Well, I'm a decent DDR player (all 8's and most 9's) but I feel like I can't pass any of the harder songs because I: 1) get tired and my legs just won't move after I jump (Max 300 SMMM Oni), or 2) get too tired and collapse.

Anyone have any ideas on how to improve general stamina?  :D 

From my experience.... practice. Do you use propper heal toe technique to conserve energy?

Use a bar.  If you don't have a Blueshark, get a chair or something.  This will help you beat the harder songs.  Then as you gradually get better, you will start to not need the bar on the easier 10-footers.

 I've tried using a bar before, it just doesn't feel right. It's like when I use mods, feels sorta wrong (except on bag, because bag sucks :P).  I don't really know what "correct" technique is, the closest that I know to correct technique is crossovers, and that's just from playing a lot :D

 I wish I could get a pad better than the cheap Konami pad but my parents are scared of the internet.

You can mod your official soft pad with a carpet protector and a piece of plywood. That might help even if it isn't stamina related. A better pad will help you on the harder songs. I'd like to see someone attempt The Legend of Max on an unmodded softpad. Not happening. (Not safely.)

Stamina? How about jumping jacks. Or just play the game alot. It's like lifting weights. You start with 20 pounds for 15 minutes. After awhile those 20 pounds will feel like a newspaper. Then you move up to 40 pounds. Eventually 40 pounds will feel like a newspaper. And so on. Super Max Me Mix I consider to be a hard 11 or easy 12. Can you reliably full combo all of the 9s? Start there. Then get 90% on a solid 10 like Max 300. After you do that a few times then start attacking solid 11s like Paranoia Survivor Max (heavy or challenge) or Paranoia Respect. Super Max Me Mix (heavy or challenge) is only a bit harder than that.

I once saw someone who was at about the 6 foot level repeatedly throw themselves at Max300 (SMMM) standard. This was in the arcade, he was leaning on the bar, and he was missing every everything despite flailing at 5 arrows/second. It was kind of funny watching him flail and I already feel bad for saying that. I don't know why, but he was totally hellbent on clearing SMMM on standard. And I respect that because I'm the same way. But he had a 100% chance to fail and a 15% chance to hurt himself. Don't do that. Spend most of your playtime slightly outside of your level, not way outside your level. When you do go way outside of your level, do it rarely just to see how far you've come or to remind yourself how badly you want it. 

If you've ever heard of the suggestion to re-rate DDR on a 1-12 scale, this is why. SMMM is not an entry level ten.

To improve your stamina, find the closest ITG2 machine. Play Determinator a couple hundred times, then you'll have stamina. :P

Really though, running helps. And well, practice. 

Stretch your calf muscles before playing (and your arms if you use the bars).  I find that it really helps a lot.

It does. Don't play till you get shin splints like I do... O.o; So close to passing tha.... Also, avoid getting hairline fractures while playing, those hurt like a *****.....

But one more thing for stamina, ankle weights, try using 2 pounds at first, you WILL notice it. Keep playing with them on, then increase the weight gradually, while still keeping the highest song you can pass [insert hardest passed song here], but pass it with the weights on. Finally, take the weights off. You will INSTANTLY notice a HUGE difference. 

bah, screw the bar. that won't increase your stamina, it'll actually decrease it. Ankle weights increase strength more than stamina (I play with 5lbs per foot when I feel like goofing off). You'll feel lighter and maybe move faster when you take them off, but you won't play longer. The only thing is to keep playing longer. Being able to do 10s consistently without dying takes a long time.

Make sure you can do ALL the 9s before really pressing 10s. So Deep, Burning Heat, Twilight Zone, Rythm and Police, and pretty much any other 9 with 190bpm+ is a good way to start getting really ready for 10s.

 Also, find better 10s to start with. MaxMeMix Challenge is NOT a good 10 to work on stamina. I don't call it a 10 at all. Stuff like Fleadh Uncut or Spin Chicken or Hillbilly Harcore (yeah I know they're all ITG but so what) are GREAT ways to increase stamina.

Moose, 190 bpm does NOT prepare you for bag, nothing does... :P

Fleadh Uncut is an excellent stamina builder. Cartoon Heroes is also good. Other than that, running helps, more than anything else, too bad running sucks ***, to quote a good friend of mine (rynkr ftw). If you can play in jeans vs shorts, that'll improve your stamina, it's actually a lot of small stuff that can increase your stamina.... 

bag's not hard if you speed mod it. doesn't take more stamina than any 8 out there.

