Latin dancing has become increasingly popular in American culture from dance television shows and due to the quickly-rewarding firming and weight-loss benefits of an intense dance workout. Find these offerings at local gyms or dance studios, or buy a DVD or Latin dance video game to perform dance moves from home.
Weight Loss
Any type of dancing, including Latin-style dancing, provides both aerobic exercise and strength training. You can burn calories, which leads to weight loss, through the aerobic activity of Latin dancing. If you have a caloric deficit of 500 calories a day, through a combination of reduced calories from food and through exercise, you will lose a pound a week. You can burn 250 calories by doing the salsa for only a half hour. Dancing also provides strength training as a weight-bearing activity. Strength training builds your muscles, which helps you burn more calories, even when you are resting.
Types
Numerous Latin-style dancing options provide a fun way to stay active. Some common types to try are salsa, mambo, merengue, samba, rumba, cha-cha and Zumba, a Latin-based fusion dance workout.
Cardiovascular Benefits
A study by Gian Pietro Emerenziani and colleagues presented at the American College of Sports Medicine 56th Annual Meeting in May 2009 found that amateur dancers greatly increased their heart rates when dancing the salsa, especially in a night-club salsa variety, compared to a slower ballroom variety. This shows that Latin dancing can provide the cardiovascular benefits of aerobic exercise.
Considerations
Latin dancing helped women of color to incorporate more exercise into their daily lives in a 2011 study in the "Journal of Obesity." The study commented that one-third of the Hispanic and African-American adult populations are not physically active. Latin dance is considered a moderately to vigorously intense exercise, which makes it conducive to losing weight. The study also noted that women were likely to stick with Latin dancing on a long-term basis.
References
- American Council on Exercise; What Are the Benefits of Dance Inspired Workouts?; Jessica Matthews; Nov. 11, 2009
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Types of Dances
- American College of Sports Medicine; Salsa or Tango Toward Health; May 29, 2009
- "Journal of Obesity"; SALSA: Saving Lives Staying Active to Promote Physical Activity and Healthy Eating; Rebecca E. Lee, et al.; 2011
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