Belly dancing improves self-image, coordination and agility, and conditions your muscles, heart and lungs. Because it's a weight-bearing exercise, performing belly dance helps to strengthen your bones and reduce your risk of osteoporosis. Weight-bearing exercise also helps to increase your energy levels. Belly dance sessions that include moving across the floor and using footwork continuously provide aerobic benefits to improve your metabolism and conditions your heart. Performing physical activity can help a larger person live longer and reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure, according to the Weight Control Information Network.
Background
Belly dance offers a low-impact workout for people of all sizes. Belly dance tones your legs, arms, shoulders, back, upper and lower abdominal muscles, obliques, back and hips. The dance includes isolations -- movements that focus on specific areas of the body -- including the neck, shoulders, torso and hips. Belly dancing's vigorous, full-body movements combined with footwork offer an effective workout for calorie-burning. The emphasis on working the hips and belly region helps to tone those areas.
Calories
Body weight affects how many calories a person burns during exercise. The more body weight you carry, the more energy it requires to move. Belly dance burns an estimated 612 calories per hour for a 300-lb. person, according to CaloriesPerHour.com. A 300-lb. person burns 204 calories belly dancing for 20 minutes, 306 calories in 30 minutes and 459 calories in 45 minutes. Belly dance and other forms of vigorous exercise raise your metabolism during your exercise session and for awhile afterward. When your exercise regularly, your body becomes better at burning calories.
Significance
Remaining physically active at any size improves the quality of your life. Continuous, rhythmic movement such as the footwork in belly dance strengthens your heart and lungs, and helps your body become more efficient at burning calories. Vigorous exercise such as belly dance helps to elevate your metabolism, both during and after exercise. Because belly dance offers an enjoyable form of exercise and self-expression, it provides a workout you can look forward to and stick with long-term to improve your physical fitness. Belly dance may even help to protect you from some cancers, according to The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Considerations
Unlike forms of dance that emphasize thin body types, belly dance troupes and classes tend to accept a wider range of body types, offering a more comfortable exercise environment for a 300-lb. person. Check with your instructor about modifications for moves that may be too difficult for you. If you use a DVD, focus on moves that suit your fitness level. Some belly dance moves, such as kneeling back bends, pose a risk of injury. Consult with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.
Rates of calorie burning vary based on the style of belly dance and how fast you move. Make sure you're able to speak a few words as you dance. If you become out of breath, slow down.
References
- Weight-control Informations Network: Active at Any Size: Physical Activities
- Weight-control Information Network: Active at Any Size: Why Should I be Active?
- Calories Per Hour: Activity Calculator
- American Council on Fitness; So You Think You Can Dance? Well, Now You Can; 2011
- The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Dance Your Way to Cancer Prevention; February 2011
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