True. I'm talking 1x though. :P

O_o Bag on 1x, looks like a wall of arrows...not really though :S

I want to do harder songs (MAX300, and so on) i also lookse my energy qucikly, I don't have a bar or support so i can do the heel toe thing...i saw some guy to Vertex on Expert (ITG) and it looked like he was not even moving his feet, he was using a bar. How is that possible? I See many Experts do it, their feet are diagnol and it looks like a shuffle :\ lol but amazingly they are getting good scores :D lol 

Yeah, I don't really have any chairs I can use for a bar anyways.  The chair I kept leaning back in snapped but I caught myself before it broke.  I know Max300 SMMM isn't exactly a good song for stamina building tremendously fun xD  I might think about doing the ankle weights thing since jeans are hard for me to play in (since I also sweat buckets when playing -_-).  Anyways, thanks for all your suggestions :D

Neotonicdragon3: It's called bracket r@ping or heal toeing. you need to be extremely quick to get it, and have flexible shoes.

Ankle weights help. start wearing jeans when you play. I used to only be able to do 8's with jean shorts, no shirt. But now I can do 11s with jeans, tshirt, sometime a sweatshirt. :P

I can't do 1x bag... I'm colourblind so I need the shape differentiation or I'm boned.

Just a couple of months ago (2 or 3) I realized that I was putting WAY too much effort into every step. I was bent WAY way over to keep balance (it happens naturally as you get into faster songs) and flailed my arms all over the place. After a bit of work I can stand up much straighter now and that saves a lot of effort. Plus it looks cooler ^^

To improve stamina, I push myself in every session. In an hour of dancing - my daily workout - I'll play several songs that tire me out. Exotic Ethnic and Afronova used to wear me down; I can now AA them without breathing hard.  Now I'm using things like So Deep and Max 300 (event mode!) to take myself to the edge. It's no miracle technique, but if you have the patience and can stick with it over time, it works.

And, as AgoraPerry said, stretch out beforehand. I do that, and then I ramp up rather than starting out with the monster songs. I once sprained myself dancing DDR, and that's an experience I am NOT going to repeat.

lol, yeah, injuring yourself isn't a good idea, I just found out I broke one of my meta tarsals. :( But it'll heal on it's own so.... :)

EDITED:::: Moose, you are color blind? Does ITG's vivid help? IIRC the intent for that was to help color blind people.

Hi, I'm a crappy java board that doesn't  allow people to delete random double posts.

Something I found out the hard way, Don't take 2 to 3 week long brakes and expect to have all your speed and timeing. It really slows you down.

Meh. Try playing after giving blood. T_T Never thought I'd fail an 8 again. :(

LHot - They lie about some of the 8's I swear. I wouldn't blame you for failing one, especially after giving blood. Yikes! o__o

Ok, so the reason your legs get tired is because DDR is both aerobic and anaerobic. Yeah you get out of breath and your heart beats faster because it's cardio, but there's also a lot of anaerobic exercise, particularly when doing 10 footers/lots of jumps. The reason it hurts is because lactic acid is building up in your muscles, and that stuff doesn't go away very quickly.

I agree with slackbot though, just try to push yourself.
Besides, if you really want to be good at DDR you have to practice. You can increase your stamina and improve your PAing skills at the same time, so why not?

Oh and bag is not stupid.
Try doing Oni (Challenge Mode) courses, most of them are on x1.
Bag on Expert isn't that bad because there's no weird jumps. Try it on Standard x1, you won't be able to tell what's a jump and what's not, especially on Solo.

All 8s are **** easy to me. I do 12s, working on Summer at the moment.  Also, I don't work up a sweat on most ten footers. (Max 300, MaxX, etc) But harder 10s I might actually break a sweat on (FaxX, TLoM, PSMO).

 Some other things that help are Biking, I do uphill mountain biking whenever the opportunity arises. Roller Blading, and running are also  REALLY good. Umm... get some really like shoes like Nike Frees. etc.

No, vivid's dumb. The only thing that works for me is to get rid of the colours all together or the changing colours with the timing just confuses me 'cuz I can't recognize them. If it's all grey (robot, the only way I can play) I can do just fine.

Still, the really best thing is to do the run songs. fleadh, hillbilly, alive, etc. If you don't have access to ITG stuff, well, get it :P If you're playing at 8s&9s don't do SMMMO. Just don't. Do the other max's like 300 first. Play that 5x in a row once a day and you'll build some stamina ^^

I suggest play at least one 10-footer song for each credit you play