Dancing Is One of the Best Full Body Workouts

Let the music move you.

best full body workout

If you know us, you know we love music… and we love turning that music up and having a dance party. Where there are bulldoggers, there’s dancing — and it’s not just because it’s a good time. Dancing is also one of the best full body workouts you can get! 

(Seriously, one of the best full body workouts you can get. This is for real.)

In a 2017 article, Time even went so far as to call dancing “the best thing you can do for your body.” Sounds like it could fall in the category of “best full body workouts” to us! According to the same article, “If running is like driving on a freeway, dancing is more like motoring through a busy city.” How’s that for a visual? 

If that sounds cool, but you still need more back-up, we’ve got that, too. Read on!

best full body workout

Dancing is essentially a great aerobic activity.

Like any great bodyweight exercise, dancing gets your heart beating and your blood moving, and you may even find yourself breaking a healthy sweat. These are the tell-tale symptoms of a good aerobic session and of one of the best full body workouts in the game.

In order to get the most out of your dance workout, Livestrong recommends that you “move energetically enough that your heart rate rises and you feel a bit sweaty, but don’t dance so vigorously that you lose your breath or can’t speak easily. Keeping your freestyle dance at the level of moderate exercise, rather than intense or anaerobic exercise, helps you sustain the movement for longer periods of time, ultimately burning more calories.”

It doesn’t hurt that the longer your dance sessions, the happier you’ll feel!

best full body workoutDancing targets pretty much all of your priority areas.

According to WebMD, getting your groove on engages your core (including your back), your legs, and your glutes. This might all sound pretty predictable, but dancing can also be a great arm workout if you break it down with the right moves. Wave those hands in the air like you just don’t care and see an increase in muscle tone in your upper body.

Just like doing an awesome online yoga class, dancing is absolutely one of the best full body workouts you can find.

It’s a calorie burner.

We’re not big on calorie counting around here, but if those kinds of stats are important to you, you’ll be glad to know that you can burn anywhere between 125 and 250 calories per every thirty-minute stretch of dancing, according to Livestrong. The American Council on Exercise actually equates energetic dancing (AKA alllllll of the dancing we do at bulldog and in our online classes) with jogging in terms of calorie-burning efficiency. Burn, baby, burn! 

(And if you were looking for an additional fun fact, yoga is also a great exercise for losing weight! That’s one more reason that power yoga is one of the best full body workouts.)

best full body workoutIt improves flexibility.

You may not realize it in real-time, but many dance moves will help you become more flexible, per WebMD. The more you move your body, the wider your range of motion will be, even when the music stops. We talk a lot about increased flexibility as one of the many health benefits of online yoga classes, but dancing is another way to achieve it, too! 

best full body workoutDancing is, well, fun.

This isn’t rocket science! Putting on some good music and dancing your little heart out is a heck of a lot more fun than many other forms of exercise (other than online yoga classes with us, of course). If you actually enjoy your workout, you’ll be way more likely to do it on a regular basis, creating some positive patterns in your life. Long-term wellness is all about adding sustainable habits into your routine, and nothing’s more sustainable than an activity that makes you happy. 

A form of exercise can only be one of the best full body workouts for you if you actually like it. So shake that thing, bulldoggers!

Did we mention it’s free?

You can get that full-body workout for zero dollars — and pretty much anywhere you happen to be — when you turn on a good song and get your body moving.

No excuses, dance like a champion.

Come dance on the yoga mat with us for one of the best full body workouts out there! Our online classes really feel like a dance party.

Featured image: Juan Camilo Navia/Unsplash; Dancing image: Andre Hunter/Unsplash; Stretching image: Katee Lue/Unsplash

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