They also classify an exercise as extremely heavy if oxygen consumption is higher than 2.0L min−1. All but the females in the Standard dance sequence did not exceed an oxygen consumption level of 2.0L min−1. Finally, the energy expenditure for male athletes was estimated to be 54.1 ± 8.1 kJ min−1 for Standard and 54.0± 9.6kJ min−1 in the Latin American dances. For females it was 34.7 ± 3.8 kJ min−1 and 36.1 ± 4.1 kJ min−1 respectively. Two other similar experiments were conducted exhibiting very similar results and analyses. In all three of the experiments, significant differences in the energy expenditure between the male and female athletes were noticed. Generally males had a higher energy expenditure than their female counterparts. This is evident due to the anthropometric differences between the two sexes and the oxygen transport capacity. Comparing the mean gross energy expenditures (in kJ min−1) between ballroom dancing and other sports, it is evident that competitive dancing is equally as demanding in comparison to other sporting activities such as basketball (35.83 kJ min−1) or cross-country running (44.37kJ min−1) (Consolazioetal, 1963), and that ballroom dancing requires a cardiovascular system to be able to work at a high energy level in order to match the given physiological strain.