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If you’re a pure strength athlete, you may have never been much of a cardio enthusiast. Your tendency has always been to look at cardio as a necessary evil that you need for your heart health. That’s when you scroll through TikTok and find influencers and weekend warriors alike dancing on treadmills. And suddenly, the treadmill looks…kind of fun.
Still, the footwork looks pretty complicated. The good news? You can pull off a treadmill dancing workout even if you have two left feet. We asked the Certified RRCA Run Coach Ludgina Dieujuste, who runs the YouTube channel Treadchic, to give us some insight into these kinds of workouts. She also gave us three workouts you can try out — and if it can spice up your cardio routine, why not?
What Is Treadmill Dancing?
Treadmill dancing is precisely what it sounds like. It’s the act of combining dance choreography with walking on a treadmill to create an entertaining workout set to music. Treadmill dance routines can include complex dance steps like the cha-cha, originating from Cuba, Zumba, and hip-hop.
[Read More: Hip Hop Wellness Explorer (w/stic from Dead Prez)]
Don’t let all this intimidate you if you’ve got no coordination or rhythm to speak of. Your workout can also consist of simple rhythmic hand gestures and head movements.
Try These 3 Treadmill Dancing Workouts
If you feel like adding some vibrant movements to your treadmill routine, here are three treadmill dance workouts that are safe and simple, yet strenuous enough to be a true workout. Dieujuste, who created these workouts, suggests that you begin with a brief dynamic warm-up before diving into each of these routines.
1. Walk and Side Shuffle
This is a simple workout to familiarize yourself with rhythmic walking. You’re not aiming for speed here — in fact, please go slowly, especially until you feel completely comfortable and confident. Even then, you’ll want to exercise caution. Keep the belt speed lower than your normal walking pace, particularly when you’re shuffling. Only increase the speed gradually.
The Workout
Perform these rounds 10 times.
| One-minute walk |
| 30-second side shuffle right |
| 30-second side shuffle left |
How Often to Do This Workout: This is pretty low-impact, so you can do it daily if you want!
Modifications
- Make it Easier: Replace the side shuffles with a less complex simple side-step.
- Make it Harder: Replace all of the walking with shuffle steps, or double the workout length.
2. Incline Pyramid with Arm Movement
What’s a dance party without some arm action? Sure, in the gym, we typically think about the best arm exercises in terms of barbells and dumbbells. But on the treadmill, you’ll transform your traditional curls and presses into dance.
The Workout
Perform these rounds two times.
| One minute at 1.0 incline |
| One minute at 2.0 incline |
| One minute at 3.0 incline |
| One minute at 4.0 incline |
| Two minutes at 5.0 incline |
| One minute at 4.0 incline |
| One minute at 3.0 incline |
| One minute at 2.0 incline |
| One minute at 1.0 incline |
Throughout the entire workout, keep your arms out and away from the treadmill’s support arms. You’ll get a lot more tired, a lot more quickly, than you think.
How Often to Do This Workout: If your arms are up for it, you can do it every day.
Modifications
- Make it Easier: Allow yourself to hold the treadmill and do a regular walk every other minute.
- Make it Harder: Spend two straight minutes at each incline level up to incline five, and remain there for the final 10 minutes.
3. The Medley
When you’re ready to up the ante and get super involved in the dance party (instead of bobbing your head on the side of the dance floor), Dieujuste recommends adding different walking patterns and even kicks to your routine. Yes, you’ll be doing exercises, but don’t forget to turn the music up — be as rhythmic as you can be here. (It’ll add to the fun, we promise.)
The Workout
Perform these rounds two times (switching sides in the second round where appropriate.)
| Side Shuffle | One minute at incline 1.0 |
| Side Shuffle | One minute at incline 2.0 |
| Forward Kick | One minute at incline 3.0 |
| Backward Walk | One minute at incline 4.0 |
| Low Squat Walk | One minute at incline 5.0 |
How Often to Do This Workout: Again, this is pretty low-impact, so you could do it every day.
Modifications
- Make it Easier: Replace the low squat walk with a simpler movement or with a regular walk, as the incline is relatively high.
- Make it Harder: Turn this workout into a pyramid. Spend two minutes in your low squat walk, and then do the exercises again in reverse order.
Benefits of Treadmill Dancing Workouts
Treadmill dancing may sound like a bunch of fun and games — and it should be exactly that if you’re getting into the spirit of the workout with your favorite gym playlist. It also happens that all of your joyful movements have positive impacts throughout your body.
Cardiovascular Health
You may have gotten lost in music while dancing for an extended period, but you probably noticed before too long that you were out of breath, and your heart rate had skyrocketed. This is because dancing is excellent cardio, as is walking on a treadmill. The fact that your treadmill routine may look a little silly doesn’t make it any less beneficial to your heart.
[Read More: The Best Treadmill Incline Workouts for Climbing to Better Cardio Training]
“Treadmill dance helps to improve your cardiovascular health, specifically because when you’re dancing on the treadmill, your heart rate is going up, then it’s going down, then it’s going up, then it’s going down,” explains Dieujuste. “Your heart rate going up and down throughout the workout is very helpful with improving your heart health, which of course is really important in avoiding chronic disease. If you’ve ever danced on a treadmill — even if it was just for two-and-a-half minutes — your heart rate is going to jump.”
Joint Health
One of the selling points of aerobics and fitness-oriented dance classes is the fact that they tend to be relatively low-impact. Adding basic dance movements to walking on a treadmill gently varies a movement that is already intended to be easy on your joints.
