Three Reasons You Need Resistance Training

Resistance training should be a staple in anyone's fitness regimen. There are different workouts based on this concept, but it's essential to know why resistance training is valuable. Resistance training can makeover your metabolism, multiply lean muscle, and improve joint stability. When used correctly, it can prevent sports' related injuries. Fortunately, we're here to help you learn why resistance training is so beneficial to your health.

Metabolism Makeover

Did you know that the lean muscle mass in your body burns calories at rest? If you're performing resistance-based exercises several times a week, chances are your maintaining or increasing lean muscle mass. That means even when you're not doing those exercises, you're burning calories, and your body will easily store and use nutrients as energy.  For example, glycogen, a product of sugar, is made and stored in your muscles.  While you shouldn't just eat junk food on a daily basis, resistance training can help your body more efficiently use what you do eat.

Muscle Multiplier

 Lean muscle mass isn't necessarily looking like the Hulk. It also provides a sculpted look that many people want. If you wish to look like Arnold or a ballerina, you'll need lean muscle mass to accomplish this goal. Cardiovascular training can be done in a way that mostly burns fat, but may not necessarily provide a lean look if little muscle mass involved. Be sure to include exercises with a resistance focus, whether you take barre classes or hit the weight room. 

Joint Stabilization

Whether you consider yourself an athlete or not, the ability to prevent injury and maintain healthy joints is vital for everyday activity. Joints like your elbows and knees contain synovial fluid. This fluid should move around in the joint cavity to lubricate and provide shock absorption for the joints. Performing controlled resistance exercises is a great way to circulate synovial fluid. As a result, your joints will maintain a healthy range of motion. It also increases stabilization, providing a support network to keep your joints from going in directions in which they probably shouldn't go. That is important when it's time to break out your best dance moves. 

Resistance training has the potential to makeover your metabolism, multiply your lean muscle mass and improve your joint stability. Add that to your dance fitness routine, and you've got a winning pair when you're ready to hit the dance floor! 

If you're looking to add resistance training into your routine, check us out at Valeo Dance Fitness. At Valeo, we combine our love for healthy living with dancing to create invigorating workouts. Our workouts focus on healthy weight loss and stress relief that allows you to burn up to 1000 calories in one hour, tone your entire body, strengthen your core, and define waistline while having fun! To learn more about our group dance fitness, resistance training, and other classes, visit us online here!

Things You Can Do To Manage Your Stress

With everything going on in today's world, it is easy to get stressed out. Things are constantly changing, and though you might not have control of that, you can control the way you feel. At Valeo Dance Studio, we value the importance of self-care. Here are four things you can try to help manage your stress and feel your best! 

Outdoors

The outdoors is an excellent place to start when it comes to managing stress. According to The American Institute of Stress, spending time outdoors can help improve mental health. Their research shows that nature excursions can help alleviate feelings of time pressure and mental stress. Since COVID-19 began, many of us have been asked to self-quarantine and stay in our homes. As a result, mental health has gone down. A great way to combat that is to get yourself outside and move! The outdoors can improve your mood, recharge you, help you see the bigger picture, and feel productive! 

Exercise

Exercise is another excellent way to manage your stress. A great option for exercising and managing stress is dancing. Dancing requires your full attention, so you don't have time to worry about anything else. It is an excellent way to release some endorphins while staying fit at the same time.  Endorphins are the happy chemicals in your brain that help to relieve stress and pain. Also, exercise and endorphins help lower the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress! So don't waste any time, get up and get moving!

Human Interaction

Other great ways to manage stress include human interaction and a positive mindset. After months of being self-quarantined, it’s great to be around others again. All of these things help boost our immune systems and keep up healthy for whatever we face next. An excellent way to reap these stress-busting benefits is to combine them all! At Valeo Dance Studio, we offer outdoor group dance fitness that keep you feeling good, strong, and healthy.

We know the tough effects of stress, which is why we reopened with new outdoor workouts. By coming to one of our classes, you will experience the outdoors, friends, exercise, and endorphins. In addition, you will experience all of these things in a healthy and safe environment that follows the CDC guidelines. For more information on our classes, visit us online here! If you can't make it to one of our classes, that's okay! We also post online tutorials for those at home to follow along. For the online tutorials, please click here! Don't wait any longer and get your body moving at Valeo Dance Studio! 

The Foundation of Ballroom Dancing

The key to dancing well with a partner and enjoying it is the right balance of leading and following.  Although choreographed routines are used in competition and performance, ballroom dancing is, at its core, social dancing, which means that it relies on communication between the dancers.  One leads, determining the direction they go and how far they move, and the other follows, keeping up with the changes without overstepping.  It can be challenging, but with practice, you can make it look just as effortless as the professionals! 

