How can I get more chest movement?

Moving the chest is new to many dance exercise or Zumba students.  It's not uncommon to see students moving their arms or hips instead, when they're trying to move their chest.  Some women think they can't see their chest movement because they have small chests.  The truth is, you don't need a large chest to move it, chest size has nothing to do with the skeleton and muscles that are moving the chest, so even a flat chested person can achieve dramatic chest movement.  Three basic chest movements are described below and shown on the video.  http://www.youtube.com/user/SheilaLebedenko#p/u/6/phHF__qdvU0
    I will also show stretches for these 3 basic movements.  The more flexible you become with these 3 stretches, the more dramatic your chest movement will be.  These 3 basic movements can also be combined to make chest circles, figure 8's, and V's.  Actually, you can use your chest to draw any letter in the alphabet!

Chest pop (forward and back)
     Try using the imagery of sitting in a chair to learn how to pop your chest.  Most people love to slump while sitting.  So grab a chair.  Then slump, and sit up straight. Slump, sit straight, slump, sit straight.  Keep repeating.  Focus on what is happening to your chest as you do this natural movement.  Your pelvis will also move, but just focus on your chest for now.  This practice focuses on the backward part of the chest pop (from neutral to backward,) which is the easiest for new students to understand.  The next part, lying on the floor, will focus on the front part of the chest pop.
     Now try lying on your back on the floor.  In a neutral position, you should not be able to fit your hand under your midback (where the lady's bra strap is).  Now lift your mid back just enough to place your hand underneath.  Switch back and forth between these two positions several times.  Notice your chest and back moving.  This practice takes you from neutral to chest pop forward.  Imagine how you will do the same movement standing up. 
     Now try the chest pop standing up.  Imagine a string is tied to your sternum.  Now pull it forward.  To reverse the movement,  imagine using your finger to poke your sternum backward.
When your sternum is moving forward, think about squeezing your shoulder blades together.  When your sternum is moving backward, think about stretching your shoulder blades apart.  You can pass through neutral each time, especially in a more energetic dance, or you can stop at neutral and only do the front part of the chest pop (belly dance style)
     After you've come this far, you can add arms.  For a dramatic look, You could pull your arms backward as your chest moves forward, and vice versa.  You could also do chest fly arms where your arms come apart as your chest moves forward and back together as your chest moves backward.
    A great stretch to improve your chest pop can be done at the bar or holding on to the back of a sturdy chair.  First, stand with your back to the bar.  Place your arms behind you, holding on to the bar.  Imagine you are at the tip of the Titanic, flying in the breeze.  Let your sternum fall forward.  Let your shoulder blades squeeze behind you.  Hold for 30-60 seconds.  Now turn around and face the bar.  Holding on to the bar, keep your pelvis forward, but let your midback fall straight backward.  You can also do these two stretches on your hands and knees as a reverse cat stretch and a cat stretch. 

Chest slide (or ribcage slide) (side to side)
     First, assume a side lying position on the floor.  Prop yourself up with your forearm.  Your shoulder will pop up, and gravity will let the downward side of your ribcage stretch to the floor.  Consciously lower your shoulder so your neck is lengthened.  This is the position you are seeking when you are vertical, without the assistance of gravity.  For an exercise, lift your ribcage to neutral and return to downward position, repeating several times.  Then repeat on the other side.  Feel the difference between your ribcage stretched to the side and the neutral position that you're always in.  When you are lying down, the stretched position is easier, due to gravity.  Many people who think they can't chest slide standing up do it fine lying down.  But if you can do it lying down, you can do it standing up!  Transfer the feeling from a horizontal to vertical position.
     Now try it standing up.  Imagine a string is tied to your ribs, one on each side, right where a woman's bra would be.  Remember your floor work and imagine someone is pulling the string to the right, then the left.  The hips should not move.
     One student couldn't chest slide side to side until I asked her to keep her arms straight and reach to the right, then the left.  Then she did it.  If that helps you, try it!  Once you can do it, you can try different arm movements along with it, such as bending your arms at the elbow and extending your opposite arm away from the direction of chest movement. 

