Dance Fitness: Bust a Move, Not the Scales

Getting tired of the same old fitness routine? Why not try a dance class? Dance fitness is a great way to get your body moving and improve your aerobic fitness and strength!

Plus, learning new dance moves will keep your mind engaged so that you won’t even feel like you’re working out.

You don’t have to have a dance background to join a dance fitness class.

There are tons of introductory courses to get you started.

Or, if you are reluctant to jump right into a group class, you can even try dance videos or online classes that you can do from the comfort of your own home.

Dance Your Way Into A Healthier Lifestyle

Dance fitness is a great way to improve your overall health.

A recent 2020 study found that Zumba dance improved a number of health factors in sedentary women, including mental health, physical fitness, and quality of life

There are all sorts of styles of dance that you can incorporate into your exercise routine.

The first step is choosing a dance class, and then the fun begins!

If you are looking to get your heart rate up and improve your cardiovascular fitness, you will want to choose a more fast-paced dance class like Zumba.

On the other hand, if you are aiming to increase your mobility and flexibility, you may want to opt for slower-paced classes like yoga dance or Barre.

Here are some of the top dance fitness classes to try out if you are looking for a new approach to your workout program.

Cardio Fitness

These dance workouts are more intense and fast-paced.

Cardio dance workouts will get your heart racing and improve cardiovascular fitness to the greatest extent.

Of course, you will also be building great lower body and core strength as well.

Examples include:

Zumba: Zumba is a fast-paced cardio workout based on Latin dance that will have you breaking a sweat in no time.

Jazzercise: Like Zumba, this is another aerobic dance class, however, is inspired by jazz dance.

Hip Hop Dance Fitness: These high-intensity workouts are set to hip hop music and can range from house dance, break dancing, and street dancing.

Barre Workouts

You have probably seen Barre classes advertised at your local gym.

While these classes are ballet-inspired, you don’t need pointy shoes or any background in ballet to participate.

These workouts incorporate elements of yoga, Pilates, and strength training to improve balance, posture, and flexibility.

Plus, these workouts will build stability and core strength.

Barre workouts tend to include high reps of isolating pulse-like movements to really burn out your muscles.

These are excellent low-impact, moderate-intensity classes.

They don’t provide as much of the hard impact cardio but are a great addition to any fitness routine to really hone in on core strength and balance.

Mind-Body Dance

Mind-body dance classes are lower impact and intensity and focus more on stability, balance, and flexibility.

Since a lot of these workouts incorporate aspects of yoga or tai chi, they also help reduce stress and improve mental health as well.

Yoga Trance Dance

This is a form of mind-body dance.

These workouts incorporate elements of yoga into a flowing routine.

Classes are more low-impact and low- to moderate-intensity.

This makes it a perfect place to start if you are looking for a beginner’s course in dance fitness.

These workouts offer combined benefits ranging from improved cardiovascular health to enhanced flexibility and reduced stress.

Yoga workouts are great for both mental and physical health.

Nia

The Nia technique is a holistic exercise that integrates body movement with visualization and imagery to connect the mind, body, and soul.

It blends elements from the dance, martial arts, and healing arts to improve flexibility, agility, mobility, strength, and stability.

Because it is low impact and lower intensity it is the perfect option for beginners, but also great even for those with a more active lifestyle.

Sensual Dance

These classes are more sexual in nature and include things like belly dancing, aerial dance, and pole dancing.

Sensual dance, especially aerial and pole dancing, will build some serious upper body and core strength.

This is a fun way to incorporate fitness and friskiness at the same time.

Belly Dancing

Dance classes like belly dancing are a little more sensual and are a great way to raise your heart rate and build core strength and flexibility.

Belly dancing is a fun way to get into great shape and to show off some new dance moves.

Pole Dancing

Pole dancing tends to carry a stigma, however with the introduction of pole dancing classes into fitness, more women are embracing this form of exercise.