Temporarily putting on my group fitness instructor hat…
I’ve read a few posts on Dance.net regarding the use of ballet as a weight-loss/fitness medium. Frankly, this surprises me. Speaking strictly about the benefits of ballet on the physiology (and ignoring for a moment its effects on mental health and just how much damned fun it is), it is my opinion as a fitness teacher/professional that ballet is not an effective way to get healthier and/or lose weight.
Why do I say that? Let’s define the word “healthy” for a second. While many people think it’s simply the absence of disease (as in, you’re not sick, ergo you must be healthy), I think a more general definition might be to use the Body Mass Index chart. In addition to that, I also want to add my own question: Can you do all the activities necessary in your daily life? An example: you might be free of disease and may satisfy the BMI requirements, but if you can’t bend over to pick up a sock from the floor, you’re not healthy.
Can going to a recreational ballet class once or twice a week promote weight loss and better health? My knee-jerk reaction: not really, for the simple reason that a 1 hour or 1.5 hourlong recreational ballet class does not elevate your heart rate to moderate levels for a sustained 30 minutes, (guidelines issued by the American College of Sports Medicine). Ballet class has a lot of stops and starts, and the only portion of class that really kicks up the heart is during allegro, which lasts for ten, maybe fifteen minutes tops.
“But going to a class once a week is better than nothing!” my sister says. And yes, I agree that an hour a week of exercise is better than zero. But all things being the same, with no changes in eating habits or addition of any other physical activity, will the one-hour a week ballet class make you lose weight?
That’s just like asking if a once-a-week hourlong walk around the neighborhood will make you lose weight. You already know the answer to that: no. While the once/weekly activity, whatever it might be, probably has an immediate benefit to your overall health, that benefit is negated after six days of sedentary activity.
Now if you’re talking three hours a week of ballet, plus a change in nutritional intake, plus two hours a week of lifting/stretching classes, THEN we’re talking. The benefits of ballet for a recreational participant is just like the benefits of any other recreational activity: the more you do it, the more it benefits you. A once/weekly class, even a twice/weekly class really does nothing in the long term as far as fitness and weight loss. The very nature of a ballet class is such that you are there to learn how to DANCE and not to WORK OUT. The two have very different goals.
You hear it so often it’s become cliché, but really there is only one path to losing weight: your energy intake must be less than your energy output. While ballet can provide a workout, it shouldn’t be used as the ONLY weight loss method.
