LET’S TALK : Ouch! Zumba fitness-dancing is doing me good
Posted on Sunday, July 27, 2008
I know Baptists aren’t “supposed” to dance, but I love dancing. And, up until recently, thought I could do it fairly well.
Ever since I found out that dancing is a major calorieburner, my at-home workouts have included freestyle dancing to Comcast Cable’s house (club ) music channel. While the teevee belts out fast-paced compositions by such internationally-known DJs as Frankie Knuckles, Paul Van Dyk, David Guetta, Felix Da Housecat and Bob Sinclar, I jump, shimmy, high-step, shake and kick like there’s no tomorrow.
But thanks to this Colombian dude named Beto Perez, I now realize I’m a double-left-footed slacker.
Beto is the creator of Zumba, which has been described as “the sexy hip movement and melodic beats of Latin music with the intensity of an aerobic workout.” It has also been described as “salsa on steroids.” When you do Zumba, you’re doing all the hip-wiggling that, back in the day, got girls labeled as fast. You’re moving and scrambling your feet at a pace that should squash any kitchenfloor roaches within a 20-foot radius. And you’re wondering why having your hands clasped above your head, alternately flexing your elbows and stretching your arms to the music, can possibly manage to hurt worse than doing curls with 15-pound dumbbells.
You’re also wondering why, in the midst of all that torture, you’re enjoying yourself. Yes, its touters are truthful: Zumba is just about the most fun you can have doing something that’s actually good for you.
Celebrity fitness trainer / choreographer Perez invented Zumba (Colombian slang meaning “to move fast and have fun” ) in the mid-1990 s. Like many great things (and people !), Zumba was conceived by accident: Perez got to his aerobics class one day and realized he’d forgotten the music for the class. The only music available were Perez’s personal Latin salsa and merengue music tapes. He improvised a class using that music. In 1999, Perez came to the United States and teamed up with a couple of entrepreneurs to create a company based on the Zumba fitness philosophy. As of late, Zumba has more than 20, 000 instructors in 35 countries; sold more than 3. 5 million DVDs and drawn about 4 million fans.
It was seeing the Zumba infomercial a few too many times that finally roped me in. Beto and the gang seemed to be having so much fun as they glided across the floor and made figure eights with their hips. And the announcer made it so easy by saying I could have four Zumba DVDs, the Total Body Transformation Guide and a set of Zumba toning sticks for “only three easy payments of $ 19. 99,” plus shipping.
After the Zumba fitness package arrived I started with the Basics DVD... dance-move demonstrations by three women who don’t look a day over 25, don’t look a pound over 120 and have flat stomachs that they flaunt liberally. “Oh, that’s easy. I can do that,” I remember thinking cheerfully as they began wiggling.
Many other thoughts came forth as the women continued to show off the various salsa, cumbia, reggaeton and other moves: Heeey ! How about that, I’m beginning to sweat. The “diamond” dance ? Piece of cake — oh, wait, my arms are wearing out. Ouch ! Now why is the samba so hard to do ? Hold up, I’ve got it. Uh-oh, they’re going this way and I’m going that way ! Ouch, the knees don’t like that one too much, What is the name of this stupid dance again and how do they expect people to restart a dance sequence on the same foot they ended on ? Is that one, two, three, or one, two, three, four ? Still fun, but aiiiiieeeeeee !
It was nighttime. The sleep experts say to exercise at least a couple of hours before going to bed; otherwise, nodding off will be more difficult. Yeah, right. Zumba knocked me clean out.
By the time that first Zumba DVD was half over, I was dripping. The freestyle music-channel dancing had all but stopped causing me to break a sweat.
After going through Basics one more time, I was on to the 20-Minute Express workout. I did that a couple of times and then delved into Cardio Party, which featured Beto, the demonstrator ladies and a whole gaggle of other young, toned dancers. Despite many stumblings and some head-scratching, I seemed to be getting it.
Then I got too big for my britches, trying Cardio Party and Sculpt & Tone, on the same morning. Silly me; I thought the toning part wouldn’t have all the dance action. And how can a person be expected to figure out how to wave a couple of toning sticks in a certain direction and at the same time remember how to move her body ? Halfway through Sculpt & Tone I had to do a Quit & Crawl. In other words, quit moving and, due to sheer exhaustion, crawl away. I’m now warily eyeing the “bonus” DVD, Zumba Fitness LIVE ! & Flat Abs. Oh, gee, how nice of ol’ Beto to throw that one in. Seriously, though, Zumba is good stuff. Those who don’t want to order the DVD set can also partake of a live class; according to zumba. com our fair state has a healthy number of certified Zumba instructors. I might even show up at a class if I can manage to extricate my foot from somewhere behind my back. It has been there since I last Zumba-ed. Work that e-mail, work that e-mail, work that e-mail, make sure you don ’ t hurt that e-mail hwilliams@arkansasonline. com
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