Leading 

In ballroom dancing, the man generally leads.  He almost always steps forward first, usually on his right foot.  The man leads his partner through a variety of small movements and weight changes.  For example, a slight backward pull of his shoulder indicates that she should step toward him, while a press against her raised hand tells her to step back.  It's crucial to maintain a proper dance frame because, without it, those communications can get lost. 

The lead has a lot of responsibility in the dance.  It's his job to take his follower through every step, which means he has to make decisions on the fly if there's no choreography.  This can be daunting, especially for beginners, but leading is just as important as knowing the steps.   

Following 

It's generally the woman's role to follow in a dance.  That sounds easy, but it requires just as much skill as leading.  She's just as responsible for maintaining the dance frame, and she must pay attention to all those small changes in her partner's hold.  If she gets too close or too far away from him, their connection will be lost, and they'll lose the ability to dance together smoothly.  

For many women, following is the hardest part of ballroom dancing.  The follower shouldn't move at all until she gets a signal from her lead, regardless if he's off the beat or out of time.  Every move she makes should be dictated by the lead, which can be difficult.  Following requires trusting your partner to communicate well and make you look good.  

Valeo Dance Fitness Studio offers private ballroom dance lessons with Asiya Khasnutdinova, voted Best Ballroom Dance Instructor in Atlanta.  From salsa to swing, tango to foxtrot, we have the style for you!  To start learning the art of lead and follow, contact us today!

Outdoor Classes At Valeo Dance Studio!

Over the years, with your help, we have done an incredible job creating a virtual dance family via our YouTube channel (currently more than 320,000 subscribers all over the world and more than 150 FREE dance fitness workouts). While the most natural route would have been to transition everything online to virtual dance fitness, we decided to take a very different path for our reopening phase. We are moving our classes outdoors!

Why Outdoors?

At Valeo, we have always been a family, and that remains a priority, along with safety. Moving classes outdoors allows for safe human interaction in line with the CDC's guidelines. An overwhelming number of studies show that spending time outside is good for our mental and physical health, and might be particularly useful for our well-being in these uncertain times of increased stress and anxiety. Also, the less time we spend moving our bodies, the more likely it is to gain weight. By heading outside for movements, we are decreasing the chance of weight gain and increasing the opportunity for endorphins! As a result, we decided to combine our universal need for human interaction and necessity for being outside with new Outdoor Valeo Dance Fitness classes starting Wednesday, May 27th, at 6:30 PM!

How It'll Work

As stated before, safety is one of our top priorities, and we will do everything to keep ourselves and you safe. The location of outdoor group dance fitness classes is the same as our studio. We will be outside in a beautiful courtyard with stunning views just to the right of the main entrance (if you are looking at the entrance from the parking lot). The times of the classes are the same as always! Please visit the Valeo Dance Fitness Schedule to sign up for classes! If it's a rainstorm, of course, the class will be rescheduled.

Since most people are currently working remotely or unfortunately not working at all due to lay-offs, the good news is most people are coming from home. So dress to dance! There is no place (at the moment) to change and also no bathroom since the building remains closed (only for a short amount of time), so please plan accordingly! While the classes are in the evenings and Saturday mornings, please be sure you have enough water. Bring your own water bottle and a sparkling personality!

Preventative Measures

Being outside will grant us plenty of space and fresh air that will help us stay safe. We can easily maintain the six-foot social distancing guidelines currently in place by CDC and the local GA government. We also ask that you bring your own set of free weights. If you don't have them, bring two water bottles, and they will do just fine. We also will utilize plenty of outdoor space for activities, so you can wear workout gloves that help protect your hands. As we are navigating our way through the reopening phase, we will be making adjustments as needed. 

For all existing and new members, we will require an electronically signed COVID-19 liability waiver form. Existing members, please be sure to do this from the regular website version of MindBody (not MindBody app). When you log in to sign up for classes over the next few days, you will be prompted to check a box acknowledging you have read the information. 

If you are sick, have a fever or not feeling well, please stay home to protect yourself and others. If you have traveled over the last few days, please be sure to check the CDC website, whether the city/country you came from requires you to self-quarantine for a period of time. Lastly, this is a new phase for all of us, so let's help each other stay positive while getting back to life responsibly!   

Other Studio Updates

We are also doing our private lessons outdoors beginning Tuesday, May 26th. Click here to schedule an appointment! We will continue all Intro First Dance Consultations virtually via Zoom, Skype, or FaceTime to ensure everyone/s safety and to make it more time-efficient for couples and their families! 

If you have any further questions about our new schedule, guidelines, preventative measures, and more, visit us online here. We have missed you so much and look forward to seeing your smiling faces soon, six-feet apart, of course!