Abstract
In this ageing society, participating in daily physical exercise is becoming increasingly popular. Recently, there has been an increase among women engaging in various sports. Among middle-aged and senior women, HULA dance lovers have increased, HULA dance is commonly viewed as a only a"Hawaiian tourist entertainment"and has rarely been studied as a physical exercise. Therefore, this is an attempt to study the validity of HULA dance as a fitness exercise by gathering information from middle-aged and senior women who engage in order to examine their physiological response. Test subjects were 15 average healthy women aged 33〜68 participating in regular HULA lesson. HULA dance requires a constant straight vertical upper body position while knees (HULA Position). Making HULA steps while maintaining this position makes the hip-swings, that are characteristic of HULA dance, possible. There was a remarkable difference in leg muscle activity between the beginners and the experts according to the EMG recordings in various dance steps. HULA dance does not require jumping action, therefore, the dance is considered safe and valid training for leg muscles including M. vastus medialis that often lacks use in daily life. Even when using slow tempo music (♪=90), there was a remarkable difference in oxygen intake according to body weight between beginners and experts. This is probably because beginners bend the knees less causing very little leg muscle activity. Arms do most of the exercise. Among the beginners, using two different music tempos (♪=90〜100), heart rates during the dance were within 60%〜65%HRmax. When experts danced a vigorous slow dance, heart rate reached 75%HRmax. The movement intensity in the older beginners regardless of the music tempo was, 3〜6 METS; among the experts, it was 4〜7METS. During lessons, consideration is given to each to individual's age, physical strength and skill level. Therefore, HULA dance can be considered an appropriate exercise for seniors. Total energy consumption during the PULA MANA dance (♪=90), was; in beginners: 1.6〜3.8kcal/m. in experts: 2.4〜5.6kcal/m. Energy consumption was about the same as during a normal to fast walk depending on the individual's skill, the tempo of music and the choreography. Change in blood pressure during resting period compared to after dancing were no significant increase in blood pressure was found during half hour lessons that included periodic breaks. In general it is recommended that middle-aged people and seniors participate in walking. In addition, taking the joyful HULA lessons twice a week helps change the monotony of routine life and is also effective in maintaining and improving muscle tones and heart function. Dancing also helps burn exercise calories and is part of good fitness training.
