Did you know that dancing can help increase flexibility and give you relief from muscle aches? Keep your body in tip-top shape and ensure your ballroom dance skills flourish by starting a regular stretching routine.

Regular stretching can improve physical performance, decrease injury, improve joint movement and improve muscles, Mayo Clinic reports. When we do not stretch, the muscles shorten and become tight, hindering your ability to learn dance moves quickly. Stretching helps keep hips and hamstrings flexible as you age, according to WebMD. Experts agree, stretching directly before exercise is not as important as previously believed, but implementing a regular stretching routine is key for muscle health. Stretching each of the major muscle groups at least two times a week for 30 seconds per exercise is key to achieving success.

Learning to swing, salsa and tango at Fred Astaire Dance Studios is a low-impact aerobic workout that burns fat and boosts metabolism. In just 30 minutes of dance, you can burn between 200–400 calories. Every lesson at Fred Astaire Dance Studios begins with a few stretching exercises to help dancers execute dance steps with comfort and ease. Stretching helps improve flexibility and keeps muscles limber, decreasing the chance of suffering a dance-related injury. Implementing a regular stretching routine at home can help improve dance skills and decrease joint pain and muscle soreness after exercise.

Here are three stretches to make part of your routine. Make sure to hold each stretch for 30 seconds without bouncing to achieve the maximum effect.

Standing Hamstring Stretch – Stand up straight with feet together. Bend at the waist as far as you can without bending knees. Repeat.

Butterfly Stretch – Sit tall, press the soles of your feet together and drop your knees to the side.

Quad stretch – Stand up straight with feet together. Bend knee back and hold it up with your hand to stretch quadriceps. Repeat with the other leg.

Check out this video for more stretching tips. Eglis Smagris, a Latvian dancer and YouTube star, offers suggestions for a warm-up routine to do before ballroom dancing.

Get Limber at Fred Astaire Dance Studios

Visit your local Fred Astaire Dance Studios location to improve flexibility by learning a proper routine and some ballroom dance moves.