Shake it to lose it!

Pulling weights and undergoing gruelling gym sessions just doesn’t seem to be the choice of Delhiites who love to indulge in ‘fun’ even when it comes to a workout. It is for them that niche dance forms like Zumba - which was introduced few years back in India has become a craze among fitness freaks. But those who want to loose weight have encouraged fitness centres to come up with newer dance forms such as Body Vive, Sh’Bam and Masala Bhangra!

Dance trainers and experts say that Zumba still remains a favourite among a lot of women in the City since “it has catchy music and interesting movements than other workouts,” says Manisha Ahlawat, MD, Viva Fit India about the Latin-American inspired dance form which provides cardio-fitness and enables toning of muscles. “It is an express workout for women which provides medical benefits in few sessions of half an hour each,” adds  Manisha whose fitness centre has recently launched another dance form Body Vive which is more scientific.

This form is popular all over the world and is now gaining popularity among Indians too. “It is a combination of cardio-fitness and resistance training which is practised with the help of resistance tubes which are approximately one-metre-long with handles at both ends. We also use small balls for cardio-fitness which help in improving postures. Body Vive is basically more structured and researched dance form than Zumba with particular choreographed tracks which get updated every three months,” adds Manisha.

These dance forms along with Sh’Bam - which has popular hip-hop and contemporary dance moves, can make anyone boogie as they plan to loose weight. “One burns about 500-600 calories in a one hour session of Zumba which is equivalent to cycling,” informs Pallavi Jain, group exercise manager at Fitness First which also has Freestyle dance as an option. “Freestyle is a mix of Latin and Hip Hop and their various combinations which can be decided by the trainer,” she says intending that males like to dance as well but prefer forms like Freestyle over Zumba. “We are about to introduce Masala Bhangra which is a very good workout for shoulders and legs. We do not make people learn traditional Bhangra but customise the steps of the traditional folk form and make it a fitness form to enable people to follow easily.”

A month’s class for any of these, with 8-10 sessions might start from Rs 4000! The benefits ofcourse include making muscles stronger and body flexible apart from burning calories. So while shaking a leg at a pub might be your forte, the calories you burn get replenished with a glass of vodka that you consume. Whereas, boggie-woogie in a fitness class will make your body more flexible to dance for longer duration at the next party!