I am so proud of myself. I finally a Zumba class!!! Yes, yup….I know – what took me so long? I have heard a lot about this thing called Zumba since ohhhhh 2008! I had a co-worker take the class and tell me she thought I would love it and I should try it. Five years later and I finally took her up on it.
I am visiting with my mom in Rock Hill, SC and she got me free passes to her gym, Omni Health & Fitness. Let me say that location in Rock Hill is HUGE!!! They have rooms behind rooms! Anywho I digress. I decided to go to their 6:30 pm class even though I prefer to work out first thing in the morning.
I took the Body Pump class right behind it to get in extra burn. I show up at the front desk and present my pass and the front desk guy attempts to remember who my mother is. He failed but I smiled and gave him a thumbs up and nice try. He then instructed me to the location of the class. There was a line of women waiting to get in. I noticed none one male was present to take the class. Hmmm, interesting.
We get in there and the instructor comes in dressed her in Zumba gear. I mean bracelets, bright-colored baggy pants, loosely fitted shirt and bright colorful shoes! I mean she was full representation of Zumba. She asked who was here for the first time and I felt like I was the ONLY person who raised her hand. She fiddles with the music a little and then loud Latin music blared out of the speakers and we were OFF to the races.
I positioned myself in the back of the class not because I am shy but because I was trying to figure out the moves and routine (I was a stepmistress with my sorority and can pick up on dance routines fairly quickly) at my own pace. She started with a warm up which included shoulder rolls, grapevines and a bunch of moves I have no idea what they are called. We then proceeded to 
the next song and it sounded like Merengue to me. I was in my element! Everything was pretty fast-paced and while we did not do specific exercises, some of the moves required you to squat, jump and do calf raises. So you are definitely getting in a workout. I also wore my Polar FT4 watch to track my heart rate and calories burned.
This is an hour class so we continued song after song with different routines to merengue, salsa, hip hop and reggae music. I felt like I was in the islands! It was fun and reminded me of Carnival of sorts. I noticed one of the ladies kept sitting down against the wall during the first 45 minutes of class. She later explained to me her feet were hurting and she could feel her arches falling. I guess that was all she could take because she left with 15 minutes left even though I tried to encourage her to stay and finish it up. She wasn’t having it. I did finish the 1-hour class with about 290 calories burned.
Pros:
- Fast paced
- Fun
- Basically a dance class so if you like to dance you will love this
- Energetic and the participants were friendly
- Keeps the body moving and burns calories
- For all fitness levels – you can go at your own pace
- It will make you sweat
Cons:
- Apparently it can be hard on your feet so try to wear shoes with proper support
- While the instructor was energetic, she did not do it for me – finding the right instructor is important
- Need more than ceiling fans, it gets hot in there
- It would be good if they could sort of review the routine before starting for the beginners
- It didn’t burn as many calories as I would have liked for a 1-hour class
Overall I had fun and plan to attend another class when I get home. I hear Germain Turner-Jones has a class in Maryland, on Fridays, that comes HIGHLY recommended! If you would like to check it out go HERE for more information.
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9 Replies to "Zumba Virgin"
movingonmyown April 5, 2013 (10:19 pm)
Hey there! Glad you enjoyed it! I wanted to respond to one of your cons! 🙂 While it seems you are already a dancer and familiar with the steps, once you are more familiar with the routines, you’ll be able to rock it out more fully and burn more calories. When I first started Zumba, I sure concentrated hard, but didn’t burn as many calories as I did after I got the hang of the songs and could give every move my full energy. Sometimes when my instructor would introduce too many new songs at once, I didn’t feel like I got as good of a workout because I couldn’t let loose and work it. And it depends. Every instructor is different, and I commend you on being willing to go to another one and try it again, so maybe you’ll just click with someone and get an awesome workout! 🙂 While I have definitely enjoyed many different instructors, there are a few out there that just know how to get more out of me and I always end up burning more in their classes.
Again, super glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 Zumba love 🙂
Andrea Tibaduiza April 7, 2013 (1:24 am)
Zumba is such an amazing workout! I am glad you went and tried it. The first time you do it can be a little confusing and as you mentioned, you may not burn as many calories as your later attempts, but I highly recommend you keep going to different places until you find an instructor you LOVE and put your heart into it!!! It will be worth it!! 🙂
DSTPRL April 7, 2013 (10:06 am)
I took it again yesterday – MUCH BETTER! Burned over 400 calories in 1 hour. 🙂 Stay tuned for my blog post about it.
Andrea Tibaduiza April 8, 2013 (2:05 pm)
That’s great!! I hope it gets better and better for you! I burn approx. 850 cal/hr! 🙂
DSTPRL April 8, 2013 (5:13 pm)
Are you serious?!!!!
Andrea Tibaduiza April 9, 2013 (2:17 pm)
Yeah, people can burn up to 900! I am an instructor so of course I have to give it my all!!
Jerrold May 24, 2014 (2:45 pm)
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it
for you? Plz respond as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from.
thank you
o
JenB April 16, 2015 (8:23 pm)
Yea, you tried Zumba! You know I post often enough about it on my website that I am a fan. I remember feeling just like you the first time. I wasn’t impressed with my burn. Who gets these 700+ burns that are advertised? I have improved a LOT in both my coordination, confidence and burn. It is related. When you have learned the steps and such, you don’t spend any time standing around, you can modify moves (I like to add a little more bounce for more burn) and the gadgets come back with better stats! I have hit a 500 calorie burn a few times, but that is the high. I do aim for 400 calories in an hour class. I do enjoy it so much though, I wouldn’t exercise for an hour straight on my own.
o
Diatta
Twitter: DSTPRL
April 16, 2015 (8:45 pm)
JenB you are the reason I tried it in the first place because you talk about it so much on your blog!!!