DanceSport Talk

As someone involved in a variety of cross-training activities to stay fit, I was curious how DanceSport measured up. A German university study in 1984 showed that championship Jive and Quickstep matched the heart rate, muscular intensity and oxygen demands of Olympic sprinters. So I strapped on my heart rate monitor and went off to Latin competitor practice.

I'm an avid cyclist, and felt that it made sense to compare my measurements to the demands of cycling. Though no longer in race shape, I can still hold my own on a road bike, but I no longer go on the long 170+ km rides I used to enjoy. On a typical 90-minute ride, I'll average 150-155 beats per minute, with bursts of over 200 on steep hills, and 180 on smaller hills. How did dancing measure up?

My average heart rate over the 2-hour practice was 144. While lower than a bike ride, this was better than I had expected, especially because it was not continuous -- there were short breaks between dances and longer ones between rounds.

The Jive was, not surprisingly, the most intense dance, reaching 176 bpm. The Rumba, a slow dance that still uses lots of internal muscles, was the least intense with a heart rate of 138 on average. The Cha Cha averaged 155, while the Samba and Paso Doble were slightly lower. To keep the average up, we danced all five dances three times in a row, then took a 3-minute break. During the break, my heart rate dropped to less than 100, which obviously had an impact on the average.

I would say that when it comes down to real-world comparison, DanceSport would be pretty equivalent to cycling in athletic intensity. The difference is that your effort is turned on and off rather than being steady throughout the workout. But a real competition is also much more intense than a competitor practice because of all the other factors involved.

I suspect that the Standard dances will have slightly lower demands on heart rate, though the intensity of the athletic exertion isn't all that much lower. I'll be testing these dances in an upcoming competitor practice to see how they compare. We're not at the same skill level in Standard, which will certainly affect measurements, but it still should prove useful information.

So if you want to stay fit, keep dancing. Or start dancing, if you haven't yet experienced this exciting athletic activity.

A friend introduced me to an interesting new training tool: an mp3 player that lets you sync two Bluetooth headsets at the same time, allowing both partners to listen to the same music while practicing.

I had watched them practicing with this setup, and was intrigued because it was so discreet and effective. It allowed them to practice in perfect sync to their music, regardless of what was playing on the speakers. So, I decided to give it a try. The system relies on two items: the Samsung P2 and Motorockr S9 bluetooth headsets. They are shown in the picture to give you an idea of the look and sizing.

The Samsung P2 mp3 player is halfway between the size of an iPod Nano and iPod Touch. It feels good and has reasonably good graphics, though being a long-time iPod user, the shortcomings of any other mp3 player are glaring. Unfortunately it does not support the Mac OS, so I have to launch Windows XP on my Mac to sync the player whenever I make changes.

The Motorola Motorokr S9 headphones are sports-style behind-the-ear Bluetooth headphones. They are comfortable and have a firm hold, so you can even use them in Latin or for Tango, with sharp head movements or spins, and not worry that they'll fly off. When dancing, they are surprisingly unobtrusive, so other people may not even notice you're wearing headphones. They also sport play/pause buttons and volume control buttons. The sound quality is better than I expected, quite impressive actually.

I was able to find two Motorokr S9s for just $49 each, and found a P2 for $149, so the entire combination set me back only $250, which is less than a typical iPod these days. I also picked up an ActionJacket to hold the P2 in place. It comes with a solid belt clip as well as an armband.

The only frustration is that this isn't an iPod. The cumbersome process of using the software to load the player, going through way too many steps to get to the music, and having to connect the headphones each time you turn them on takes away from the experience, but once you go through all that you enjoy a very smooth practice session. No more worrying about what the other dancers in the studio would like to listen to.