Beyond the Beat: Unveiling Fitness Secrets through Diverse Dance Styles

Dance: one of the true universal languages that goes hand in hand with music. There are many fitness benefits in dancing to workout, as well as many different styles. Ever wonder why you watch so many of you favourite stars lose weight while they perform on Dancing with the Stars? Why all the pros look so fit and muscular? It’s because of all the fitness benefits that come with dancing. There’s a reason why I have continued dancing all these years, and why I always talk about getting a dance workout video (or game) for at home workouts. Let’s get started by looking at the benefits of dance.

Benefits of Dance in Your Workout

One of the most important benefits is your cardiovascular health. Since dancing-even to a slower beat-gets you moving around, your heart goes into overdrive. The more you dance, the more you boost your stamina and endurance which strengthens your heart and improves blood circulation. Dancing will also help with breathing techniques as you have to learn to properly adjust your breathing when your heart rate goes up; something that is a natural occurrence when you work out in general. This is a helpful benefit for when you go for a run, as you are already trained in breathing more regularly.

Let’s talk calorie burning now! This is one of the reasons you see so many of the stars on Dancing with the Stars lose weight. They are rehearsing to perform at least eight hours a day! Dancing gets every muscle in your body moving, burning the calories and fat that are held there. This is why online you will see many ads for “dancing the fat away” because it is literally what you’re doing. Dancing is a great way to manage weight, which is why a lot of gyms have Zumba classes.

As I already mentioned, when you burn calories, you are also burning away the fat which makes way for muscles. Have you ever noticed how dancers look super thin and toned? It’s because with the use of every muscle, you are working them out. Lifting a partner in the air takes the same type of muscle use as doing the Romanian Deadlift, also known as the Stiff-Legged Deadlift. The mechanics between the two may differ, but the same set of muscles are used, primarily the hips and legs. If you’ve ever seen someone who goes to the gym and does a lot of leg exercises, then you’ve seen what muscular legs can look like.

Have you ever seen how flexible a dancer is? Some of the most flexible people are dancers, cheerleaders, and gymnasts. While they each have different types of training involved in their activities, they each use some type of dance in what they are doing. Gymnasts will use dance when they perform their floor routines, which is a beautiful and powerful combination of dance moves and tumbling acrobatics. Cheerleaders are extremely similar in the fact they also use dance moves and tumbling in their routines, but they also perform powerful two to five person stunts; however, they generally have a separate group called the Pom Line who specifically focus on difficult dance choreography only. While dancers have many different types of dance, they must be flexible to be able to successfully execute each style with a wide range of motion and expressive movements. Dancing helps our flexibility as you stretch your muscles more the more difficult dance you perform, the wider range of motion you are able to have.

Let’s talk about how good it feels to dance! Dancing can be a wonderful stress relief. In the late ‘00s/early ‘10s when Toby Keith’s Bar and Grill was open, I used to go every Friday night and dance. The bonus in dancing a lot is that you are able to change partners easily, as most move cues are all the same. I would dance with three to five different partners over a four-hour period, and the dances would be flawless. While they were strangers to me, the rhythm them that flowed through our bodies was the same; and that’s not even getting started on the thrilling feeling of taking a cue that you’re about to be flipped over someone’s arm before being dipped with only a hand on the back of your neck to hold you! It’s easy to lose yourself in the music! Remember those dances in middle and high school? How on the dance floor you could just dance the night away? It’s because of the serotonin that is released when we are happy, which relieves stress.

Different Types of Dance

We’re going to look at three distinct types of dance today, but bear in mind that there are many styles of dance that fall under each type. Let’s start with a type that is generally more difficult to start as an adult: ballet.

Ballet

While not impossible to start as an adult, it is generally more difficult especially if you want to make a career of it. Children have an easier time with starting and being more successful at ballet due to the fact their bodies are still developing. Their bodies are more adaptable so they can develop muscle memory of the difficult poses much easier. As adults, we are generally less flexible than a child, which can make some of the moves more difficult if you have not been doing it from a young age.

However, if you have been an athlete or a dancer of a different style, it could be easier for you to pick up due to the natural flexibility that you still have. Mules you’ve spoken to someone who studies it, or even watched a documentary or show that involves ballet, many do not realize the demand that is placed on a ballerina’s body. Fractures in the feet are quite common, and a fully frown adult body will struggle more to come back from that type of injury. I’ve had a stress fracture in my foot as an adult and had to stay off of it for several weeks; something that as a child I either never had, or only had to stay off of it for a few days.

