What Are Exercises to Do to Become Better Salsa Dancer?

The obvious way to get better at salsa dancing is to dance more salsa. Practice might not make perfect, but it can get you closer to perfect than you were before you started practicing. But if you're serious about improving your salsa, you can also do a variety of exercises to work the muscles that make salsa look easy and natural. By combining this with actual dance practice, you not only get better at salsa, you make your body better for the dance.

  1. Strength and Endurance

    • Though a vigorous salsa session will work muscles you'd previously forgotten you had, the heaviest load is on your calves, hips and lower back. Any kind of body-weight or weightlifting exercise that targets those areas will help improve strength and endurance for your dancing. Some examples include squats, calf raises, leg presses and calisthenics that work your core muscles. Since you're training to be able to dance all night, the best routines will have lots of repetitions at low-to-moderate weight. The heavy weights and low reps of power lifting will have limited benefit to your salsa experience.

    Balance

    • Salsa dancing taxes your balance, especially if you're a woman moving across the floor in fashionable, high-heeled shoes. You can improve your balance in your down time by simply standing on one leg while waiting in line, cooking dinner or watching television. For something a little more aggressive, try a group fitness class that focuses on balance, like yoga, tai chi or even martial arts.

    Learning the Music

    • You will be a better salsa dancer if you know salsa music well enough to anticipate its rhythms and changes. It's possible to do this simply by loading salsa tunes onto your mp3 player before each workout, but often the workout takes enough focus that you won't internalize the lesson. A group fitness class that uses a salsa soundtrack can let you get your workout while paying more attention to the Latin beats.

    Polishing Up

    • As your attributes improve, a few dance lessons can help you polish those rough abilities into a smoother dance form. Website SalsaDancingAddict.com recommends dancing with as many different people as possible in group sessions, then springing for a private class -- or three -- to bring all the pieces together.