Does Dancing ‘Count’ as Cardio? Here’s What Experts Say

Picture this: Your favorite song comes on, and you can’t help but get your groove on. You’re rocking out with all you’ve got, and within a minute or two, your heart is pumping so hard it feels ready to pop out of your chest. You can’t help but wonder, Does dancing count as cardio? 

Well, that depends. “Dancing” is a super broad term that can mean anything from hopping into your gym’s dance cardio class to lighting up the floor at a wedding (or your kitchen) to taking a technique-focused ballet or hip hop class. Maybe you’re just shimmying your shoulders, or maybe you’re full on doing the worm. The structure of the experience and the exact movements you’re performing can make a major difference in the fitness benefits you get out of a dance sesh. So if you’re hoping to use dancing as a form of cardio exercise, here’s what experts say you’ll want to keep in mind.   

For a true cardio workout, dance needs to get your heart pumping 

Exercise physiologist Rachelle Reed, PhD, says cardio exercise is defined as structured, repetitive movements that are done to improve your cardiorespiratory fitness. “Oftentimes when we're thinking about cardiorespiratory fitness, we're thinking about the sustained ability to have your heart and your respiratory system supply oxygen efficiently to the muscles,” she says. To get those adaptations, she says, you typically need a continuous bout of steady-state activity.

However, cardio workouts can also be done with high-intensity intervals that work the anaerobic system, which powers short bouts of harder exercise, Dr. Reed says. This is more like what you’ll typically get out of a dance cardio workout, where you’ll hoof it for the length of a song, then have a short rest until the next one starts. “For the most part, this does count as some type of cardiorespiratory training,” Dr. Reed says. 

The key is getting your heart rate high enough. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends healthy adults get at least 150 weekly minutes of moderate-intensity cardio exercise (about a four or five effort level on a scale of one to 10) or 75 minutes of vigorous cardio (a six or higher effort level). Dr. Reed says that meeting these guidelines not only boosts our cardiovascular fitness, but also lowers our risk of heart disease and premature death, and also simply improves our overall quality of life. 

Dancing multiple days a week can absolutely help you meet those guidelines, but only if you’re grooving pretty hard rather than just swaying back and forth. “Intensity depends upon what kind of dancing you're doing, and what you're putting behind it,” says Shanna Nelson, CEO of Jazzercise. You also have to take into account how fit you are to begin with: Someone who’s a little deconditioned will see their heart rate spike faster than a longtime pro cyclist, who would need to really attack those Zumba moves to get a decent cardio workout out of them. 

If you do get that intensity level up there, however, there can be some legit heart health benefits. One 2016 pooled analysis found that moderate-intensity dancing was more strongly associated with a decreased risk of death from heart disease than walking. More recently, a 2025 systematic review showed that dance could improve both the psychosocial risk factors (like stress, depression, and loneliness) and immobility that can lead to cardiovascular disease. 

It doesn’t matter whether you learn specific dance movements, or just jam out in whatever way feels good to you, as long as you get your heart pumping. “Honestly, moving your body in any way to rhythmic music is good enough,” says Jillian Descoteaux, Ph.D., an assistant professor of exercise physiology and director of the performing arts medicine minor at West Virginia University.    

That said, dance as cardio has its limits

Yes, dance can absolutely be a way for the average person to get moving enough to maintain their cardiorespiratory fitness, Dr. Reed says. “But of course, if you're wanting to train for a marathon or you have some really specific adaptation in mind, that's not going to prepare you well to be successful there,” she says. 

It can also be tricky to continually increase the challenge following a progressive overload strategy, which is essential if you want to continue making fitness adaptations. But it’s not impossible. For instance, Dr. Descauteaux says you can enhance the aerobic stimulus if you dance faster, add more jumps, make your movements bigger (including level changes like going all the way to the ground), or travel further across the floor as you dance. 

However, those bigger, faster moves can be pretty strenuous. While anybody can dance, Dr. Reed cautions that for dance to be intense enough to get your heart rate up, it will likely be a high-impact exercise, and require a decent amount of balance and coordination. So the kind of dance that counts as cardio isn’t the most accessible form of exercise. “If you are someone who has a physical limitation, it might be tougher for you to figure out how to adapt the workout,” she says. 

Even if you don’t make it a cardio workout, dance still offers perks

Of course, cardio health isn’t the only reason to bust a move. Particularly if you’re new to fitness, Dr. Descoteaux points out that dancing can potentially improve your flexibility, balance, coordination, agility, strength, and power. “Though it would depend on the genre you choose,” she says. Even if you’re just gently bopping around to the radio, though, that still helps add a little movement to your day, and that alone can be great for your health.   

Dancing is also proven to be good for your noggin: One 2018 study on older adults found it has significant cognitive benefits. “But I would completely back up that the benefits are there for all ages,” Dr. Descoteaux says. “The problem-solving that happens when you're dancing, the invention of movement, the creativity, that just helps our brain health.”  

Dancing to music can also make getting your heart rate up feel a little easier than it might otherwise. “There's some evidence to suggest when people are moving their bodies to music, it can actually decrease their rating of perceived exertion,” Dr. Reed says. That means you’re more likely to work harder without even realizing it because the music is driving you. “It's almost like mental stimulation to push a little bit more,” she says.

Maybe most importantly, dancing is also just fun—and a great way to connect with other people. “After a single workout, you'll probably feel an elevated mood and reduced feelings of anxiety,” Dr. Reed says. This can mean you’re more likely to stick with it. Dr. Descoteaux says research shows dance has a higher adherence rate than traditional forms of cardio. It’s not hard to see why: “I think people today try to do whatever is the ‘latest and the greatest’ workout,” Nelson says. “But doing something that you really love makes it so easy to do it.”     

How to squeeze out the biggest cardio boost 

To get the most cardio benefits from a dance workout, try to keep moving the whole time, Dr. Reed suggests. Even if you mess up the choreography, you’ll work your aerobic system more if your body remains in motion. 

Also try to dance “full out,” meaning you want to make your movements as big as possible. Stretch your limbs out long rather than keeping them close to your body; jump up high rather than just taking a little hop close to the ground. This will get your heart pumping harder to keep it in that moderate or even vigorous zone, Dr. Reed says. Since you don’t have weights to increase the challenge, “it's going to rely on how hard you're willing to work,” she says.    

The bottom line: If dancing is what you love to do, embrace it. Just keep your expectations in check. “If you're wanting to do dance as your form of cardio when you are otherwise not really active or if you’re new to exercising regularly, I love this for you,” Dr. Reed says. “It's just probably not going to inch you closer to performing well in the upcoming half marathon.”