Zumba! Even the name sounds kinda cool doesn't it? It seems to have its own flourish.
Goodness knows it's popular at the moment, with classes seeming to spring up straight from the ground after a fresh bout of rain. Despite this, and despite having wanted to do a class for aaaages, I prevaricated, procrastinated and well, basically sat on the couch a lot.
Enter Pigsback.com (yes, I have an affinity for Pigsback, but I think they've earned it) and their MegaDeals. Shortly after my crochet class had been cancelled, with no option for substitution, the lovely Curly dropped an email into my inbox with a deal for six Zumba classes for only €24. I actually hurt my mouse-clicking finger by snapping that deal up so quickly!
Signed and sealed, I duly delivered myself to my local community centre Tuesday night to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of women there! Women of all shapes and sizes, all ages, fitness levels and ideas of what constitutes fitness wear... But ALL of these women had one common trait - a smile on their faces. They were here, on this freezing cold night, because they love Zumba. After an hour there, I understood exactly why - and left with a smile on my face too!
Zumba is fun, it is exercise, it is a way to get out of the house and it is easy.
In my first class, I'd estimate I picked up 75-85% of the steps. They're designed in such a way that you can pick them up quickly, and get up to speed. This way, no time is wasted on slowly learning steps at the pace of the least coordinated person in the room. Every person there gets a full workout, and if you don't have the step exactly right, you just keep going. No one minds, no one is looking at you. Some of the steps are repeated in later songs, and you get them a little bit better the next time, and so on.
The music is fantastic, exactly what you'd hear on the radio, or in the oldies sections of some nightclubs (by oldies I mean anything other than the UNSS-UNSS-UNSS places). This is music that you sing along to, and that you want to dance along to. The moves are maybe a little more extravagant than you'd normally go for in a public place, but that's part of the fun! I don't think I'll ever be able to get that shoulder shimmy right, but I certainly enjoy pretending :)
And here was the clincher for me. After an hour of putting my body through things it is not used to, of using muscles that had themselves forgotten they existed, the Zumba girls did a proper cool down and stretch routine. A really good one. I've done cardio-salsa classes a couple of times before and the cool down was either inadequate or non-existent. Thanks to the comprehensive cool down routine at Zumba, I have no aching muscles afterwards!
I will be back. Sure, I'll finish out my 5 already-paid-for classes, but I'll also certainly be going back on their extremely useful drop-in basis. It's nice that I don't have to commit, to feel like I have to go on a given night. This makes it feel even more fun, it's certainly never going to be a chore to go along.
For me, Zumba is time to dance, time to exercise and time out of the house. What a nice way to kill three birds with one stone. (I'm hoping to use the stone that currently sits around my waist. I feel it's poetic somehow)
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