Since the video game, Dance, Dance Revolution and the popular television show, Dancing with the Stars, have come out, several people have had success losing weight through dancing. Employers can encourage their employees to lose weight by offering dancing classes before, during, or after work. Dancing is a fun activity to do with your friends and family members also. Employers can even use dancing as a team-building exercise. If you want your employees to lose weight, here is a simple way to help them lose weight through dancing:
Step # 1 – Divide the Employees into groups
If your company has different departments, you can have them compete against one another in teams. Or you can draw names out of a hat and form teams. This is a great way to help your employees get to know other people they work with who they have not yet met.
Step # 2 – Offer a Reward
It’s not enough to simply tell your employees you want them to be healthier. Most of them want to get something out of their hard work besides a nice body. One of the best things you can do is offer a good incentive to your employees that will inspire them to participate. The incentive can be a half-day off work, cash prizes, or gift cards. Whatever your incentive is, make sure it is something desirable for the employees.
Step # 3 – Rules
The rules of the dancing competition can be decided by the employees or managers. You can decide to have everyone compete as individuals, as pairs, or as a team. The team that loses the most weight will win. If you want to go another route, you can always reward the team that has the best moves on the dance floor. Have each team pick out their own music that they want to dance to and come up with their own dance.
Step # 4 – Hire an Instructor
You will need to bring in a professional dance instructor to offer some ideas to the team. There are several different types of dancing from hip-hop to jazz dancing. All dancing options will burn calories, some more than others. Dancing has been proven to be an excellent aerobic activity. Aerobics are one of the best activities out there for anyone that wants to strengthen their lung capacity.
Step # 5 – Hold the Final Competition
Set-up the dancing program to span over 3 months, this will give all the teams enough time to really drop some weight and advance their dancing skills. Then plan to take off half the day and have a dancing competition with your employees. Have each of the groups perform and let your employees vote on the group that should win. Then, reward the individuals or teams that lost the most weight and reward the team that has the best moves on the dance floor.
Dancing is a great way to not only burn calories but it can help bring your employees closer together. They are all working on a project together, but it is completely for fun and it’s not something that is stressful. Try to give your employees an extra 15-30 minutes each day so they can go and work on their dancing skills with their team. They may think they are dancing just so they can win the big reward, but they are actually helping your company to reduce its health insurance costs because they are getting in better shape. Doing more than one type of dance will work different muscles groups on the body. This is a total body workout, not just a workout for the legs and arms. Not only are you strengthening your lungs, but you are improving your heart health as well.