The best way to get fit

I’ve just watched ‘The Truth About Getting Fit’ on the BBC i-player. After rigorous scientific investigation, it agreed with several other high-quality health programmes in recent years: the best way to get fit is to take up dancing. It’s not just physical exercise, it’s mental exercise too. It trains your mind to multi-task, working out what move to do next while actually doing the current one and keeping in time to the music. The programme also made the point that the reason people don’t keep up their gym memberships is because (unless you get ‘runner’s bliss’) exercise for exercise’s sake is not fun. You need to do something you enjoy for its own sake. And it’s better to do things with friends, as the social aspect reinforces your motivation. There isn’t much that’s more fun and sociable than dancing.

So if you’ve already stopped going to that gym you joined after Christmas, come Modern Jive dancing instead. It’s the easiest style to learn and you can do it to any music, so it’s great for dancing at parties. Don’t worry if you think you have two left feet: chances are your previous experiences are from being pitched in at the deep end with something with complex footwork. Modern Jive keeps it all simple, and you’ll develop the ability to follow the rhythm naturally and easily.

Best places to learn are Blitz at Crookes Social Club (Mulehouse Road) on Wednesdays, or Boogie Nightz Jive at Eckington Civic Centre on Tuesdays. Both are very welcoming to beginners (no partner necessary), and many dancers go to both places. Come along and give it a try.

I’ve just watched ‘The Truth About Getting Fit’ on the BBC i-player. After rigorous scientific investigation, it agreed with several other high-quality health programmes in recent years: the best way to get fit is to take up dancing. It’s not just physical exercise, it’s mental exercise too. It trains your mind to multi-task, working out what move to do next while actually doing the current one and keeping in time to the music. The programme also made the point that the reason people don’t keep up their gym memberships is because (unless you get ‘runner’s bliss’) exercise for exercise’s sake is not fun. You need to do something you enjoy for its own sake. And it’s better to do things with friends, as the social aspect reinforces your motivation. There isn’t much that’s more fun and sociable than dancing.

 

So if you’ve already stopped going to that gym you joined after Christmas, come Modern Jive dancing instead. It’s the easiest style to learn and you can do it to any music, so it’s great for dancing at parties. Don’t worry if you think you have two left feet: chances are your previous experiences are from being pitched in at the deep end with something with complex footwork. Modern Jive keeps it all simple, and you’ll develop the ability to follow the rhythm naturally and easily.

 

Best places to learn are Blitz at Crookes Social Club (Mulehouse Road) on Wednesdays, or Boogie Nightz Jive at Eckington Civic Centre on Tuesdays. Both are very welcoming to beginners (no partner necessary), and many dancers go to both places. Come along and give it a try.

There's no doubt that dancing is a great exercise - one of the very best.

But, we are not all the same and the following sentence is not true for everyone, or even the majority of us...

"And it’s better to do things with friends, as the social aspect reinforces your motivation".

That's rather a naive and incorrect statement.

It depends on the person -I can't think of anything worse than doing exercise with friends tbh.

I'd much rather deal with myself and I can get all the motivation I need from trying to beat my own best.

And as for dancing...

No thanks.

To me this is a way of mimicking someone else's body language with a motive that is not platonic.

So many friends of mine have taken up dancing (for exercise, or whatever other excuse) and what they were really after was "attention". They got it alright and their marriages are on the rocks as a result.

Go for a nice long walk instead.

I watched that programme and unlike most programmes about fitness it made some really good points and backed them up with evidence.

I agree with Derby doing exercise with friends is a big no no to me.

People make to much of a big deal about exercise planning days in advance when to meet up and go to the gym or whatever.

Just find an hour out of your day and do something you enjoy whether its a walk a run a bike ride or the gym it really isn't difficult and after a while it becomes automatic and part of your life.

The part of the programme about High intensity training I certainly found to be true although I do a more interval based version over a longer time very good for weight loss.

There is bound to be a minority of people who do have the motivation to do exercise, and to keep it up for months or years. But as the programme reported, most people find the social aspect a major part of motivation. Look around you for plenty of examples: people talking about or looking for gym buddies, running partners, walking/cycling groups, 'Zumba with the girls'...

My original post said 'if you've already stopped going to the gym...' and that's something you hear a lot of, and who it was directed towards: people who start out with good intentions, but don't keep them up.

It sounds like you or a close friend have had a bad experience, Tup, and you or they have my sympathy, but I can assure you that dancing's not about 'motives that are not platonic'. Most dancers I know have good, stable relationships, whether their partner is also a dancer or not.

