My first Zumba class

I don't know about you but right now, every one seems to be going crazy for Zumba. I don't know if it was already around, but it seems like every gym has a zumba class on every tuesday. People on facebook are excited about their zumba classes. Even my own mum has gone to zumba classes. But what is zumba? I thought it was just a bunch of people doing pelvic thrusts. I decided to attend a class to really understand zumba.

From what I could gather today, zumba seems to be just a kind of dance that incorporates aerobics and some salsa/latino styles. And some pelvic thrusting. And gyrating. Lots of gyrating. The choreography is a lot more difficult than what I am accustomed to. I was reminded of the times where I would watch So You Think You Can Dance, and think the moves being performed were pretty doable. Nuh uh. It's one thing to watch it and have your brain go, "yup, totes got it". It's a completely different thing to apply that to your body. When we start dancing, it was seriously a "what the fuck have I gotten myself into" moment. But then I just relaxed and it was fine.

One thing I would suggest people do is wear something comfortable, but not all together baggy. I wore leggings and a giant t-shirt. Because you are dancing in front of a giant mirror on the wall, you can see yourself. Not only was seeing myself in my unco-est state a revolting sight, but the vision was exacerbated by what I was wearing. I looked like a fat elf. When I "gyrated" my pelvis, it was creepy because it was hidden under all this excess t-shirt. It just looked wrong. I made sure I just watched the teacher, but every now and then I would cop an eye full of myself flapping vulgarly around.

What surprised me was I found the cardio not too challenging. I was still huffy and puffy but it wasn't uncomfortable. My ego wants to think it's because I'm a fit piece of work under my flab, but what's more likely is I probably wasn't doing any of it properly, or doing any of it enthusiastically enough. Either way, I was proud that I could handle the cardio workout. I even thoguht to myself that I wanted it to be more challenging, but that's me being a douche.

So, if you're thinking on jumping on this bandwagon and take zumba classes, do it. Do it with some friends so it's less intimidating. At the end of the day, it's about having fun while trying to be more active.

Rock on, Zumba.