength and stamina-building workouts on the static bike.
Even though he's one of the best b-boys in the world, Phil Wizard still struggles with negative self-talk at times. "It’s a constant battle,” the Canadian revealed in Mind Set Win below. "There are times when it goes away, but sometimes it's still there." He's found ways to manage it – one of which is preparation. “The more I train, the more prepared I am going into an event, the more confident I feel.”
Another strategy that helps Phil Wizard is staying away from social media and avoiding comparisons with others: "It makes me anxious. Seeing how other people train on Instagram makes me want to train more - even if I’ve had a good training day."
What people might be surprised to find out is that when it comes to his diet Phil Wizard has a big sweet tooth, meaning he always has something sweet to eat, from pastries to ice cream and more.
04
How jumping in workouts gives B-Girl Vanessa the winning edge
Portuguese B-Girl Vanessa created her own breaking specific, strength and conditioning workout when she realised she needed to level up her physical ability. Mixing breaking moves with body strengthening and stamina-building exercises, she says, "I normally workout two to three times a week, focusing on exercises that help my performance, but I don't do a lot weight lifting. I work more with my body weight and squat jumping exercises."
I don't do a lot weight lifting, I work more with my body weight and squat jumping exercises
To combat body fatigue from training and recover better, Vanessa went to a nutritionist and says she got advice on "how to gain more energy through food and supplements, which has helped me a lot." She also focuses on how working out builds mental strength through your ability to keep pushing yourself with no excuses.
Through her fitness training, Vanessa has seen massive improvements in her breaking ability, which led to her becoming one of the most successful breakers to come out of Portugal. She's now a three-time Red Bull BC One Portugal Cypher champion, a two-time Red Bull BC One finalist and part of Team Portugal at the Paris Games.
05
No days off for Shigekix!
Japan’s B-Boy Shigekix has a super dynamic, explosive breaking style, which he used to become the 2020 Red Bull BC One World Champion. His mentality to working out reflects the fact that he seems to never crash (means fall out of a move). He can change speeds and snap into difficult freezes in a split second. Shigekix trains seven days a week, 365 days a year. He actually practises twice a day, getting in six to six hours of training daily.
I practice every single day
His fitness, speed and power come from intense workout routines, which include using a rowing machine to do up to two kilometres of rowing in a session, going from fast to paced speeds. He also uses a static bike to do over 600m of cardio work and does body exercises like sit-ups and handstand wall climbs with push-ups.
Check out how this results on the battle floor in the clip below:
Shigekix says the training makes him feel more confident in his breaking ability and even though he admits that his workout routine and schedule can be tough sometimes, he's motivated by his dedication to being the best breaker he can be.
06
Madmax: Workouts can help preventing injuries
B-Girl Madmax started training strength and conditioning with swimming in 2018 and immediately realised how important it was for her breaking, physically and mentally. "When you achieve your workout goals for a session, it gives you confidence that you can then achieve other goals," she says.
When you achieve your workout goals for a session, it gives you confidence that you can then achieve other goals
Some of her achievements since then include winning the 2020 Red Bull BC One E-Battle, being the 2020 Red Bull BC One World Final runner-up and winning the 2024 Red Bull BC One Cypher Belgium.
Madmax workouts four to five times a week with a program built to focus on dynamic pull, push exercises. She does pull-ups and push-ups, weight training for strength, skipping and running for stamina, yoga for flexibility and different mobility exercises.
Injury prevention is also a big reason Madmax is consistent with her workouts: "You build up the right muscles in order to avoid certain injuries. For example, I build up the muscles around my knees, because that's a joint that is stressed through breaking."
When it comes to her diet, Madmax works with a nutritionist, making sure to have enough carbohydrates before training and enough protein afterwards.
"You've got to train like an athlete but dance like an artist," is the philosophy Madmax approaches her training with.
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