[Read More: The Treadmill Benefits You Need To Know About]
“Compared with the outdoor workouts when you’re on hard services like concrete, these treadmill workouts offer more cushion,” says Dieujuste. “So, of course, it helps to reduce the impact on your joints. Treadmills make it easier for people that have joint pain or that are recovering from injuries to still get a workout in.”
Consistency, Fun, and Mental Health
When you enjoy your workouts, you’re more likely to stick to them consistently. And those workouts themselves — yes, including dance workouts — have been shown to improve people’s mental and physical health indicators. (1)
[Read More: The Top Tips for Running on a Treadmill, According to Running Coaches]
“Anything that keeps the average person coming back and motivated and consistent is a win,” says Dieujuste. “I think many people fail to be consistent because they don’t really enjoy what they’re doing and they fall off. But if you look forward to something, especially when it comes to fitness, that’s a great benefit. Walking or running can be boring to some people. What the treadmill dance offers a typical person is a chance to put on their favorite tunes while adding some dance moves and calling it a workout. It’s fun for them. We always want to listen to music. You can constantly change it up with different music and different levels.”
Tips for Doing a Treadmill Dancing Workout Safely
Trained dancers can make treadmill dance look effortless in their TikToks and other vids — Harry Shum Jr., anyone? But for the average gymgoer, the process of transforming an ordinary walking workout into a coordinated dance workout comes with its risks.
[Read More: Buying A Treadmill? Here’s Everything You Need To Know]
It can be fun to act like you’re recording a music video as you dance on the treadmill, but if you don’t take the proper safety steps, you can wind up with an unexpected injury. Here’s how to avoid a spill.
Use Your Hands
Falling down is never a pleasant experience, but a fall on a moving surface like a treadmill belt can be downright devastating to your body — not to mention embarrassing. Fortunately, much of the expressiveness of dance can be conveyed through your hands without involving your feet. This is important to remember because doing too much with your feet before you’re comfortable can have painful consequences.
[Read More: Treadmill Workouts for Beginners: 4 Options + Training Tips]
“You want to start off with hand-type movements so that you can maintain full control of your feet,” says Dieujuste. “Sometimes we get so excited that we forget where we are and that can lead to other things. You can easily hurt yourself. That’s why starting with hand movements is far safer for beginners than trying to involve your feet too soon.”
Learn to Walk Without Holding On
If you are prone to hang onto the support arms of the treadmill for dear life while you walk, you’ll need to learn to let go if you want to add most dance movements to your workout. Frankly, even the most basic arm movements require you to go hands-free. You will still have your hands available to steady you, but make sure your balance and confidence are on point before starting with treadmill dances.
[Read More: 30-Minute Treadmill Workouts to Build Stamina and Strength]
“The first thing you need to do is get comfortable with the treadmill and learn to do basic things like simply walk forward without holding on, and preferably at an incline,” advises Dieujuste. “That’s the big thing in general, where people get on the treadmill and they hold on. If you’re someone that can’t work out on a treadmill without holding on, you need to start by gaining the comfort to walk on a treadmill without touching anything first, and then you can think about adding in some dance movements.”
Keep It Simple
The complex choreography demonstrated by dancer Carson Dean as he acrobatically grooved to “Uptown Funk” is what sparked a lot of interest in treadmill dance. Frankly, what Dean displays in his dance videos has little to do with the simplicity of daily cardio. You can still keep the tunes of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars in your playlist, but your dance workout needn’t resemble a gymnastic floor routine to be effective.
“You don’t have to do intricate things, and that’s important to remember when you think about treadmill dance,” warns Dieujuste. “It doesn’t have to be these intense things that we see all these different TikTok celebrities doing. It can be quick, simple, easy movements that are dance-type moves, but also things that can be pretty effective. You don’t have to be hopping around the treadmill; that can be harmful or lead to injury. You can just do fun things like squatting low and keeping up with the beat of the music.”
FAQs
If you’re still wondering whether or not you should throw some treadmill dancing into your workout mix, we answer some key questions for you below!
What exactly is treadmill dancing?
Treadmill dancing combines aerobic dancing with walking on a treadmill with a belt that is in constant motion. The nature of the dance can vary greatly. It can range from simple acknowledgment of the beat through the timing of steps and head movements to more complex choreography involving your hands, feet, or the rest of your body.
Do dance workouts really work?
Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of dance workouts. A meta-analysis of 10 eligible studies showed that the adoption of ordinary lifestyle dance changed participants’ body mass, BMI, waist circumference, fat percentage, and fat mass. (2)
A separate study also showed that dance fitness classes improved the vitality and mental health of middle-aged cisgender women. (1) It stands to reason that these benefits would hold for people of all genders.
How do I start a treadmill dancing workout routine?
The simplest way to start a treadmill dancing routine is by walking — hands-free — while keeping pace with your favorite music. From there, you can add additional steps like hand movement and more complex footwork as you gain greater comfort.
References
- Barranco-Ruiz Y, Paz-Viteri S, Villa-González E. Dance Fitness Classes Improve the Health-Related Quality of Life in Sedentary Women. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 May 26;17(11):3771.
- Zhang Y, Guo Z, Liu Y, Zhou Y, Jing L. Is dancing an effective intervention for fat loss? A systematic review and meta-analysis of dance interventions on body composition. PLoS One. 2024 Jan 17;19(1):e0296089.
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