I didn't want to "hijack" the topic started by FallsHiker so I'll start another similar one.

One of the responders mentioned exercises to help a lady's frame. Holding my frame is probably my biggest problem. What types of exercises could I do? I would guess anything my upper body strength would be a possibility. Are there others? Thanks.

Carol020. To be taught how to stand , which for the man and the lady are not the same, you need to be coached by somebody who themselves have been or are a competing person. One. If you stand in your ballroom stance and drop your hands to your side. As a men they should finish in front of the thighs. For the lady they should finish behind the backside. Evan that is only half the story. The above is acording to Glen Weisse a former champion now living in the USA. .

Everything begins with the "core" muscles. If these do not work properly, nothing else will.

Start with strengthening the abdominal muscles: pilates core exercises are ideal. The goal is "ab-awareness."

Also, work on the "back" muscles: those that hold the shoulder blades back and down: rowing machine exercises are excellent. The "front" (e.g., pectoral) muscles need relatively less attention, since we habitually exercise them already.

Focus on the large muscles of the body, and the smaller ones will take care of themselves.

Beware of rigidity. A good frame is flexible and, for the lady, one that enables her to "fit the man."

Few things in life are more fun than dancing with a lady who knows how to "frame-up" (as in "this is a frame-up")

Good luck!

Thanks for the responses. My instructor (who has competed) has taught me but I keep reverting to a loose frame or my shoulders aren't even.

I'll definitely work on the exercises cbmp mentioned.

I'll keep working on it.

This is obviously not so.

Carol. There is a disk by Glen Weisse. On it, it shows exactly how the lady should set herself up with her partner. For example. The ladies right hip is higher than her left hip. There is much information that would be news to some. For instance. There is a misconseption that both elbows ar level across the back when actually the straight line finishes at the man's right shoulder. Done the other way the chest would be thrust forward and so on and so on.

Carol020. I should have brought to your attention that there is a frame which can be purchase from Canada. Same frame for both man and lady which holds the arms in the correct position in the International Style Standard. Simply Google Dance Frame.

The Glen Weisse instruction is especially good in explaining to the ladies how it should feel when the man starts moving them around the floor. It is a good reminder to the ladies that they should feel "energy" on each side of the man's face with their hands and arms -- basically meaning that they should stay in those positions and not go forward or backward, or, what I see a lot in beginners, move up or down when holding frame. I also like the term "take the frame with you" when telling the man what is should feel like once you start moving around the floor. It really is one of the basic fundamentals in addition to one of the hardest parts of learning -- holding frame and looking good while doing it! The learning center on this site has good description and illustrations of proper dance positions, but maybe a good video to add would be a set devoted solely to proper frame, holding frame, etc., and maybe explaining contra body movement, etc.

The Glen Weisse instructions gives the Man and the Ladies correct setup for the International Style. I doubt if it could be explained any better.
Stomach muscles, strong centre core and so on have been mentioned and are important, but if you have no idea how to stand they are useless. There are dozens of sites to visit on youtube dealing with just the frame and how to position ones self..