Can You Lose Weight by Dancing in Your Room?

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Nia 17 Jul, 2019

Are you:

    •  Looking for some new ways that can help you lose weight faster?

    •  Bored of the regular exercises and diet processes to shed some belly fat?

  •  Checking out the list of effective and interesting exercises that you can do at home?

If yes, then you should include dancing in your workout routine.

Yes, to your surprise, dancing includes one of those moves that makes every part of your body go back and forth as per a musical rhythm. The traditional approach to weight loss is joining a gym, consulting a dietitian, doing heavy workouts, etc. All the options revolve around two main things- exercise and diet.

Benefits of Dancing: How Does Dancing Help in Weight Loss?

benefits of dancing

Dancing is a fun and interesting way to lose weight. It is an intense and disciplined activity that moves all the parts of your body. Being a full-body exercise, it builds bone density and tones up the muscles. You should consider it to have a new and refreshed way of keeping yourself constructively occupied and learning something new.

As an exercise, it also helps you feel at ease with yourself and be more agile besides releasing hormones that keep you happy all day long. Here are some other benefits of dancing:

1. Strengthens respiratory system

2. Boosts muscular agility and strength

3. Increases motor fitness

4. It is an easy aerobic exercise

5. Is better than strength-training exercises

6. Helps in weight management

7. Makes bones and muscles stronger

8. Reduces stress and depression

9. Increases energy and enthusiasm

10. Helps you appreciate music even more

Several demanding dance forms like hip hop may require you to shake your belly, thighs, and butts vigorously. This would seem a bit difficult at first but you can get past the hurdle with some discipline. Such demanding dances also burn flab around your waist and belly, thus helping you stay fit and agile.

Did you know? You can also opt for belly dancing to relieve yourself of backache and obesity, and to improve your posture.

What Are the Best Dance Forms for Weight Loss and Fitness?

What are the best dance forms for weight loss and fitness?

Dance workouts have gained the attention of fitness enthusiasts because they are a fantastic form of exercise and can burn calories really fast. A strict schedule of exercising makes it boring and monotonous and hence dancing comes up as a pleasing and interesting option.

Also read: Weight-Loss Rules & Tricks You’ll Love to Follow!

You may choose from several dance forms depending upon your body structure, strength, and stamina. Some dance forms are more strenuous than others and you should be careful with them. It is important to learn the dance moves under expert guidance for the first few sessions to understand the intensity and methods better.

Hip Hop

This one is the most popular form in nightclubs. This dance form involves a quick succession of movements that move the entire body. This dance workout is good both for beginners and veterans, and they can start with it easily.

The target of this dance form is the hips and waist area, thus it helps in reducing belly fat and toning your abs. Dancing for an hour will help you to burn about 250 calories.

Salsa

This Latin American Dance form is fast becoming popular at parties. Salsa is a six-step dance that is performed over eight counts of music along with many turns and danced side-to-side. It is a really good choice for a weight loss program because it can help you burn around 400-420 calories in an hour.

Ballet

Though ballet dancing is normally considered a slow and low impact dance form, it involves great flexibility and requires a lot of strength and precision. The slow pace moves in this dance are very much similar to Pilates training that help in building muscles and stamina.

The moves help in stretching the muscles and provide a full-body workout. It will make your lower body more flexible and help you burn that extra layer of flab that you just don’t like. Just like hip-hop, this exotic dance form can help you lose some belly fat faster and also make you look more attractive.

Zumba

Zumba is a complete kit for a cardio workout as it is a perfect mix of salsa, rumba, merengue, and hip hop moves. It is the most popular form of dance workout and many gym trainers offer it as a service. The steps of this dance form are easy and isolate your arms, abs, and legs for strengthening.

Free guide: Here’s how you can get started with Zumba for weight loss. For best results, you should do an online Zumba workout thrice a week.

Pole Dancing

You will be surprised to know that a pole dance of 30 minutes is equivalent to 20 minutes in a gym. Climbing and rotating around the pole increase your flexibility and also burns a lot of calories. Pole dancing helps in losing weight, toning muscles, and shaping your body as well.

Jazzercise

As one of the oldest dance forms, Jazzercise was founded in 1969. It combines jazz dance and strength training to tone muscles and burn calories. This dance form helps in building muscles by the use of barbells and dumbbells.

This is a perfect aerobic workout that involves the classic moves of Pilates, yoga, and cardio boxing moves. The Jazzercise website states that you can burn up to 600 calories by doing this dance in an hour. It should be done 2 to 3 times a week to lose weight more linearly.

Belly Dancing/Cabaret

This dance form involves slow and controlled isometric movements that aim to maintain flexibility and improve the blood circulation in your body. This dance form helps in toning body parts like hips, back, thighs, and abs and burns up to 300 calories every hour.

Shaking the belly or lower body burns calories and helps shape up your buttocks. Cabaret increases the flexibility and fitness of your body, along with improving your bone density. You can learn this dance by watching videos or joining special classes in the dance studio!

Traditional African dance forms

No, it’s not funny. These fitness-based moves are a combination of several contemporary and traditional African dance forms. It is based on some great music and some salient aspects of African culture in a musical way. This suits both beginners as well as experienced dancers, and can be easily done in a room.

You can also try the Freestyle dance form. It would ask you to move your body freely as you like without bothering about the dance steps or body movements. This dance form can be performed to any type of loud music and you can increase your pace by dancing any way you like.

Tip: You don’t have to be Michael Jackson to start with your first dance move. There are several easy and simple ways to get started with some smart and easy steps. However, we would recommend that you consult a professional dance trainer for the best results.

Can Dancing Reduce Belly Fat?

Yes, it can, if you do it the right way.

You can lose weight if you often dance in your room. It is indeed a healthy and fun-filled activity that finds several mentions in prehistoric caves. All ancient civilizations like the Indus, Greek, and Egyptians too had dancing as an integral part of their religious ceremonies.

Tip: Struggling with flexibility? Here’s how to get started with Yoga to set it right.

Can you shed some extra flab by just dancing in your room?

How Long Do You Have to Dance to Lose Weight?

Yes and no.

You can choose a specific dance form and practice it regularly to burn unwanted calories, especially from your belly and thighs. You might even lose two to three pounds every week under the guidance of a professional dance trainer. The key is to stay consistent, positive, and regular with your dance schedule.

It is important to go for an active lifestyle that consists of a nutritious diet, fitness-centric habits, and adequate sleep patterns. It is also important to stay away from indulgences like late-night binges too. If you add dancing to this routine, you may melt that stubborn piece of extra flab on your body sooner.

How Long Do You Have to Dance to Lose Weight?

How long do you have to dance to lose weight?

This is a tricky one. To determine how much weight you can lose by dancing, you would need to dance for at least 15 minutes every day. This should be preceded by a 5 minutes warm-up and then 5 minutes cool-down period. In between that, it’s all about you, your dance trainer, and the dance form you’ve chosen to work out with.

You can use a good quality fitness tracke and a smart health and fitness app smart health and fitness app with your Android smartphone or an iPhone. This would help you keep a track of your health vitals and the time you have worked out.

You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Dance. Staying Disciplined and Regular Would Do the Trick!

You can break a leg on fast-paced beats for about 30 minutes daily to see a visible change in a few weeks. You can also invite your friends to share your time and passion- this would help you stay motivated, especially during the more demanding phases of these rhythmic aerobic workouts.

The key is to note that you do not need to know a dance form perfectly. You can make just as much difference to your life by making it a part of your daily routine without worrying about how you look. If you enjoy doing this as your hobby, it is always worth doing every day without knowing that you skipped a few beats in between!