Others (including me) started dancing to meet someone, and having done so we continue to dance because it is pleasurable in itself. And finally, yes I know some people whose relationships broke down when they met someone through dancing. But that happens whatever people do in the world: if they meet someone, there's a chance they will fall for them: at work, in the gym, waiting around to pick up the kids from football practice...

The fact that you mention that these friends were looking for "attention" tells me that they were feeling neglected in their relationship, taken for granted, and therefore the relationship was over before they went out dancing.

There is bound to be a minority of people who do have the motivation to do exercise, and to keep it up for months or years. But as the programme reported, most people find the social aspect a major part of motivation. Look around you for plenty of examples: people talking about or looking for gym buddies, running partners, walking/cycling groups, 'Zumba with the girls'...

 

My original post said 'if you've already stopped going to the gym...' and that's something you hear a lot of, and who it was directed towards: people who start out with good intentions, but don't keep them up.

 

It sounds like you or a close friend have had a bad experience, Tup, and you or they have my sympathy, but I can assure you that dancing's not about 'motives that are not platonic'. Most dancers I know have good, stable relationships, whether their partner is also a dancer or not.

 

Others (including me) started dancing to meet someone, and having done so we continue to dance because it is pleasurable in itself. And finally, yes I know some people whose relationships broke down when they met someone through dancing. But that happens whatever people do in the world: if they meet someone, there's a chance they will fall for them: at work, in the gym, waiting around to pick up the kids from football practice...

 

The fact that you mention that these friends were looking for "attention" tells me that they were feeling neglected in their relationship, taken for granted, and therefore the relationship was over before they went out dancing.

Wow I'm going to start dancing then lol

I think you may be right about that, "the relation being over before they started dancing". But it's surprising how many folk sleep walk through relationships not realising that's the case.

In the past year we've just seen three couples, close friends of ours, split up. They've been in long term (in some cases over 20 years) relationships, with kids and so on. Two out of three of those split ups have come from one partner taking up dancing and being wooed by the attention of another person. It has led to more.

That's not to say dancing is a bad thing, or something that endangers a relationship. But, if you are married, or in a serious relationship with another person, and they want to go dancing, then I'd suggest do it together or find something else to do together.

I know a few blokes who are serial philanderers. They took up dancing when all this Zumba and whatever stuff came into fashion. Their motive: purely sexual. And they boast about just how easy it is to pull some married woman who is bored with her lot at home and has taken up dancing to do something for herself. They have no interest whatsoever in a relationship, other than a sexual one. Beware.

Hi, i just want to give my personal opinion, dancing is great, but one of the ways for me to get fit is via fitness tracker.

It is something like to motivate me to do some exercise every day.

Besides, I feel like when I finish some goal/objective, I can feel something the same as I complete a task in video games. You know that when you play open world games (like Farcry, The Witcher, Horizon dawn, etc) there is always a side quest. So every day I set a few "side quest" like 5000 steps or burn a certain amount of calories. So, each day I make sure I finish all those side quests.

By the way, you do not have to utilize high premium wearable or fitness tracker, as a newbie maybe could find really cheap or any that can suit your budget. You can find and compare the specifications first before making any decision. At least it works for me. A gym card might make you forget due to it is in your wallet, but a fitness tracker or smartwatch, you wear it all the time. Maybe in future, we could see a dancing step could be utilized via smartwatch or fitness tracker.

Sorry but the best way to get fit is by doing something you love.

If you've got a son or daughter, they should be taking up Football or Netball respectively etc etc.

Really, DC? All boys love football? All girls love netball? I wonder what that makes me, since I never enjoyed either. (OK, to be fair, I've never tried netball.) Believe me, since I speak from my own experience: being forced into sports they don't enjoy really puts kids off exercise. Don't do it.

And you clearly missed a major point of the original post: "...exercise for exercise’s sake is not fun. You need to do something you enjoy for its own sake."

A good smartwatch/fitness tracker should recognise dance steps as steps, Mariaco. After all, they are steps - it's just that some of them are backwards! Having said that, my girlfriend's doesn't always, but then it doesn't recognise most of the flights of stairs she climbs in a day either!

Stuff Salsa. Play chess, the real sexy way to fitness!

Yes the BBC programme tended to simplify things with regards to getting fit, as fitness means different things to all of us. Dancing is good but it would also depend on what sort of dancing you do. Does it involve enough of the movement patterns we need from day to day to function at our best? Well it can do at a professional level but this is beyond most of us. Your exercise regimen should reflect what you need to do on a day to day basis and as we get older strategies to stay strong improve movement and posture. Finding ways to make this fun and attainable is the biggest challenge with most.

Is there anyone doing chess boxing in Sheffield?