Let's Get Physical and Dance!

Dance! Dance! Dance! :) As most of us know by now, social dancing is beneficial in so many ways to our health and well-being. Dancing is so beneficial, in fact, that we feel EVERYONE should partake in this wonderful and satisfying hobby! Let's explore how and why the physical benefits of dancing is so advantageous for YOU. These benefits include fitness, coordination, cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility, and strength.

Fitness: Dance is a total-body workout that has all the benefits of a long run or a session on the elliptical (and then some).  In a one-hour salsa or swing dance class, for example, you can burn as many as 400 calories. Do that 3 times a week and you could drop nearly 20 pounds in a year without even dieting. You will also tone nearly every muscle in your body, improve your balance, and boost your brainpower!

Have you ever wanted to learn to Latin dance?  Quick, sharp steps, lots of hip action, and a fiery attitude set Latin dances like salsa, merengue, bachata and cha-cha apart from the rest.  These Latin dances work your front and side abs, as well as your back. Abs—from transverse to obliques—and the muscles that support your spine also get a 360-degree workout from the twisting, pulling, and constant back-and-forth movement that you will do in Latin dancing.  A stronger core through dancing improves posture and helps prevent lower-back pain.  Most Latin dances are set to a fast beat (160 to 210 beats per minute) ensuring a higher-than-average calorie burn.

Coordination: Learning to dance can also help improve your coordination skills. For those who are lacking in this department, the benefits of dance exercise, like Zumba fitness classes, might be helpful. Learning routines that you can do again and again will not only assist with balance and coordination, but can also help improve memory. Now you have yourself an all-encompassing workout for your heart, your muscles and your brain!

Cardiovascular Conditioning: As with any aerobic activity, you can obtain excellent cardiovascular conditioning benefits from dances like the swing, cha cha and even the Argentine tango. The movements and control used in partner dancing will not only raise your heart rate, but the combination of the moves with exciting, heart-pumping rhythms, is even more effective. You can condition your heart while you are dancing and enjoying yourself!

  

Flexibility: Dancing is an excellent activity for improving your flexibility. Don't be discouraged by the thought of limber ballerinas doing split leaps. Nobody expects you to bend and move like a dancer when you first begin. Stick with it, however, and you'll find that stretches you once couldn't do will give way to flexibility. Body posture and your overall gait will be improved as your flexibility and strength grows through dancing. 

Strength: Strength is the ability of a muscle to exert a force against resistance. Dancing builds strength by forcing the muscles to resist against a dancer's own body weight. Ballroom dancing builds strength. It involves the use of quick turns, spinning and strutting. These force-intensive actions require strength from your leg muscles so your leg muscles are built up more and more just by doing the regular dance moves.

Would you like to gain these physical benefits and learn to dance? A partner or experience is not required to join in on the fun right here at Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona in the East Valley of Phoenix. Dance FX Studios offers both private and group dance lessons in all of the most exciting and popular social dances like Country two step, salsa, swing and Argentine tango as well as Zumba fitness classes! We are open for lessons Monday through Friday, from 12:00-8:00 pm and Saturdays, from 11:00 am-4:00 pm. Check out our website or give us a call at 480.968.6177 for additional information about getting started on your journey to getting physically fit through dancing!