ZUMBAZumba: The Most Exhilarating Workout You’ve Ever Experienced!
Maybe you’ve been taking aerobics forever, or you might be new to group fitness classes, but no matter what your experience or abilities, a Zumba fitness class will give you a high-energy, motivating, and most of all fun, workout. Zumba is taught at gyms, dance studios, and YMCAs all over the world. It combines elements of Latin dance and fast-paced music to provide an exhilarating, calorie-burning aerobic fitness class that’s perfect for anyone, from young to middle-aged and beyond. ZUMBA: HOW IT STARTED Celebrity fitness trainer, “Beto” Perez developed Zumba in his native country of Columbia in the mid 1990s. He walked into his aerobics class one day and realized that he’d forgotten his music, so he grabbed a tape from his car that was full of the traditional Latin salsa and merengue music that he loved. Perez had to create a whole hour-long class using non-traditional music, and from that, Zumba was born and soon became the most popular class at his health club. Zumba combines Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves in interval training session in fast and slow combinations along with some resistance training designed to help tone and sculpt muscles. In July 2009, Zumba was being taught in more than 40,000 locations in 75 countries and has sold millions of DVDs. Zumba’s Education Division offers instructor training, and Zumba is affiliated with the Aerobic & Fitness Association of America, the American Council on Exercise, and other fitness organizations. According to the American Council on Exercise, Zumba is a great choice for middle-aged exercisers as it’s relatively easy on the joints. WHAT MAKES ZUMBA SUCH A FUN WORKOUT? The word Zumba is Columbian slang, and it means: “to move fast and have fun.” In part, the popularity of reality television shows like “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing With The Stars” has made the dancing a more popular and accepted form of exercise. Zumba classes blend a variety of dance styles, including hip hop, cha cha, rumba, flamenco, salsa, and calypso with spicy music to create a class, that, while it may be hard to follow at first, has you shimmying and shaking across the floor, keeping your heart rate elevated and burning calories at a rate of 700 in one session. Even if you’ve never take a traditional dance class, you can learn to follow the moves in a Zumba class as they’re repeated over and over in different easy-to-follow combinations. Zumba participants say that classes feel like a cross between an exercise class and a party, with people so caught up in the music and the group dynamic it doesn’t feel like a workout. And because there are quick and slow movements, you have time to catch your breath in between the super-fast-paced portions of class. Not only do Zumba class lovers report that they’ve lost weight and inches since becoming regulars, but most say Zumba’s helped them to be less self conscious about dancing, and all say they’re having a blast. For more information about Zumba, please visit: www.zumba.com
Article Written By: Julie Mitchell; Julie is an accomplished writer from San Francisco who loves ballet, yoga, walking, cooking and reading. Her experience as a wife and mother of two lend to her articles and blogs for DivaVillage.com and VillageMAMA.com in the areas of wellness, fitness, beauty, parenting and food. |
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