What the heck is Zumba??
"A Zumba workout mixes body sculpting movements with dance steps derived from cumbia, merengue, salsa, reggaeton, hip hop, mambo, rumba, flamenco, and calypso and Salsaton. The routines feature aerobic interval training with a combination of fast and slow rhythms. It targets areas such as the glutes, legs, arms, abdominals, and the heart. A Zumba class is typically not formulaic in that instructors often add on their own music choices and choreographies to make their class presentation locally unique." (wiki)
Ok so random post I'm sure that's what you're thinking, but of course it's not that random. A few weeks ago my neighbor across the street told me about her Zumba class that she goes to at the rec center where we are members. 2 weeks ago I got released from my doctor to start doing full fledge workouts, so I decided to try out this Zumba thing. I was definitely in for a surprise, but I had already arranged for Brent to watch Gabbie, I was in my gear, it was all set up for me to go...no...matter...what.
My class started with this spunky little 5'4" blonde girl with pig tails, a pink bandana around her forehead, black tank top with "I HEART ZUMBA" and HOT pink pants with ZUMBA! down the leg walked to the front of the room and introduced herself as the instructor. (if you want to purchase your own wardrobe of Zumba attire, check it out here....seriously. I saw this before the class - I should have known this was not normal)
I thought things would be ok by the looks of the girls in the class - there was definitely a diverse age and athletic ability in the crowd so I figured I'd be ok.
Well let's just skip the narration and instead I'll present you with this video - after your amazement over the girl in the front wears off, pay close attention to the woman in the very back with the white shirt and black pants. Notice she is rarely in step with the instructor - that was definitely me... (by the way this is just from YouTube. Apparantly Zumba is a HUGE craze so there are videos all over the internet. Why in the world I didn't think to look there FIRST before the class, I'm not sure. This is pretty much the EXACT same dance steps and music we did. All the same moves...everything...literally...)



If you know me very well, you know I'm not really the "following dance steps" kind of girl but more of the "lift weights together" kind of girl when it comes to group exercise. I did meet a nice girl beside me in the class who encouraged me to come back that it did actually get easier. I'm not sure I could however given that I pretty much laughed the entire time. But hey - at least I got my heart rate up and broke a really good sweat and provided you all with a good laugh and visual!