Here in Arizona, many would argue summer started last month. As we head into the official summer start date, we start dreading the inevitable and begin asking ourselves the big question – how do I get “bathing suit ready”?  Am I right? We here at Dance FX Studios have the solution, Salsa or Swing dance your way into summer with beginners social ballroom dance lessons! Aside from the benefits of learning a skill that allows you to meet new people, social ballroom dancing provides some serious body benefits including cardiorespiratory fitness, firmer calves and legs, an overall better booty and fat-loss from exercise that is at what is called the “target heart rate” for burning fat while keeping muscle. Sounds pretty good, right?

When you are out Country Swing dancing at your favorite Country bar here in Arizona, have you ever stayed on the dance floor long enough to become winded? If your answer is yes, that means you experienced something called cardiorespiratory exercise! “In 2014 about 136,830 people are predicted to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the US, and about 50,310 people are predicted to die of the disease. In both men and women, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death”, according to the American Cancer Society from 2014.  Did you know that recent medical studies indicate that colon cancer is best prevented by regular participation doing, guess what? Yep, cardiorespiratory exercise and two dances perfect for cardio exercise are the Country Two Step and Country Swing Dancing! YEEHAAAW!

The Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, which was conducted over 29 years, found that cardio fit people also have a significantly reduced risk of digestive system cancers. Further, their findings support regular cardio exercise, i.e.: Tango or Swing dancing, provides a protective role against total digestive tract, colorectal, and liver cancer deaths, especially in men.

Staying on the health topic, let’s talk about what the true “target heart rate” is for fat burning. This is a topic that few people understand because most people have been told over and over to head directly to the treadmill, stair master or a high intensity cardio exercise like aerobics for an hour, or longer, in order to lose weight. This type of workout, where you feel your heart racing, does burns calories, but it also starts to burn off something highly coveted – muscle. The fact is that low intensity workouts like yoga, weight lifting or ballroom dancing, not only provides cardiorespiratory fitness, but it is also ideal for burning fat! So why not Salsa or Cha Cha dance your way into lean muscles and a toned, firm body? We think you should.

Body builders have it all figured out. They do lots of weight training and low intensity exercise and maybe only 30 minutes of cardio every other day for their muscle building routine. That is soooo much better than overworking that body unnecessarily! Try beginner dance lessons and you will get your health and social benefits knocked out all in one!

Though you do care about your health, I am betting all of you are reading this because you also want to look sexy and shapely! The first example of just such a body that comes to mind is Jennifer Lopez. She has been famous for that shapely body, and her sought after bottom, long before another “endowed” star, Kim Kardashian, ever became a household name! J. Lo may tell you her famous booty is directly due to her time spent dancing. Growing up in the Bronx, in New York, her Puerto Rican parents enrolled their children in singing and dancing to keep them out of trouble. Jennifer specialized in ballet, jazz and flamenco dance genres. Jennifer gained attention showing off her dance talent and physical beauty as a back-up dancer for New Kids on the Block and catapulted to national attention dancing as a “Fly Girl” on the television show In Living Color. Ladies, are you listening? You can get your hips moving to all sorts of spicy Latin dances like Salsa, Merengue, Argentine Tango or Bachata!

When I think of male bodies who attribute their chiseled abs and muscular thighs to dancing, the image of a long ago famous poster of Mikel Barisnakoff in his white tights immediately comes to mind. Other examples of what dancing does for a male body are: Patrick Swayze, Ricky Martin and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. If this does not convince you what dancing can do to transform your body to shapely, sexy and bathing suit ready, there are many other fit-bodied dancers to view, simply by watching the popular TV shows like Dancing with the Stars. Guys, are you listening? Start learning popular social ballroom styles of dancing to get fit and be as popular with the ladies as these famous stars are by summertime!

Find out what learning to County Swing, Country Two Step, Salsa, Tango, and other styles of social ballroom dancing can do to get your body looking great and feeling good, not only for the local pool side barbeque but out on the dance floor at your favorite club.

Maybe there is another event in your future, like a a wedding, a high-school reunion, or a team-building event for your company? So, are you ready? Fat burning exercise and lots of FUN is waiting for you with us at Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona! Why not discover dancing now and get that body of yours summer-ready? Call our dance studio today at 480-968-6177 and make your appointment for a New Student Offer today. Dance FX Studios is located conveniently in Mesa, bordering Tempe and  Chandler, Arizona. We hope to see you on the dance floor!