Chest twist (or shoulder shimmy)
Many students think we're shaking and showing off our goodies during this move, but it's actually a spinal movement.  Of course, your breasts will go along for the ride.  Imagine a coffee cup holder on your spinal vertebra, midback, where a lady's bra strap would be.  Imagine someone is turning the holder, making your chest and shoulders twist from side to side.  Your chest and shoulders will rotate around your spine.  You probably do this all the time while driving and backing up out of your driveway (twisting to the right), unless you have a rearview camera and never look backward!  Technology can make us lazy!  Start with slow, small movements.  Gradually make the movements bigger.  Then gradually make them faster.  As you get faster, the movements will get smaller for want of time.  The fast movement is called a shoulder shimmy.
     You can stretch to prepare for chest twists by sitting in your chair, holding on to the back, and twisting to look over each shoulder.

Advanced chest movements (next blog entry)
     Chest circles
     Chest V's, U's
     Sideways Figure 8's
     Backward/Forward Figure 8's

How can I get more hip and pelvic movement?

Every student wants to move their hips and pelvis like the instructor.  Here are the directions you need, but remember, besides know-how, you need flexibility.  So always stretch your hips after your workout, when your muscles are warm, for increased flexibility at your next dance session.  At the end of each hip movement section below, I have included a stretch that goes with it.  I will also show the movement on a skeletal hip joint model in the video http://www.youtube.com/user/SheilaLebedenko?feature=mhee#p/u/6/UpmOsE8yE8A



Hip bump 
     The hip bump is the first of many hip articulations extremely common in Zumba, in almost every type of rhythm.  Bring the femur or thigh bone up into the hip socket.  Imagine you're bored, waiting at the bus stop.
     While we could do this with straight legs for a particular look, we usually bend our knees to do this movement. 
     Most students do well up to here, but I seldom see a student who couldn't learn from the next suggestion.
Focus on the foot of the hip you want to bump up and press down with the ball of that foot into floor.  While everyone sees your hip going up, up, up,  you should actually be thinking "My foot is going down, down, down."  This alone will increase your hip movement and caloric output significantly. 
     After you've put your miles into practicing the hip bump and feel confident with your hip bump, an advanced ad-on is to focus on your the side of your chest opposite to your working hip.  You'll look more dramatic by working your chest in opposition to your hip.  For example, a right hip bump happens at the same time as a rib cage slide to the left.
     A great stretch to work on your hip bump is an s-shaped cleopatra pose.  Make sure your nose is alligned over your navel; that's how you know you're standing up straight.

Hip slide
     This hip movement reminds me of a motorized Santa Claus display figure that moves its hips from side to side to beckon you into the Christmas ornament shop. 
     The most common mistake I have seen with the hip slide is that students will do a chest slide instead, or a hip slide when they're supposed to be doing the chest slide.
     To learn the hip slide, try doing a simple side plank on the floor.  Hold up only your side with your forearm.  Leave your hip and legs on the floor.  Now lift up only your hip to make the side plank a little more difficult.  Release and lift.  This is a hip slide.  Try it on both sides and memorize the feeling so you can repeat it standing up.
     When standing up, imagine someone someone is pulling a string attached to side of your hip, one side at a time.  And remember that when you slide to the right, your body weight transfers slightly more to your right foot, and vice versa.
     A great stretch to work on your hip slide is to stand with your left side to the bar, left arm extended, feet under your arm pits - or close to it.  Raise your right arm over your head and point your right hand toward the wall with the bar.  Let your entire right side stretch to the right, like it's falling away from the bar.  Even your hip will slide to the right, just like in a hip slide.  Your right arm stretching to the left will counterbalance your right hip moving right, so you won't fall over.  Repeat on both sides.

Hip twist
     This is common in belly dance. Try practicing on the floor first.  Lie on your left side with your knees together, right left on top of left leg.  Then bring your right knee forward onto the floor.  Now bring your right knee back to neutral (on top of the left knee) and then backward till it is several inches above and to the right of your left knee.  Repeat on the other side and memorize the feeling so you can do it standing up.
    
     To me a hip twist feels like rolling a snake out of play-doh.  My hips are the play doh.  Imagine there is a coffee cup holder on one of your lower spinal vertebrae.  Then someone uses the holder to turn you from side to side.  Try to isolate your lower body;  keep your upper body still while learning the movement.  Your waist will be turning and working. Even your thighs and knees will turn gently.  Your feet will gently roll from side to side and give you a wonderful foot massage if you focus on pressing them (not the toes- don't curl your toes) into the floor  But try not to move your hands (unless you're imagining rolling the play-doh snake.)
     A great stretch for your hip twist is to sit on the floor, lets straight in front of you.  Raise one knee and cross over the other leg so that you knee touches the floor.  Feel the twist.  Repeat on the other side.

