Dance your Way Fit

Copyright (c) 2007 Jess Harley

If the only time you dance is at weddings, you have no idea what you are missing out on. First of all not only is dancing fun, it is also exercise! Think about your moving your feet, your arms, your twisting away and giving yourself a full body workout. Ever noticed how sometimes the day after a wedding, your body is a little sore, especially if you do not workout before hand? Celebrities, who take part in Dancing with The Stars, have reported an increase in weight loss. The most traditional way of getting a good dancing workout is to turn on some music and let yourself go and boogie down. It is also an excellent way to incorporate some bonding time with your kids too if you included them. There are days when Ill turn on the radio and me and my daughter will just dance our feet off.

There might be some of you, who are looking for something a little more structured and instruction. Not to worry there is something for you also. Gyms all around the world are starting to offer dancing classes. Starting off there is Cardio Salsa. This class if offered at The Crunch gyms nationwide or you can look for it on DVD. It is a low impact high intensity workout that combines the hottest Latin dances such as the cha-cha, mambo, samba and more with traditional dance steps such as the grapevine, lunges and arm raises. What women are loving about this workout is that they can take what they learn on the videos or classes and take it to a night club if they want to!

Cardio Capoeira is also becoming another popular dance workout. It was featured briefly on the cool down segments of the hit exercise video Turbo Jam, but has come out on its own as a great workout. In fact for fans of the hit Movie Oceans 12 might remember it being featured as the Night Fox dodges the lasers to get to the goods, or you might remember Catherine Zeta-Jones using a similar dance in the movie Entrapment. Cardio Capoeira is a basically a form of martial arts that is disguised as dancing. It was used to train Brazilian slaves martial arts without letting their captors know. It requires a lot of kicking, spinning and even cartwheels. What makes this workout so powerful especially on your buttocks and quads is the move the ginga which links one movement to the next so you will find yourself doing this often.

Cardio Striptease is another dance workout that is sweeping the nation. There are a number of DVDs out that offer a cardio striptease workout. This routine is part burlesque, part yoga, and part gymnastics. There are no concise steps and the whole point of the routine is to allow you to move freely and beautifully and learn to express yourself. You never have to worry about holding any sort of poses but move from one move to another by using slow moving hip and butt circles. The aim of this workout is to tone the hips, buttocks, thighs calves and abs.

Of course you can always go the more traditional route and sign up for ballroom dancing classes which will still give you a great workout. Which ever one of these you choose, you will burning fat and calories while having a great time. You wont even know you are exercising, thats how much fun you will have.