Dance for your Body
Corina and I have been dancing now for 9 years. I got to thinking the other day, what our bodies might look and feel like if we never started. You see I spend my day in an office chair designing web sites. I sit so still that in these winter months, my feet get cold like blocks of ice and start to ache. I’m also entering that stage of life where a little extra insulation is trying to attach itself to my midrift and proving harder than before to ward off.
Like never before, I need exercise. I love the outdoors, love to swim and walk on the beach, love to play soccer (football) with the kids, love to fly paragliders and be in the hills. But these winter months put a sudden stop to all this.
Then there’s running. I used to be a pretty good athlete but never because I trained with great discipline, only because my family didn’t have a decent TV and I spent my life on the move, climbing, running, riding my bike. From time to time I’ve started up a new running campaign with good intentions. But staring at the road in front of me, pounding my feet and managing my breathing patterns is just too damn uncomfortable and boring for me to ever stick at it. The gym goes into the same category. What’s more, I’m seeing what high impact surfaces like the road and the netball court and the indoor soccer field are doing to people’s knees and hips before they’re fifty.
All this makes me soo glad that we started dancing. I’m in not-too-shabby shape and my body is relatively nimble for an office guy. I’ve actually had no futher trouble with an old back injury since we started dancing 9 years ago. It seems that just keeping it moving was all I needed. Corina is in mighty fine shape: Slender, curvacious and comparitavely fit and nimble. And the best thing is that you’re not even aware that you’re exercising when you dance. You don’t dance to stay fit. You dance because of the enjoyment of it – keeping a little fitter is just a bonus.
When you come to think of it, there is little better exercise for middle aged people than dancing Modern Jive. Even the smooth flowing style is low impact, very little jarring, it moves you in so many ways and requires strength in many different muscle groups. Look around you at the people you know who have danced for many years and there’s a very high rate of mobility and good health and good figures.
So there’s another great reason to dance. It’s just downright good for your body. Come to class, buy a DVD, keep yourself inspired and learning and you will be glad for decades to come that you did.
Kind regards…
Brent.
Hey – this might be a good time to think of a friend who could use this:(below) In fact, for the sake of their health, I’ve just marked it down to $35AUD.
