What comes to mind when you think of Zumba?
Do you think of dancing? Working out? High-intensity cardio? Shaking your booty (or at least attempting to), or making a fool out of yourself? If any of these thoughts pop into your head, I guarantee that you're assumptions are pretty accurate!
Zumba has been around since the 90's, but it has most recently gotten popular. It was founded by Alberto Perez, a Colombian dancer.
Zumba combines many different types of dance moves to make for a calorie burning workout!
Most people are a little "iffy" about stepping into a class for a multitude of reasons. If you ask someone who thinks they have no rhythm, they wouldn't even THINK about going to a Zumba class. If you ask someone who hates cardio than just the thought of Zumba is a no-go. But my personal favorite is when weight-lifters think that Zumba is not even close to being a real workout.
Well, I have news for everyone. If you have no rhythm and feel like you're doing the moves wrong during the class, I promise you that you are doing more than you think, and you will wake up with the most satisfying pain in the world! If you hate cardio and won't even give Zumba a try, I promise that Zumba is nothing like running on a treadmill or doing 500 steps on the stair-stepper. You will have so much fun dancing and listening to the music that the whole "I hate cardio" mindset will totally change.
If you're a weightlifter (like myself), I can't really blame you for thinking that Zumba is overrated because at one point I felt the exact same way. Weightlifters may be able to squat a bunch of weight, but try squatting throughout a whole song with no resting in between. It's a completely different approach to killing your body, but I would advise weightlifters to try it. I know of guys who deadlift heavy, but can BARELY get through a Zumba class!
Zumba will get you to do dance moves you didn't even think your body was capable of, and honestly...it may not be able to! You may get lost during a song and start doing your own thing, but I promise when you wake up the next day, you will feel like you did your body good, while having had a blast doing it!
