Please Post Your Salsa Tips Here

Corissa Babbitt
Monday 29th of October 2007 01:38:14 PM
Author: LearnSalsa.com

These days, the thought of working out can make anybody groan. Maybe you drudge up horrid images of yourself sweating and panting at the gym, dragging your feet along the sidewalk for a “jog”, or even stretching in awkward positions at a yoga class. If this is true for you, then hold the phones and stop the presses—we need to spend some time talking about the health benefits of doing the salsa!
Working out doesn’t have to be boring, exhausting or irritating. It can be quite the opposite if you know all of your exercise options. Granted, exercise always has to involve some tiring and sweating, otherwise it wouldn’t be doing your body any good. However, if you incorporate salsa dancing into your routine, you can have an absolute blast and get fit at the same time. Plus, all that sweating you’ll do is another great health benefit—sweat pulls all sorts of toxins out of your body that affect you physically and mentally.
Taking a dance lesson can burn an amazing amount of calories. Did you know that during one of learnsalsa.com’s 6-hour boot camps, you could burn 1500 calories? Like any other form of physical activity, how many calories you burn and how much you benefit from it can vary. It depends how strenuous the dance you’re doing is, the duration of the workout and your current skill level. The more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it (and the more calories you’ll get out of your body!)
Another great health benefit of learning to salsa is that dancing is great both for cardio and strength training. The constant movement of your body at a fast pace elevates your heart rate, making salsa a perfect cardiovascular activity. Over time, this can lead to a reduced heart rate and lower blood pressure. As far as muscle strength goes, dancing causes you to work out muscles that you might not even realize that you have. Pushing yourself to practice every step, every move, will help you build your body’s stamina and endurance.
Now, how about a health benefit for your future: A study published in the June 19, 2003 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine found that dancing can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in the elderly. Salsa isn’t just good for you now—it’s good for you 20, 30, even 40 years from now!

So what are you waiting for? Check out the 6-hour boot camp at LearnSalsa.com!