When Exercise Feels Like a Dance Party

 One huge thing that I miss as an empty nester is living room dance parties.

I would set up my bluetooth speaker and play an Apple Music playlist called "Dance Workout" as loud as I could. We'd start by jogging around in a circuit, through the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, down the hall and back into the living room. We'd add arms, we'd stop and do some bouncy moves, some knee lifts, wiggles of all kinds, and then jog around again. I would sing along when I could. Loud. This would take about an hour and then we'd lie on the floor in the living room and do some stretching to a Calm playlist. 

Those were such happy hours! I felt good. Sweat and songs and silliness with my girls! Woo!

I can recreate a little bit of that feeling. Victoria recommended @emkfit, a girl who makes exercise videos on YouTube. She's got a series of Dance Workouts that are fun, and a some have a musical theatre theme. Here's the Mamma Mia workout: 

I also found @growwithjo who has some fun dance workouts. She has a series of exercise videos called Dance Party Workouts! Perfect. I love Michael Jackson songs, and she's done a great job of creating a fun workout to some really great ones. She's got lots of great themes, including 80s, gospel, and Reggaeton (ooh, Zumba!). 

I can play these nice and loud and my young friend on the screen dances with me. I feel happy and I'm exercising. I can find new ones, there are tons of Dance Workout videos on YouTube, or I can repeat my favourites, getting better at the moves every time. 

We all need exercise, and it has to be doing something fun so that it's not a chore, so that you keep it up. It should be a joy to move our bodies, to work our muscles. Music is my favourite thing. Dancing and singing help me to enjoy moving my body. I hope I keep dancing for a long, long time. I want to dance with my future grandchildren.