When it comes to our general health and wellbeing, we should never underestimate the importance of moving regularly and staying physically active. Exercise and physical exertion is every bit as important for health and longevity as eating a healthy and balanced diet. The problem is sticking with a regular exercise regime is easier said than done.

When people think of exercise, they think of grueling gym workouts, or lengthy runs outdoors or on the treadmill. Whilst these forms of exercise are indeed beneficial, they’re simply not for everybody. Sometimes, people want something a little different, which is where dancing enters the fold.

Dancing is not just a fun activity, it’s also an incredibly physically demanding activity that has been linked to a wide range of wellness benefits, both physically and mentally. If running or the gym aren’t for you, perhaps dancing is more up your street?

But how many calories does dancing burn compared to running and gym workouts? Let’s find out, shall we?

The Importance of Weight Management

Before we can look at how dancing stacks up against running and the gym in terms of calories burned, we first need to understand the importance of weight management, and why burning calories is deemed necessary.

Obesity has been linked to a wide range of health issues and ailments. Far too many to list each one, in fact. Some of the most serious health issues associated with being overweight however, include things such as:

·       Type-2 diabetes

·       Increased risk of cardiovascular disease

·       Increased risk of heart attacks

·       Increased risk of stroke

·       Arthritis and joint issues

·       Hypertension

·       Lack of mobility

·       Increased risk of fatty liver disease

·       Increased risk of certain forms of cancer

In order to lose excess body fat, or simply maintain our weight, it’s important that we don’t consume too many calories. A calorie is basically a unit of energy for the body. Consume too many, and we create a caloric surplus. When this occurs, the body uses what calories it needs to maintain itself, and whatever is left it stores for use at a later date, converting them to body fat.

Exercise burns calories so that we don’t find ourselves in a caloric surplus. The key to weight loss is to create a slight caloric deficit of around 200 – 500 calories per day. The key to weight management is to ensure that we don’t consume as many calories as we find ourselves in a caloric surplus.

How Many Calories Does Running Burn?

So, now that we understand the importance of weight management, it’s time to look at how different forms of exercise burn different numbers of calories.

Whilst we can’t give an exact answer to this question, generally speaking, running will burn roughly 100 calories for every mile that you run. The heavier you are, or the faster you run, the more calories you will burn. Running on an incline will also burn more calories because the activity is more physically demanding.

For a 5K run completed in around 30 minutes, most people can expect to burn between 300 and 400 calories.

How Many Calories Do Gym Workouts Burn?

We all know what gyms are for, but the exact type of workouts that people follow in the gym will vary from person to person. Some go to the gym to do cardio, whereas others lift weights. Some do a combination of both. Because of that, it’s again difficult to give an exact answer to this question.

Generally speaking, you can expect to burn anything from 180 – 600 calories during a one-hour gym workout. Training with high intensity, lifting heavy weights, and having shorter breaks between sets will all increase your heart rate, which in turn will help you to burn more calories.

How Many Calories Does Dancing Burn?

Okay, so now that we’ve looked at gym workouts vs running in terms of calories burned, it’s time to look at dancing.

Thinking of taking up dancing but are unsure about whether it will allow you to burn off enough calories to enjoy the health benefits? Here’s a rough overview of how many calories popular styles of dancing will burn off:

Salsa

Salsa is one of the most exotic, sexy, fast-paced, rhythmic dances ever created. Think of sexy Latin passion, Salsa is the dance that instantly springs to mind.

Because Salsa is so fast paced, it serves as a fantastic form of cardiovascular exercise and will really get your heart rate up and your blood pumping, and not just because of how intimate it is either.

A one-hour Salsa class has the potential to burn off as many as 400 calories. It is also great for coordination and hip mobility too.

Swing

Swing dancing is heavily influenced by jazz music, yet this is not reflected in the style of dance performed. We think of jazz and we think of slow, melodic trumpets with a relaxed, slow-paced tone to them. Swing dancing is actually very energetic.

Swing is a fast-paced dance complete with quick footwork, twists, turns, lifts, and even throws. It therefore requires a good amount of body and core strength, along with good coordination. This makes it an incredibly physically demanding exercise.

One-hour of swing dancing will not only have your heart racing and the sweat pouring from you, but it has the potential to burn off as many as 1000 – 1200 calories!

Ballet

Ballet is a more slower-paced, elegant, classic style of dance, but don’t let that fool you, it is still physically demanding, and it will still burn off a healthy amount of calories in the process.

30 minutes of ballet will burn off, on average, around 450 – 470 calories.

Tap

Tap dancing may be all in the legs, but so is running, and we know how physically demanding that is, right?

Tap dancing can be performed at different speeds and intensities, so the faster you dance, the more calories you will burn. Typically, one-hour of tap dancing will burn off roughly 400 – 700 calories.

Hip Hop

Hip Hop dancing is all about full body movements performed at a fast pace and relatively high intensity. Characterized by body popping and locking, and methodical steps, you can expect to burn off as many as 800 – 1000 calories in an hour of Hip Hop dancing.

Street Dance

Street dancing is very closely related to Hip Hop dancing, though there are several differences.

Street dancing requires more improvisation and is typically more energetic than Hip Hop dance. With street dancing, there is no right or wrong way to dance, you just go with what feels right, and your legs and body will do the rest.

Because it is such a unique style of dance, the number of calories you burn will depending solely upon how you choose to do it. One hour of street dancing can potentially burn 1,000 – 1,250 calories.

Zumba

Zumba is actually a style of dance that was designed specifically to help people to exercise and burn calories in the process. Zumba dance classes were once all the rage in gyms, dance studios, and leisure centers all over the globe.

As you might expect, Zumba is an extremely effective style of dance for people trying to lose weight. A typical one-hour Zumba class has the potential to burn off as many as 550 – 600 calories