Hip rotator
     Rotation joint movement is common in samba and hip hop and any Latin move where you want to make an extreme figure 8 movement.  Overall, students seem to be successful at the basic movement, turning the leg from side to side at the hip joint.  But I have both a safety tip and a power tip:
     safety - Always keep your knee and toes pointing in the same direction!  Some people think they can't do this move because it will hurt their knees, but this movement has nothing to do with the knees- it just looks like it does.  Only your hip rotator is moving, not your knees.  If you don't keep your knees aligned with your toes, you could torque your knee.  This safety tip is much easier to follow if you have proper shoes, with smooth, low tread soles and a pivot point, such as Nike Musique or Ryka Transitions.
     power - Since you're usually only in class for an hour, let's not waste any time with floppy, lower calorie burning movements.  Press the ball of your foot (keep your toes up, not curled) into the floor as it twists from side to side, as if you want to squish a cockroach.  You'll use your muscles more, make more dramatic movements and have better control over your movement to protect your knees if you follow the "cockroach" advice.  There is a Latin dance movement called the "cucaracha,"  which is based on this piece of technique.

Pelvic rock
     Pelvis movement is very common in Zumba!  You'll need this to do a body roll, which I'll explain in another blog post.  Some consider the pelvic rock "dirty" or inappropriate.  This is unfortunate because it's an extremely healthy movement and great for you back and abs.  Don't be ashamed.  Those who don't practice moving their pelvis will only grow older faster. 
     Practice on a chair.  Sit up straight.  Then slouch. Go back and forth between these two movements.  Everyone knows how to do both of those, though they may slouch more than sit straight!  After a minute, try to focus on the pelvis and less on the chest.  Slouching involves lowering your chest too, but try to isolate just pelvic movement.  Memorize the feeling of your pelvic movement by repeating several times. 
     Practice on the floor.  Relax and notice how you can place you hand under the small of your back. Now the bottom of your pelvis is tilted back and the top is tilted forward.  Now press the small of your back into the floor so that your hand can't fit underneath anymore. (This is the correct position for abdominal work by the way.)  Go back and forth between these 2 positions.  Memorize the feeling in your muscle memory so that you can do the same movement standing up.
     Variation:  If I swing my upper body back and forth and the same time as the pelvic movement (upper body forward when the bottom of the pelvis goes back and vice versa), I'll get a different look that really engages the ab muscles.  I use it a lot for calypso or even hip hop.

Knee raise/swing back
     Your hip joint lets you move your knee up and down as well.  I won't focus on that because students are generally great at it!  Just lift your knees higher to get more workout!  Hug your knee up to your chest for a good stretch.  The opposite, swinging your knee backward will stretch your hip flexor.  Grab your foot behind you and feel a great stretch through your thigh and hip flexor.

Conclusion
     Yes, there's a lot of information here.  The video, coming soon, will help you by letting you watch segments over and over to practice.  This blog entry will be the script for my video.  In another blog entry, I will show advanced hip movements that involve combinations of the above elements, such as circles, figure 8's and shimmies.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Why do I get abdominal cramps during Zumba?

Several students have asked me what to do about cramps that start in the middle of Zumba.  That's the last thing you want.  You're here to have fun and get a workout, not get sick!  If I eat too much too close to Zumba, I will cramp.  If I have a class at 6:30PM, I eat half of my dinner (the non-fatty, digestible part) at 5PM, the other half after Zumba.  But students who follow this rule still get cramps.  Gyration will speed up your digestive process and bowel movements.  It's not uncommon to have to run to the bathroom in the middle of class.  If it's not your bowels calling, Some will say cramps arise because you're not breathing rhythmically, or you're dehydrated or you didn't stretch enough, or get enough potassium.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5476768_abdominal-cramps-exercise.html
Perhaps lactic acid built up. Any of these could be your culprit.  http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_happening_in_your_body_when_muscles_burn_or_develop_cramps_during_strenuous_exercise
However, I can tell you, if it's none of the above, it's lack of control at the core.  Hold those abs in.  Otherwise, you'll be shaking up your internal organs as well as your external goodies.  If I let my stomach hang out and still did all those shimmies,  I'd get cramps too.  Yes, you can still breathe while you're holding your abs in.  Hold your abs in all day too, not just for dancing. Develop the habit!  Controlling your abs will save your back too!