A new activity I've started recently is Zumba, the dance exercise which seems to be the latest fitness craze. I took this class at the beginning of the summer when I wanted an aerobic class and my health club didn't have much on offer (summer doldrums). So, mostly in desperation, I decided to try it.
It was so much fun!!!!!
I want to tell you that I am not a trained dancer. I'm not into the kind of music that my Zumba instructor plays (though I have grown to like it). So it wasn't necessarily a natural fit for me. But the routines engage both your body and your mind and the music makes you feel like moving. So what is not to like?
This link is one provided by my instructor. You can't get the total feeling by watching a video, but you can see that it's not as difficult as you might think.
Andrea Rowlee is a wonderful instructor - enthusiastic, talented and funny (and also considerably skinnier than she looks here).
I started dragging some of my friends to the class. Then my daughters decided to join us and they brought their friends. That's how much fun it is. Before long, half the class was there because I'd brought them. But everyone talks to each other between songs, so it doesn't matter if you have all your friends and relations there, or not.
The other thing I like about Zumba is that it's appropriate for people of all ages, and you don't have to be especially fit. There are senior citizens in the class, and some of the kids I've brought are 12-13. The moves can be complicated, but our instructor gives some mini demos at the beginning of class. More importantly, if you can't exactly duplicate the move, that's okay. Just jump around to the music and have fun. In fact, we greatly enjoy laughing at ourselves.
No men have been brave enough to enjoy our class (though they don't mind standing outside and peeking in through the windows!). My sister says she has men in her class, and I've seen them online. Zumba was actually started by a man. His story is that he arrived at a fitness class he was teaching and realized he'd forgotten his music and so he started improvising with the music he had.
Has anyone else tried Zumba? What do you think?