There are so many reasons to start Zumba, to get back to it or to just keep on doing it! Five years ago, I had never even heard of Zumba! After I went to my first class, for the first 20 minutes, I thought it was weird! Why are people doing these simple salsa moves with tennis shoes on and without a partner at 9AM??? I used to go salsa dancing with my heels and spin all over the place with 30 different guys at midnight.
But during the 60 minutes of following what I didn't know at the time was a rather monotonous Zumba class, I had some time to think. Wow! I could do this! And I could make it so much more fun. And it's relaxing to dance without those 3 inch heels! And I don't have to dance at midnight! I don't have to risk getting my toes stepped on an elbow in my head! I don't even have to dance with the slimy guys who breathe in your ear and grab your you know whats. And I don't have to look like a fool when a guy leads something I can't follow or have my wrist dislocated because he pulls too hard. Besides, I'd been trained in all the Latin dances and competing in them, and I'd been studying and performing belly dance and hip hop, and I was already an aerobics instructor! So I got certified and my new life began!
Practicality
Many students have told me they would love to go out to the clubs and dance, but maybe their spouse isn't interested and doesn't want them dancing with strangers of the opposite sex, or maybe the alcohol or sleezy environs turn them off. Or they just don't know what to do when they get on the dance floor! Or they know, but they're sick of doing the same steps they've been doing for years! With Zumba, you can dance in a safe, healthy place, without getting picked up, at a time of day when you still have energy and you can pick up some new dance steps to pull out when you go to your next party.
Body Exploration
Plus, you'll learn to move your body parts in ways you never did before. I love freeing up student's hips and chest. Once you attain that new movement, it's a whole new world that you never felt before. And there's lots to learn but no rush to learn it all at once. Learn as you go and enjoy yourself.
Brain Exercise
Zumba is good for your brain. As we age and tend to relax in front of the tv or computer more and more, and become memory loss candidates, we're not using part of our brain, the part that makes us follow cues and music and dance at the same time. And Zumba is not so stressful like a hip hop class. After I go to one of those, my brain hurts because there's a different move every beat, and they don't even do the same thing on both sides! In Zumba we do the same move for a whole section of music, so it's not constant brain thinking trauma. But just enough to keep you engaged and free of boredom.
Musicality & Passion
With Zumba I'm so much more involved in the music than I was when I taught or took aerobics! The same aerobics routine can be done to any song that has about the same tempo. It becomes robotic and certainly not passionate. But with Zumba, each song has it's own choreography! I love figuring out what each part of the song makes me "feel" like doing. Students can feel the music with me- really feel it and identify the pattern so they can follow along.
Creativity
And Zumba is not a show, or sport or competition where everyone has to look the same and wear an uncomfortable costume. Students can bring their own creativity to each routine. You can strike your own pose, move your arms with your own flare, and just give the teacher some ideas! I often see one of my students following me but giving it their own style, and I often absorb that and copy a part of my students. I love it!
Music Exposure
Plus, how else can you request your favorite song and have a professional teacher make a custom routine for your song and be able to dance to that song just a few days after you make the request! That's incredible! Music is so powerful. It drives us to work harder! At Zumba class, you'll discover so many poweful, intense, heavy beat, rhythmic songs, you'll be writing down the titles and looking for them to listen to at home.
No Plateau
Zumba is always changing! So they say you shouldn't do the treadmill or the stairmaster every day and nothing else. Because your body gets used to the same exercise and it becomes less effective, too easy for you. But I keep changing my songs from week to week. And new songs sound- well- different- and that difference inspires me to come up with new moves- moves that your body hasn't got used to yet. Zumba is packed with an infinite variety of moves. It's not like running- where you keep just running forward, or swimming or biking- those sports don't have such a variety of possible movement, but Zumba- where every song is from a different part of the world - inspires your body to take a tour through all possible movements.
Safe Workout
Zumba is safer than a lot of sports or exercises. We're not trying to make you follow a professional jazz routine with leaps and splits where you could twist an ankle. Zumba is full of safe moves that ordinary people can do (or learn to do easily). When I go jogging, I have to worry that jogging on pavement will be too much trauma for my joints but jogging on grass might wind me up in a hole with a broken ankle. But the dance floor at my studio is spring loaded- great for your joints- and certainly contains no potholes. When I go play tennis, the ball moves so fast that I don't have time to react and suddenly I've twisted my knee getting to the ball and it hurts for a couple weeks. But in Zumba, everything is done to the music- everything is predictable- no sudden twists! When I go skiing, I have to worry that some crazy snowboarder is going to lose control right behind and plough me down. We're not doing Zumba on ice! And there are no rocks or trees to run into either! On the bike trail, I even have to worry about pedestrians suddenly walking out in front of me. But in Zumba, everyone is going in the same direction because they're all fascinated by the same music, taking them on the same journey.
