Dancing improves coordination, muscle tone, stamina, agility, social skills and mental health just for starters.
An article published on livestrong.com states:
“As a form of aerobic exercise, dancing offers cardiovascular conditioning that may lower your risk of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and being overweight.”
If you’re currently looking up yoga and Pilates classes in New York City, you might want to consider registering for a dance class just to get a sense of what it might have to offer. We’ve put down some information in this blog to help those of you who are on the fence and trying to make a decision.
How does it help with weight loss?
Any kind of aerobic exercise if done regularly and complemented with a healthy diet will result in weight loss.
Dancing makes your heart beat faster, it makes you sweat a whole lot and of course, it physically tires you.
Different dance styles will have different burn counts. The idea; you’re on your feet, you keep balance, and you stay sharp—kind of the same requirements as a boxing class truth be told!
#1 Hip-hop & Free Style
Hip-hop and Free Style workouts can burn anywhere between 388 to 465 calories depending on body weight in the span of an hour.
Being high energy dance forms, they often incorporate use of most muscles in the body. Apart from being great for weight loss if done regularly, they are said to boost confidence both in one’s self and in one’s body.
#2 Salsa & Swing
These styles are not just physically demanding but also require a fair amount of coordination and chemistry with one’s dance partner.
The calorie loss count is again variable depending on weight and size is between 280 and 300 calories give or take, per hour for swing and a shocking 400 – 500 for salsa. Apart from aiding in weight loss, these forms help improve muscle capacity.
#3 Ballet:
The thing about ballet is that it is as hard and grueling as it is gracefully appealing to the eye. That isn’t all. Believe it or not, a person can burn between 335 and 410 calories give or take, depending on weight from just one hour of ballet! This form also helps enhance coordination and balance.
#4 Zumba
Much like swing and salsa in the way of body parts used but higher in demand than hip-hop or even ballet when it comes to burning calories, zumba is something of a hot favorite for those wanting to stay toned or lose weight while having a ball of a time…quite literally.
The calorie count? Anywhere between 350 and 650 calories in an hour! Bye bye tread mill; hello studio!
#5 Moshing
Yes, it’s true. Most of us associate moshing with that Smashing Pumpkins concert we attended as kids that was followed by stiff neck the next morning!
Though technically speaking, moshing is the least taxing it can burn between 400 and 800 calories per hour! Though we wouldn’t necessarily recommend this, we thought you should know!
There are a number of high burning dance forms that we have not even mentioned here for example tap and dancehall. We recommend you look up the various fitness courses offered in NYC and find out what the best dance workouts are and if they suit you.
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