FITNESS TIP: GET A DANCER'S BODY.
Posted by Alanna Fincke
With the popularity of TV shows like Dancing with the Stars, it’s clear that hitting the dance floor isn’t just a fun way to spend an evening: It’s also a great way to get in shape and even lose weight. But your options aren’t limited to ballroom dancing. Other forms of dance, from ballet to belly dancing, burn calories, too. Like any type of aerobic exercise, dancing can protect the heart and arteries, strengthen bones and muscles, and boost your mood.
So get moving–whether that means dancing around the house with your kids (like in producer Christina Deyo's diary entry from January 29), hitting a club with friends, or doing a romantic waltz with your significant other.
Try this ballet-inspired exercise that challenges and improves balance, strengthens your ankles, and sculpts calves and upper thighs:
- Stand tall with feet together and parallel. Lift your heels up as you place weight evenly on the balls of your feet. "Releve," or rise up, and then lower down. Repeat 10 times, pressing your inner thighs
- Lower your heels, then bend at the knees, or "demi-plie," keeping your arms at chest level. Straighten your legs. Plie and straighten eight times, keeping your feet flat on the floor and pressing your inner thighs together.
Ready for more? Try out additional moves:
BalleCore Exercises
Read about Christina Deyo's dancing family:
Day 7 of the Challenge
Question: What type of music makes you want to get up and dance?
Please leave a comment and we may contact you to appear on the show (your email will be kept confidential)! If you DO NOT want to be contacted, please email us at bodyandsoulchallenge@marthastewart.com.
Posted by Sandy Gluck
