What's Zumba all about?

Have you heard of it?  It's all the new fad in exercise right now.  Zumba!

Our family joined the YMCA this summer and as I looked over the list of different group classes, I came across Zumba.  What's that?  Not heard of that one.  Let me preference this with the fact that I have not been a member of a gym in a very long time, actually have I ever, I'll have to think about that one.  I, along with my husband, are very outdoorsy people, and would prefer to exercise outside than be couped up in a facility somewhere.  Well, that's for another post.  Back to Zumba.

I've heard of aerobics, step, yoga, pilates but Zumba throw me for a loop.  Well, after attending some spin classes (which I thought I would never like either) I started asking around about Zumba.  Everyone had the same comment, "It's so much fun and you will get addicted once you start going"  I never really got an answer to what it was but it was suppose to be fun.  Well, here is the description from our YMCA

 

"ZUMBA: New and exciting class.  Heart pounding cardio Latin dancing combining the basics of Salsa, Cha-Cha, Meringue & Samba, to get your heart rate up burn calories and tone your muscles"

So here it is five months after joining the Y and I finally get the nerve up to give it a try.  I had always meant to take a class, but excuses just got in the way.  I hadn't been using our membership as often as I needed to be so I decided last week to give it a shot.  Zumba here I come!  Now let me say, I am not a great dancer by any stretch of the imagination.  I could always handle a step class but when it came to an aerobics class, I was ALWAYS on the wrong foot.  Now remember from the description, this is a Latin Dancing form of exercise.  Last Friday, I show up and luckily I wasn't the only new person in the class, but the instructor says there are a lot of repetitious steps so she won't be going over them now.  Basically, you are on your own, but in a nice way.  I take a glance around the room, there are all types in here, some are very intimidating but other I think I could probably hang with.  The music starts and we start shaking everything.  As long as I concentrated on the instructor and not the crazy ones in front of the class and definitely not the mirrors all around me, I was able to keep up with most moves.  I made it through my first class and can say I worked up a sweat, got my heart rate to a reasonable rate and had fun.  I even went back for a second class today.

So, if you have a Zumba class at your gym and haven't tried it, I highly suggest it.  But remember, don't look at yourself in the mirror, you will think you look foolish jiggling your body all around.  Just have fun and it really doesn't feel like exercise at all.