Your body has a natural shape, dictated by the size and shape of your skeleton, that nothing can change. Some people have a natural hourglass shape, while others are almost straight up and down. Extra fat and a loss of muscle can obscure your natural shape, though, and dancing can help uncover it. Like any exercise, your results depend upon how often you do it and how hard you work when you do, but the sheer variety of dances ensures you'll never get bored.
Losing Fat
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend two and a half hours of moderate aerobic exercise per week --- that's about 30 minutes per day, five days per week. To lose fat, you may find it necessary to do an hour per day, or work at a more vigorous intensity. If you are new to dance, start with a slower form like square dancing or waltzing until your body gets acclimated. Once you work your way up to the jitterbug or Irish dance, the constant, rapid movement will torch calories very quickly. Until you burn off the fat, your stomach will never be flat, no matter what kind of exercise you do.
Building Strength
Most forms of dance strengthen your core by virtue of the fact that they all require you to maintain a certain posture. This works your deep abdominal muscles, which act like a girdle and help flatten and narrow your midsection. Certain forms of dance target your abs and waist more directly though --- belly dancing is an obvious choice, but ballet battements and hip-swiveling latin dances like the paso and salsa rely heavily on abdominal muscles to correctly complete the movements.
Combining Strength and Cardio
Combining cardio with strength work increases the number of calories you burn over either one alone, and it helps you develop the muscle memory necessary to make the movements appear to come naturally. The jive is a fast-paced dance style that involves heavy abdominal movements, and some belly dancing choreography requires you to keep pace with a rapid drum rhythm while executing figure-eights and circles with your hips. Another benefit of these combination dances is that they teach you muscular control --- you can't simply fling your body around the floor, you must use your core muscles to execute each and every step. The more you use your core muscles, the stronger and flatter they become.
No Rules
Of course, it isn't necessary to absorb the history and nuances of any particular dance discipline just to get in shape. Dance is just another form of exercise, whether you know what you're doing or not. Turning on your radio and dancing around the house will produce the same effects if you do it with gusto, get your heart rate up and make it a point to engage your abs. There are also a variety of dance video games that may keep you even more engaged by introducing the elements of scoring and competition. The great thing about dance is that it can be whatever you need it to be, and you may find that it may develop from a workout to a hobby that will help you keep your new trim shape.
Member Comments