Contents
What is Zumba?
Zumba is a workout to music. The music is Latin flavored, it was started by a fitness instructor from Columbia called Beto Perez. The focus in the class in on having fun and there is a party type atmosphere. It doesn’t matter if you don’t do exactly the right moves, the important thing is that you move around a lot and that your heart starts pumping, and that you have plenty of fun!
What should I take?
If you are starting off doing Zumba there’s not really that much that you need.
You need to wear clothes that you can easily move around in, such as sweat pants and a t-shirt.
The only thing that is important is a pair of Zumba shoes. Ordinary sneakers don’t have the necessary pivot point that will allow your feet to swivel from side to side, instead your feet will stick to the floor and you could possibly damage your knees as you try to move your feet from side to side.
Also make sure to bring a drink – preferably water – and a towel for when you get sweaty
How fit do I need to be?
It’s not necessary to be fit to do the dance, people of all fitness levels can do Zumba, your levels of fitness should soon improve.
Where should I stand?
It’s best to stand where you can get a good view of the instructor, unless you are very shy don’t try to hide at the back of the class.
You won’t know all the routines straight away and it will take a while to pick them up but you should hopefully learn them in a few lessons.
Different instructors tend to have different styles and routines.
Will I lose weight
You should do yes. Zumba burns lots of calories, if you really go for it, you could burn a thousand calories per lesson. But of course this will depend on your diet, if it as particularly bad and you eat a large amount of bad food then you still may not lose weight doing Zumba. But you will be healthier in several ways. Find out more about the health benefits of Zumba.
Zumba is also good for building up muscle and this helps in turn to burn calories.
How often should I go?
It is recommended that you go twice a week, but once a week is also fine especially if you do other exercise. It can be good anyway to mix exercise up and to also do very different types of exercise such as yoga or strength training.