Steps for Health

DANCE FOR HEALTH

You have heard Square Dancing is a healthful activity. Walking is one of the best ways to maintain health and of course, Square Dancing is walking. An average evening of Square Dancing and Round Dancing can provide a major portion of the daily-recommended activity level. The "Toe Dragger Project" estimates a typical dancer could expect to have about 9,000 to 10,000 steps per dance.

10,000 STEPS PER DAY

10,000 steps per day is the recommended number of steps a person should take each day, to maintain physical fitness.

COUNT THE STEPS

The "Toe Dragger Project" was created as an informal study, to determine the actual number of steps ten dancers would take at a Square Dance. Each dancer, wearing identical pedometers, designed to count the number of steps a dancer takes, recorded their step count after every Tip and Round Dance.

RESULTS

In this study, the ten dancers averaged 115 steps per minute Square Dancing, and 76 steps per minute Round Dancing. This means if a person danced 8 tips (a set of two Square Dances) for 7 minutes each, they would have a step count of about 6440. If they round danced 6 sets of two dances, for 6 minutes each, they would have an additional 2736 steps, and for the entire dance, a total of 9176 steps. Of course, your results may vary and you may choose to do more or less dancing. Square Dancing can truly be part of your personal physical fitness program and fun at the same time.