Zumba


The Zumba ad says to "party yourself into shape, the latin-inspired, calorie-burning dance fitness party" which is a great description for what it is.  I took my first zumba class just 3 years ago and now I'm hooked! My first thought was I've never had so much fun in a class before! You really sweat it out dancing for a full hour to awesome music! I remember my first instructor did a routine straight from Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video. Since then I've taken classes with many different instructors at different gyms to try out different styles.  I've found that the teacher makes or breaks the class. I've had instructors who bored me tears and hence I burned few calories and whose music I didn't care for, I really like the ones that mix in a lot of pop music into their class. My favorite teacher right now has a facebook like page and she lets her students know where she is subbing every week since she doesn't have a regular class. I see the same regulars show up any various gyms throughout the city for her class! lol I tried the zumba video to do at home but it's just not the same experience.

The most exhilerating zumba experience I had was dancing zumba in two NBA halftime shows! I can't begin to tell you how nervous I was for that! lol I swear the people sitting courtside looked a cross between bored and puzzled as to who let it be amature hour. lol

I started going to zumbathons a couple times a year which is a two hour zumba class led by multiple instructors in a larger space. OMG those are the most fun ever!!!! It's their best routines and favorite songs, I've burned 1000 calories in those! The last one I went to was at a theater that had open space in front of the stage so perfect for dancing. They had a full light show, costume changes, it was full production! 

My latest zumba experience was aqua zumba. There were only 5 people in the class with varying ages in a pool that was 3.6 feet deep. The moves weren't exactly the same as land zumba as it had to account for water pressure, we especially couldn't do fancy foot work or fast turns. I wore a shower cap to not get my hair wet (which I'm sure I looked silly in) but since there was no splashing, there was no risk of that. The instructor stood outside the pool but later entered the pool with her shoes on. I wish I had shoes on because it wasn't comfortable dancing barefoot on the pool's floor. Halfway in I got a leg cramp, which I never get, so it had to be the barefoot dancing. I ended up having to leave class with a limp, it was so embarrassing to get injured in aqua zumba! lol All in all I didn't feel it got my heart rate up as it wasn't as challenging as land zumba, but it could have just been the instructor. 

I have yet to try glow in the dark zumba, definitely on my bucket list! ps you're never too old to Zumba! Check out these ladies aged 91 to 101 doing zumba!


Check out the mashup video below, it's the opening song for my favorite zumba instructor's class! It's a mix of these four songs:

Michael Jackson - Beat It
Rihanna - We Found Love
J-Lo - On The Floor
Owl City+Carly Rae Jepsen - Good Time





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