einstein (São Paulo). 15/Dec/2023;21:eAO0321.

Effect of 12-week rehearsal on cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition in Brazilian samba dancers

Cicera Claudinea

Duarte

, Paulo Roberto

Santos-Silva

, Ana Carolina

Paludo

, Marcus Vinicius

Grecco

, Julia Maria D´Andrea

Greve

DOI: 10.31744/einstein_journal/2023AO0321

Highlights

Samba rehearsals can increase cardiorespiratory function in dancers up to 19% of VO₂max.
Samba rehearsals can decrease up to 1.9kg of fat mass and increase 1.3kg of lean body mass.
In a samba rehearsal session, dancers spend 50% of their time at an intensity above 83% of the maximum.

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To investigate the effect of 12 weeks of rehearsals on cardiorespiratory parameters and body composition in Brazilian samba dancers belonging to a first-league samba school.

Methods:

Twenty-six women were divided into a Samba Group (n=13) and a Control Group (n=13). Cardiorespiratory parameters (cardiopulmonary exercise test) and body composition (skinfold assessment) were assessed before and after the 12 weeks of rehearsals. The Samba Group rehearsed three times per week for 30–60 minutes, and the Control Group participated in no physical activity. A comparison test was performed within and between groups, with p<0.05 indicating statistical significance.

Results:

Compared with the Control Group, the Samba Group showed a significant increase in maximal oxygen uptake (19%), oxygen pulse (13%), and lean body mass (3%) and a decrease in body fat percentage (11%) and fat mass (12%).

Conclusion:

Twelve weeks of samba dance rehearsals improved the cardiorespiratory and body composition parameters in women dancers compared with the Control Group. These findings suggest that dancing samba regularly can increase physical activity levels and positively affect the health parameters of samba dancers.

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