The Britney Spears Workout: How She Got Her Body Back

Dance Yourself into Shape

To get into tour-ready shape, Britney headed to renowned choreographer Jamie King, who's also worked with Madonna, Rihanna, and other superstars who put on sweat-worthy shows. But while you probably can't hire King for your own personal routine, you can work out to his DVD, Rock Your Body (Good Times Video, $14.99), which features a short workout and how-to moves for a hip-hop routine.

Rock Your Body isn't a traditional workout video, so some of its styling is kind of rough (King says "go left" when he's moving right, for example, since he's facing you). Still, you'll really feel your abs and core engage as you learn the steps.

"All dance moves begin at the core," Van Daff says. "You can't shake, squat, bend, twirl, gyrate or any other dance related movement without a strong core."

And not only is dancing incredibly effective physical exercise, but few activities beat it as a feel-good mood lifter. "It's easy to lose focus and attention to the length of time and physical intensity while dancing," Van Daff says. "Therefore, you're likely to burn more calories dancing than, say, walking on a treadmill, and you'll also perform more muscle endurance activity via squatting, striding, and bending than you will during a typical gym circuit."

Believe it, girls: It might be time to trade your running shoes for dancing shoes.

Originally published on FitnessMagazine.com, March 2009.