fit-young-girls-doing-side-lunges

Twerking is a new age version of Africa’s famous ‘Mapouka’ dance. Incidentally, this traditional African dance is also known as the ‘dance of the behind’.

Twerking as a dance form came into the spotlight during a music award function thanks to a mind-boggling performance by Miley Cyrus! The world literally woke up to twerking and thereafter, everyone leaped onto the twerk train. Those who were not discussing it, were endorsing it as a ‘pretty good workout.’

workout-girl-pink-background

Join the twerkout bandwagon

Fans of the twerk swear by twerkout as a great cardio workout and a fun way to get the body into great shape. In fact, twerking can really burn the calories (up to 300 calories per hour), if you are able to keep up with the body shaking for an hour or more. Daphne Avalon, who became famous for upside down twerking in the YouTube video ‘Twerking Girl on Fire’, says that the bouncy movements can engage and shape the muscles in your glutes, hips, and abs.

Twerking for the glutes

To get the maximum benefits of a twerkout, mix it up with your other regular workouts. A little twerking once or twice a week will tighten the muscles of your lower body and improve the shape and size of your derriere. The wide stance and the popping movements of twerking mimic the motions of pelvic thrusts and deep squats. An hour of these movements gives quite a workout to the deep muscles of the thighs, hips, back and the glutes. So, if you are bored to death with your gym and stretching routine, give yourself a break with some intense twerkouts and get the same benefits in a more fun way.

Twerking from the squatting posture or a more advanced twerking session ensures that the maximum movement is in the area around the hips. If you want to challenge yourself even further, try twerking with your hands on your knees to make the movements more intense and exert more effort on the muscles around the area of your backside (gluteal muscles). Over time, the gluteal muscles will firm up making the gluteal area more toned and well-shaped.

An hour of twerking not only burns as many calories as moderate jogging but allows you to focus on particular areas (hips and glutes) of the body. So up the music and twerk your way to a truly twerk-worthy body.