Zumba Fitness® Exercise and Fun
Zumba Fitness. Let’s be honest. We love to see us divine. We love that people tell us how well we are, how good we look, and how great is our clothes. We care almost obsessively about our hair, our hands, and our feet. The other big issue: our skin. We use moisturizing, nourishing, cleansing, firming, buffers, acids, and other creams. We consult with doctors, surgeons, dermatologists, and cosmetic specialists.
We do facials, massages, drainage, peelings, and many other deeper treatments and names that honestly I do not always remember. And we love clothes, shoes, accessories. We love to dress well and follow trends. It’s part of being female, having a social and public life. It is part of our need to communicate a message, to tell the world “Look at me, here I am and this is me”.
And we’re going to the gym. Nowadays there are so many different exercise programs, some with unpronounceable names. We take classes, lift weights, run, walk, swim, hire a personal trainer, we do everything to maintain weight, muscle tone, flexibility, and breathing capacity.
The gym is part of our agenda. We will train, socialize, meet people, or sometimes also get inspired to make a life change. Every day, many women religiously meet the daily routine of going to the gym. The question is really how many like exercising? Some of them. For others, exercise is a must to maintain weight, combat daily stress, or have a physical condition like diabetes. For others, it is merely an obligation as work. None of them enjoy the gym; sweating and what the most extreme and dramatic call “torture” (What’s that overpaid!).
Today I’ll tell you a nice story. One day an aerobics instructor in a gym near Aventura, Florida, forget at home the music for his class. His classes were very popular and their students, mostly women from different provenances, arrived with much anticipation, knowing that only like this will find a place in the classroom.
The instructor, seeing that he has no music, and with the confidence of someone who improvises as part of their profession, asks his students who wait ten minutes. He went to his car, take the CD or cassette that he was listening to (no mp3 at that time!), and returns to the class. He had an idea.
He goes inside and says “Today we are going to try a new format class.” That instructor was an expert Colombian dancer and his students would discover that day. For an hour they sounded salsa, merengue, and bachata, and instead of aerobic routines, danced. Beto Perez was teaching them simple and easy-to-follow choreography.
Fourteen years ago was born the exercise program that would revolutionize the world of fitness and captivate all those who suffered during training. Is it the name? Zumba Fitness®. Zumba was born of a mistake, but I will tell you another day the rest of the story. What was the magic of that moment?
Beto and Caribbean rhythms liberated the soul and body of those women who were there only fulfilling an obligation. Imagine Latinas in the lounge. They were jubilant songs and steps recognizing their countries.
The simple release of the rigid formats for the body and soul vibrate released together those catchy Latin rhythms created an explosive and successful formula. All danced and forgot the year.
They sweated, moved their bodies, worked his legs, abs, and arms without notice.
Beto Perez became the training “torture” at a party. That was the magic of the moment that persists in each class of Zumba Fitness®. Today Zumba Fitness® is a comprehensive fitness program followed by 14,000,000 people in 185 countries and 140,000 locations worldwide.
How is a typical Zumba class? The instructor creates a list, about 15 songs of different rhythms and speeds, including heating and cooling finals and stretching. Every song has a choreography according to the formula designed by Zumba Fitness®.
What are the benefits of Zumba? It is an excellent cardiovascular workout because unlike running or walking, something that we normally always do at the same rate, the different songs require us to dance faster or slower.
Imagine a very fast merengue bachata followed by almost seems interval training where three minutes of super intensity is followed by one minute of medium intensity and then resume again three minutes of super strength. And when we say it is an excellent cardiovascular exercise comes to burning fat and losing weight. Therefore, running for 20 minutes without changing the pace or intensity does not lose weight.
Moreover, the choreographic routines include arm and leg movements with a fit variant way, not only using the muscles of our legs and arms but small muscles and tone the entire area.
On the mental level, Zumba Fitness® helps coordination and memory. There is no greater thrill in a Zumba Fitness class that memory is known to dance choreography and free without having to watch the instructor every 5 minutes.
After class, the feeling of joy and euphoria is so intense that there is no way that our immune system has not been strengthened and decreased stress. Zumba Fitness® is for all ages because it is an easily customizable program.
For those with some physical mobility problems, which have undergone recent surgery or muscle trauma, the Zumba Gold® program is perfect. It’s the same basic concept but with less complicated slower rhythms and choreography, where certain steps (such as crossing legs) and some physical movements like jumping are avoided.
If you want to tone your arms more intensely some songs you can dance using special maracas of 1 or 2 pounds.
In conclusion, Zumba Fitness® is a fitness program ideal for those women who love high-intensity exercise and for those who love to dance and have fun but who do not like to train. And for women who prefer a quieter, relaxed, and spiritual activity I have them another story, another day.
Maria Cortes