Let’s talk about the benefits of ballet, though. The muscle strength and endurance needed for ballet is quite high. You have to have a good core, especially as ballet if full of lifts and difficult poses. However, those poses will help immensely with good posture as you have to be perfectly straight and rigid when you are lifted. As we advance further in the science of electronics, I travel around and not only see but also take part in being pretty hunched over my phone so I can travel in peace; we’ve all been there at one point, even if it’s at home trying to get a few moments to yourself. Doom scrolling can be extremely detrimental to your posture, and those who partake in ballet are less susceptible to being hunched over when they begin the spiral into doom scrolling because it is ingrained into them to keep your back straight. The same could also be said of those who are in marching band as well.

Your flexibility is quite expansive when you participate in ballet because the range of motion you need is difficult. Many ballet poses that I have seen can include being able to create a perfect 180-degree angle with your leg; for those of you who haven’t seen it it’s like doing the splits while standing. The back and forth between the slower moves and poses to the quicker, upbeat ones keep your endurance up as well.

Hip Hop

Who hasn’t dreamed about being an awesome hip hop dancer? Up on a stage doing some awesome, face-paced moves that look amazing? All the fast-paced moves to the energetic and upbeat music will keep your heart rate up and teach your body the endurance you need to keep up with it. When I was in middle school, I did a lot of hip hop as I was prepping to eventually be on the cheer squad in high school; all of that dancing lead to me being able to do a four-and-a-half-minute mile at the age of 12.

At that age, I had found the cardiovascular benefit if hip hop; the fast-paced beats brought me my long-lasting endurance to be able to run at a steady pace faster than others who didn’t have the same endurance as I did.

Like ballet, hip hop is fantastic for keeping your muscles toned. Many hip hop dancers have more of a toned upper body, though, as they will do more tricks like the head spin. Please, though, do not attempt something like that without someone who is experienced and has the proper equipment. In high school, my hip hop instructor had come to Homecoming, and done a head spin on the bare gym floor. He woke up with a blood soaked pillow, and had scabs from where he had cut his head open on the floor.

Hip hop also helps with motor skills and challenges your rhythm and coordination. Hip hop is made up of fast-paced but tight movements. It is due to this fact that your motor skills are refined and honed as every move you make has to be done very precisely. The complicated moves that can come from hip hop also help your coordination with how quickly you have to move from one into the next.

Latin Dance

Salsa, Cha-Cha-Cha, Rumba, Samba, Tango, Paso Doble; these are dances you will recognize if you are a fan of Dancing with the Stars or Strictly Come Dancing (for those who watch in Britain) as at least one of these is performed weekly by the stars and pros. These amongst others are some of the core dances for Latin Ballroom and are fantastic for working out to. In fact, in the US, several of the Dancing with the Stars pros have filmed at home workout DVDs that include these specific dances.

Let’s look at the benefits while discussing these workout DVDs. Latin dances are very high energy, are it is always best to start off a bit slower paced until you have learned the steps and are comfortable with them. The workout DVDs will slowly speed up as you go through them, because the high energy meeting with fast paced dance moves (as addressed above) is fantastic for your heart, and your endurance. If you’ve ever watched an episode, you will see that the dancers breathe after performing the Latin dances as compared to the traditional ballroom dances like the Waltz.

If you have ever seen Dirty Dancing, then you probably remember how much work Johnny had on his hands when teaching Baby the Mambo; the Mambo is a more structured version of the Salsa. The Latin dances primarily work your core and hips, resulting in fast-paced yet smooth and fluid movements. In Dirty Dancing as you watch Baby learn the Mambo, you will notice how she stands straighter, and her core is constantly in motion; this is the reason why Latin dances are fantastic for toning your stomach. All of your movements come from core your core, so most of your muscles used are in your stomach and abs.

For many you like to be social, finding a local Latin class is a great idea because even though there are great Latin workout videos out there, these dances are best done with partners. Latin dances are a great starting point for learning how to take silent cues from a dance partner, as there’s lots of spinning and dipping.

Dancing has many diverse options when it comes to working out, but just as many benefits. In looking back, your cardiovascular health will take have the best take away from it; but muscle toning is a huge plus too. The fact that it is a workout that you can do at home, in a class, or with a partner. No matter how you choose to dance for your or out, though, there’s one very important rule: stay hydrated!