How Dance Classes Can Help Your Balance and Fitness

How Dance Classes Can Help Your Balance and Fitness

on Aug 18, 2014 in Uncategorized

There is a direct link between dance classes and your overall athleticism.  We all want to be better athletes, improve our fitness, and get the exercise needed to live healthier lives.  The problem is that traditional exercise can be a bit boring.  Not everyone wants to go to the gym, lift weights, go outside for a jog for hours on end, etc.  Dancing is more of an enjoyable form of exercise in the eyes of many people and can have the same positive impact on your fitness.

Dancing, by nature, helps promote us gain better balance and improve our overall fitness.  This is due to a variety of different things, including the cardiovascular exercise that it delivers, the flexibility that it helps us gain, as well as the strength we build due to the movements from it.  Let’s take a closer look at the link between dance classes, and your overall balance and fitness.

Getting in the Cardio Work

Our cardiovascular health and our overall fitness go hand-in-hand.  The better shape we are in from a cardiovascular standpoint, the more we are going to be able to do physically.  The strength of your cardiovascular system is tied directly to how well your body pumps blood throughout your body.  If you have a great cardio system, your body is going to be able to more effectively and efficiently deliver oxygen to the parts of the body that need it to continue to perform.

Dance classes are a great way to help improve cardiovascular health.  The more that you dance, the more cardio work that you are going to be putting in.  It is just like those who train for marathons.  You build up over time, running a mile or two, then three or four, and so on.  Eventually, you have the cardiovascular stamina and strength to run the whole marathon.  Dance classes are very similar.  You may get winded in the first class, but after a few classes, you’ll feel much better and ready to go.

Building Flexibility

Dancing is just as much about flexibility as it is about the dance moves themselves.    The more that you dance, the greater your level of flexibility is going to be.  Flexibility is all about conditioning the body to take on different types of movements.  It is about building up core strength that can then, in turn, be used to perform moves that you did not think possible in the past.

Flexibility is a great way to ensure that you do not get injured when taking part in physical activities.  Think about the importance that athletes put in stretching before big games or matches.  That flexibility is what allows them to put their bodies in varying positions and not get injured.  The flexibility gained from a dance class can help you prevent any type of sports-related injury, whether it come from dancing itself or something entirely different.

Balance is Important for Athletes

Balance is one of the most important things for athletes.  Having a firm center of gravity to work off of will let us perform as athletes in such a way that we can avoid injury, be stronger in our base, and excel at anything that we do.  Balance can be learned over time by doing thing such as yoga and pilates.  One of the best ways to improve your balance, though, is through dance classes.

There is a lot of balance that is learned in every dance class that is taught.  Think about all of the times in dance class that you have to hold certain poses, practice different types of stances and postures, and so on.  This all requires you to balance one way or another.  The more that you practice these types of balancing maneuvers, the better you are going to get at executing them.  As you get older, balance becomes much more important.

Dance classes can be a huge asset to anyone looking to improve their overall fitness.  Whether you want to improve your cardiovascular health, your strength, flexibility, or balance, dance can help you get there.  The type of dance really does not matter.  As long as you are out there on the dance floor, practicing on a regular basis, you are going to be getting in a very good workout.  Dance is all about building up a strong core and utilizing that strength to execute moves in a crisp fashion.  If you want a fun way to get some exercise and really improve your overall wellness, dance classes can surely be much more fun than jogging outside.