Since the dawn of human civilization, dancing has been a popular pastime, but did you know that dancing can also be a great way to exercise? Fun and exercise don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Dancing can be the ideal way to have fun while getting fit and Dance for Exercise.
After all, many dances use all the muscles in the body, and many dances are fast-paced. With this kind of movement, it’s no surprise that you can dance your way to fitness. But if you’ve never considered dancing for fitness, what should you think?
This article will guide you through all you need to know when dancing for exercise. By the end, you’ll learn about how dancing is good not only for losing weight but for improving your health and fitness in various ways as well. Let’s start with one of the most popular benefits of dancing for exercise: weight loss.
Losing Weight While Dancing
Most people don’t enjoy spending hours at the gym sweating and struggling only to find that they’ve barely lost any weight at the end of the week. Most people hate it. However, dancing is a very different form of exercise that doesn’t have to feel like work.
When dancing, especially if you already enjoy dancing, you can enjoy the dance movements and have fun alone or in a group. Often, you might even forget that you’re getting fit. The key to getting fit while exercising is rooted in how dancing often includes aerobic and cardio exercises.
These exercises both include raising your heart rate and getting your lungs pumping. These exercises can also help to improve your stamina, make your muscles lean, and, of course, help you burn calories and lose weight. But the benefits don’t stop there.
Aerobic and cardio movement exercises often require large movements, which can improve flexibility in the muscles and joints of the body. With all this moving around, blood flow throughout the body increases. Since this kind of exercise requires so much energy, it is also a great way to burn off stress.
Then, when your dance session finishes and your body starts to calm down, you can expect to sleep better as your body recuperates. But back to the subject of weight loss, how much weight, or rather, how many calories can you burn when dancing? It all depends on your weight, how vigorously you exercise, how often you exercise, and how long you exercise.
How To Burn More Calories When Dancing
When you’re ready to get your heart rate up and break a sweat, you can expect to burn calories. Put on some catchy music and move in a quick, energetic way. You can undoubtedly expect to burn some calories!
The faster you move and the more muscles you use, the more calories you burn. Hip hop, for example, is a dance that requires a lot of strength and movement, but it doesn’t mean you need to drop everything and start dancing as much hip hop as possible. Many ballroom dances provide a fast pace, too.
When it comes to ballroom dancing, you can expect to burn around 118 calories every 30 minutes. Swing dancing, on the other hand, is full of quick movements and very few slow periods, resulting in as much as 207 calories burned. Line dancing and other similar western dances tend to burn around 172 calories.
When dancing ballet, you can dance off about 180 calories. As you can see, there is a large variation when it comes to the different dances and how many calories you can burn with them.
Weight Loss Tips for Dancing
You can always increase the fun while you exercise by dancing with other people. If you’ve ever exercised alone, you know it can be a struggle and that it might be hard to motivate yourself. On the other hand, if you’ve ever exercised in a group, you may have noticed that it’s much easier to get into the swing of things and easier to have fun and stay motivated.
The same thing applies to exercising through dance. Putting on some catchy tunes and dancing with your friends or finding a dance group can make all the difference in motivation to dance. The shared energy of a group all dancing together can make it easy to forget that you’re actually exercising and making progress on your weight loss journey.
It would help if you considered using dance as an exercise to try dancing for more than 30 minutes. It is preferable to dance for a little more than an hour, if possible, for the most significant benefit. An hour of dance gives your body enough time to warm up, break into a sweat, and start burning calories and fat. If you’re serious about losing weight with dancing, you should try to make it a regular part of your routine. Dancing every day helps keep your body fit and consistently burn calories.
Can Anyone Exercise With Dance?
Dancing is a great way for almost anyone to get fit. However, there are a few exceptions such as pregnant women. Dancing while pregnant can be a great way to exercise, especially in the first or second trimester. However, later on in your pregnancy, you may want to avoid too rigorous dancing because your balance can change, and it may be more challenging to dance. Dancing that is too aggressive may also pose a risk to your baby. After all, a baby will already put a strain on your pelvic floor muscles. Doing intense exercises and dances can put even more pressure on these muscles.
Instead, opt for dances that are slower and more relaxed. While you may not burn as many calories, you can still boost your blood flow and also work on your body’s flexibility and balance.
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Dancing With Injuries or Medical Conditions
Dancing is a great activity to help prevent high cholesterol, heart disease, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. However, what if you already have one or more of these conditions? If you are overweight, dancing can be a good way for you to lose that weight, which, in turn, may be able to help improve some of your medical conditions.
However, if you have severe heart disease or have had a heart attack or a stroke in the past, you may want to be more careful when it comes to dancing for exercise. This is especially true for more vigorous dances. Anyone with a weak heart should be cautious as this can cause further problems.
What if you have sustained an injury to your body? Of course, if your injury is recent, you should let the injury heal before you start dancing. If you do not, it may not heal as it should. Once your injury heals, you should have no trouble getting back into dance.
Fun While Getting Fit With Dance
Now you know all about having fun while getting fit with dance, and there are plenty of dances you can try that can help you lose weight and strengthen your body.
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