Dancing for Cardio?

[IMightDance]

Hello.

This forum seems to be for professional pair dancing only, so I apologise if it is. However, if it's not, I would like some feedback from people much more experienced than I am, since I have never danced in my life and am looking into it for purely health (not competitive) reasons.

Recently, I've been thinking about doing some exercise (mainly cardio) because I'm really unfit. In my mind, dancing has always been a good form of exercise which requires a lot of energy/stamina. However, is this true for all dancing or only the very intensive, non-stop quick dancing?

My idea was that rather than jogging after work, if I could copy the dance of a song I liked (one person's moves), I could use that to give me the same form of exercise while (maybe) having fun. Or am I overestimating dance and should stick to normal methods of exercise?

I don't expect you to look at all of these YouTube videos, but if you could skim through at least one video from each list below and give me feedback on them as to if they are good and why, I would greatly appreciate it.

Ideally, I would want gracefulness like BoA when I dance, but that is not something one can achieve as a beginner.

These are dances I believe would be good for cardio, but they seem quite difficult to me:
GOT7 - Hard Carry: /watch?v=-XbNyh4GP-0
Teen Top - Rocking: /watch?v=CvEYguzOVNo

These are dances which are easier and I could manage, but I question if they're good enough to be better than jogging:
Berry Good - Don't Believe: /watch?v=ezKcKYyX664
Blackpink - Playing With Fire: /watch?v=NvWfJTbrTBY
GOT7 - Just Right: /watch?v=nqmY53BICOM
K.A.R.D - Don't Recall: /watch?v=CvVBQ6n9o_0
K.A.R.D - Oh Nana: /watch?v=mQHtfuydbWg
Monsta X - Hero: /watch?v=hb_yGZ9nJik

Thank you in advance.

 

[s2k]

Welcome to DF!

Your idea seems... time consuming. If cardio dancing is what you're aiming to do, why not just sign up for a Zumba class?

 

[raindance]

Zumba or other dance exercise classes are a great idea.

Or if you are looking to get exercise while dancing at home, try one of the numerous cardio dance exercise videos on the market. They exist in a variety of styles - country, ballroom, hip hop and more I am sure. I'm sure quality of these exercise videos varies, too. But these are generally geared to people who think dance would be a fun way to get some cardio, with moves often (not always) geared towards beginners, so a big dance background is not usually required. (I'm older than you, so I would look for DVDs myself to go this route. But there are probably apps and streaming and other options out there too. I know some offer both DVDs and streaming options.)

Generally, though, jogging will get you more reliable cardio (e.g. hitting a certain heart rate and staying there for so many minutes). It's easy to adjust the jogging pace to get your heart rate up or down, assuming you have enough general fitness to manage that. Jogging can also be monotonous and hard on the knees, ankles, and feet over time.

Dancing on the other hand, will work a lot of different muscles. Done with a little attention to technique, you can get benefits in posture, leg strength, balance, coordination, etc, along with some cardio. How much cardio will vary with the intensity of your dancing.

 

[raindance]

And PS, if you are looking to really learn how to dance, take some lessons in the style you are interested in. You will get much further much faster with decent instruction. But a good quality exercise video or zumba class should be plenty to get you moving for some general exercise.

 

[IMightDance]

That's true, rain. It works all of the muscles.

Thank you for the replies. I guess I'll look into zumba and try it out (I won't be going to classes though). I just want something to do for around 20 minutes among my other exercises on my way home.

 

[opendoor]

Hello..

Hi IMightDance, welcome to DF!!

..seems to be for professional pair dancing only, so I apologize..

Most of us are pair dancers, that´s right, but the majority belongs to the group of amateur and social dancers, not professionals.

..never danced in my life and am looking into it for purely health.. reasons..

Speeking frankly, that's not a good idea. Dancing is a very demanding (and one-sided) enterprise. Almost everyone of us makes an additional fitness training simply to be fit for the dancing, not the other way round.

..don't expect you to look at all of these YouTube videos, but...

Most of them are choreographies. I find it quite stupid to simply copy those moves roughly. Perhaps it may also be dangerous, because you are not trained.
My advice: As dancing is good not only for health, but for recreation, for communication, and so on, simply join a line dance group. It´s easy at the beginning, it´s fun, you do not need a dance partner, and there will be some more advanced dancers that can give you advice.

 

[IMightDance]

Thank you for the response.

 

[twnkltoz]

Zumba.