Total Body Workout Efficiency
Zumba is cardiovascular exercise, muscle toning, and flexibility stretching all in one. I can get a total workout in just 60 minutes- and it never feels like 60 minutes- just 20 because it goes by so quickly when we're having so much fun. While we are dancing we are squatting- but it's not boring squatting; it's squatting incorporated into the dance move, so you don't even know you're squatting. We're doing ab work at the same time we're popping to the house beat. We're kicking and getting our leg up high not just because we're standing and doing 50 kicks in place but because the jive rhythm is calling us to it's jackhammer beat! Every step I take in the slow, sensual bachata, is stretching out my hip. I could go on and on. Your total body workout has been planned for you in a bundle of incredible music.
Increased Energy
After Zumba, I have so much energy, always more energy than when I came. That's why you hear me scream at the end of some songs- the song got me so pumped that I have to scream at the end to release that excess energy that just got created. And students have told me they know it's ok to come to my class tired and not in the mood because they know they can count on me to wake them up within 1 minute. So if you work hard 9-5 and think you don't have energy to Zumba, just come anyway. Think you can't wake up early- come try it anyway- we'll wake you up.
Social Health
Zumba can be a good excuse to get out of the house, away from your kids and meet other people who like to have a good time and take care of themselves just like you do. Or it can be a way to do more with your family. I have some students who bring their kids to class! Kids love to dance too. And when we've seen each other dance, a barrier goes down. You can feel more comfortable around someone who has already seen your booty shake and your thighs wiggle- you've got over that hurdle! Zumba also makes a great date with a friend. "I'm busy this week, but let's meet at Zumba at 9AM tomorrow." It could be cheaper than going out to lunch and certainly better for you!
Reproductive Health
One student told me she couldn't get pregnant. Then she started Zumba, and started moving her pelvis around a whole lot more than a lady sitting at home and going to work would normally do, and she got pregnant! The doctor said Zumba may have changed the position of her uterus to help her achieve conception. Wow!
Romantic Health
I don't want to make this blog inappropriate for young readers, but you can imagine what happens if you take Zumba hip and pelvis movements and apply them in a more private setting. You and your partner's life will change! just from a shimmy or a grind.
Weight Loss
That's a lot of reasons to start and keep up your Zumba, but did I mention it burns calories and burns fat?? Zumba advertises that individuals burn 500-1,000 calories/hour. I had a student with a heartrate monitor who told me she burned 650 calories during my class. And that's a 50 something year old woman, short in height, not in the best of shape and not the most energetic dancer. She follows all my moves but may only move half as much as me. Imagine how many calories you might be burning. Because we are keeping the heart rate up for 60 minutes, that's a whole lot of fat burning. And you can keep this up because Zumba is fun and always changing and convenient and happening everywhere everyday, so you won't get sick of it- just build it into your lifetime daily habits!
Did I miss any reasons? Most importantly, it's just fun, and everyone deserves a fun 1 hr break! I have had students tell me it's the highlight of their week, it's the best part of their weekend, it's what they look forward to all week, they're sad when they miss a day . . .And remember, don't be shy- no one is looking at you; they're either looking at themselves in the mirror or at the teacher to follow those cues. Post other reasons in the comments section please! I'd love to know why you do Zumba!
But during the 60 minutes of following what I didn't know at the time was a rather monotonous Zumba class, I had some time to think. Wow! I could do this! And I could make it so much more fun. And it's relaxing to dance without those 3 inch heels! And I don't have to dance at midnight! I don't have to risk getting my toes stepped on an elbow in my head! I don't even have to dance with the slimy guys who breathe in your ear and grab your you know whats. And I don't have to look like a fool when a guy leads something I can't follow or have my wrist dislocated because he pulls too hard. Besides, I'd been trained in all the Latin dances and competing in them, and I'd been studying and performing belly dance and hip hop, and I was already an aerobics instructor! So I got certified and my new life began!
Practicality
Many students have told me they would love to go out to the clubs and dance, but maybe their spouse isn't interested and doesn't want them dancing with strangers of the opposite sex, or maybe the alcohol or sleezy environs turn them off. Or they just don't know what to do when they get on the dance floor! Or they know, but they're sick of doing the same steps they've been doing for years! With Zumba, you can dance in a safe, healthy place, without getting picked up, at a time of day when you still have energy and you can pick up some new dance steps to pull out when you go to your next party.
Body Exploration
Plus, you'll learn to move your body parts in ways you never did before. I love freeing up student's hips and chest. Once you attain that new movement, it's a whole new world that you never felt before. And there's lots to learn but no rush to learn it all at once. Learn as you go and enjoy yourself.
Brain Exercise
Zumba is good for your brain. As we age and tend to relax in front of the tv or computer more and more, and become memory loss candidates, we're not using part of our brain, the part that makes us follow cues and music and dance at the same time. And Zumba is not so stressful like a hip hop class. After I go to one of those, my brain hurts because there's a different move every beat, and they don't even do the same thing on both sides! In Zumba we do the same move for a whole section of music, so it's not constant brain thinking trauma. But just enough to keep you engaged and free of boredom.
Musicality & Passion
With Zumba I'm so much more involved in the music than I was when I taught or took aerobics! The same aerobics routine can be done to any song that has about the same tempo. It becomes robotic and certainly not passionate. But with Zumba, each song has it's own choreography! I love figuring out what each part of the song makes me "feel" like doing. Students can feel the music with me- really feel it and identify the pattern so they can follow along.
