Revealed: the best music to dance to if you want to burn calories

Is it time to ditch the gym and hit the gigs?
Gig-goers can clock up over 18,000 steps in one evening
Pixabay
Harriet Pavey5 January 2018

January is upon us, and it's safe to say the new year health kick is in full swing. As Brits up and down the nation hit the gym with a vengeance, the battle for the last treadmill is on.

But if slogging away while the “calories burned” counter creeps up painfully slowly isn’t exactly your idea of a fun evening, there is a solution. Believe it or not, it is possible to enjoy yourself and burn calories (without even noticing).

Think about when your favourite song comes on in the club. You grab your friends, run to the middle of the dance floor and then spend the next three minutes or so dancing your head off. You’re probably a sweaty mess afterwards, but it was all worth it for Beyoncé.

Now imagine a whole evening of your favourite songs by your favourite artist.

According to music discovery and ticketing app DICE, we should all be ditching the after-work gym class and going to gigs if we want to get fit. Because while most of us struggle to reach 5km on the treadmill before collapsing, at live music events fans can rack up nearly 14km worth of steps without even realising.

Using FitBits to monitor gig-goers’ heart rate and step count, DICE found listening to music is actually good for your health. Here’s a round-up of which genres you should be listening to if you want to mosh out maximum calories:

Grime

Good news for Stormzy fans: grime enthusiasts racked up the most steps at gigs
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Stormzy fans, rejoice: grime music topped the list in terms of combining music and exercise. Fans at grime concerts clocked up an average of 7.635 steps, more than four times the UK’s adult daily average of 2,000. It’s the equivalent to running 17 laps around Wembley stadium.

Pop

You no longer need to justify loving Justin Bieber
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We knew Justin Bieber wasn’t just a guilty pleasure. Pop fans racked up an impressive 5,588 steps at gigs, hitting just under the 5km mark: a good excuse to skip your morning jog around the park. One energetic fan danced a total of 18,106 steps, travelling nearly 14km on one night: that’s two thirds of a half marathon.

Electronic

Electronic duo Daft Punk
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Now if you really want to get your heart pumping, electronic music is for you. Think Daft Punk, David Guetta and Avicii (because who doesn’t go wild at the drop in “Wake Me Up”?) Electronic gig-goers had an average heart rate of 120bpm, well within the fat burning zone. They also clocked over 6,000 steps, the equivalent of a 37 minute run.

Indie

For a more gentle workout, try Lana Del Rey
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A surprise contender in the dancer-cise stakes. The soothing sounds of Lana Del Rey might suggest a gentler kind of cardio, but indie fans still pushed their heart rates above 100bpm at gigs, taking more than 2,000 steps in one night.

R&B

Jay-Z and Kanye will help you burn calories
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Thanks to its high number of beats per minute, listening to R&B should help you push yourself during exercise. So it’s no surprise that fans managed to complete the equivalent of a 21 minute jog and nearly 4,000 steps during gigs. Thank you Kanye West.

It looks like we should all be buying a plane ticket to Coachella now. You know, for our health.

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