Creativity
And Zumba is not a show, or sport or competition where everyone has to look the same and wear an uncomfortable costume. Students can bring their own creativity to each routine. You can strike your own pose, move your arms with your own flare, and just give the teacher some ideas! I often see one of my students following me but giving it their own style, and I often absorb that and copy a part of my students. I love it!
Music Exposure
Plus, how else can you request your favorite song and have a professional teacher make a custom routine for your song and be able to dance to that song just a few days after you make the request! That's incredible! Music is so powerful. It drives us to work harder! At Zumba class, you'll discover so many poweful, intense, heavy beat, rhythmic songs, you'll be writing down the titles and looking for them to listen to at home.
No Plateau
Zumba is always changing! So they say you shouldn't do the treadmill or the stairmaster every day and nothing else. Because your body gets used to the same exercise and it becomes less effective, too easy for you. But I keep changing my songs from week to week. And new songs sound- well- different- and that difference inspires me to come up with new moves- moves that your body hasn't got used to yet. Zumba is packed with an infinite variety of moves. It's not like running- where you keep just running forward, or swimming or biking- those sports don't have such a variety of possible movement, but Zumba- where every song is from a different part of the world - inspires your body to take a tour through all possible movements.
Safe Workout
Zumba is safer than a lot of sports or exercises. We're not trying to make you follow a professional jazz routine with leaps and splits where you could twist an ankle. Zumba is full of safe moves that ordinary people can do (or learn to do easily). When I go jogging, I have to worry that jogging on pavement will be too much trauma for my joints but jogging on grass might wind me up in a hole with a broken ankle. But the dance floor at my studio is spring loaded- great for your joints- and certainly contains no potholes. When I go play tennis, the ball moves so fast that I don't have time to react and suddenly I've twisted my knee getting to the ball and it hurts for a couple weeks. But in Zumba, everything is done to the music- everything is predictable- no sudden twists! When I go skiing, I have to worry that some crazy snowboarder is going to lose control right behind and plough me down. We're not doing Zumba on ice! And there are no rocks or trees to run into either! On the bike trail, I even have to worry about pedestrians suddenly walking out in front of me. But in Zumba, everyone is going in the same direction because they're all fascinated by the same music, taking them on the same journey.
Total Body Workout Efficiency
Zumba is cardiovascular exercise, muscle toning, and flexibility stretching all in one. I can get a total workout in just 60 minutes- and it never feels like 60 minutes- just 20 because it goes by so quickly when we're having so much fun. While we are dancing we are squatting- but it's not boring squatting; it's squatting incorporated into the dance move, so you don't even know you're squatting. We're doing ab work at the same time we're popping to the house beat. We're kicking and getting our leg up high not just because we're standing and doing 50 kicks in place but because the jive rhythm is calling us to it's jackhammer beat! Every step I take in the slow, sensual bachata, is stretching out my hip. I could go on and on. Your total body workout has been planned for you in a bundle of incredible music.
Increased Energy
After Zumba, I have so much energy, always more energy than when I came. That's why you hear me scream at the end of some songs- the song got me so pumped that I have to scream at the end to release that excess energy that just got created. And students have told me they know it's ok to come to my class tired and not in the mood because they know they can count on me to wake them up within 1 minute. So if you work hard 9-5 and think you don't have energy to Zumba, just come anyway. Think you can't wake up early- come try it anyway- we'll wake you up.
Social Health
Reproductive Health
One student told me she couldn't get pregnant. Then she started Zumba, and started moving her pelvis around a whole lot more than a lady sitting at home and going to work would normally do, and she got pregnant! The doctor said Zumba may have changed the position of her uterus to help her achieve conception. Wow!
Romantic Health
I don't want to make this blog inappropriate for young readers, but you can imagine what happens if you take Zumba hip and pelvis movements and apply them in a more private setting. You and your partner's life will change! just from a shimmy or a grind.
Weight Loss
That's a lot of reasons to start and keep up your Zumba, but did I mention it burns calories and burns fat?? Zumba advertises that individuals burn 500-1,000 calories/hour. I had a student with a heartrate monitor who told me she burned 650 calories during my class. And that's a 50 something year old woman, short in height, not in the best of shape and not the most energetic dancer. She follows all my moves but may only move half as much as me. Imagine how many calories you might be burning. Because we are keeping the heart rate up for 60 minutes, that's a whole lot of fat burning. And you can keep this up because Zumba is fun and always changing and convenient and happening everywhere everyday, so you won't get sick of it- just build it into your lifetime daily habits!
Did I miss any reasons? Most importantly, it's just fun, and everyone deserves a fun 1 hr break! I have had students tell me it's the highlight of their week, it's the best part of their weekend, it's what they look forward to all week, they're sad when they miss a day . . .And remember, don't be shy- no one is looking at you; they're either looking at themselves in the mirror or at the teacher to follow those cues. Post other reasons in the comments section please! I'd love to know why you do Zumba!
