Shape up, Emporia!
By Kara Thomas, Special to the Gazette
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Shape Up, Emporia!, is a weekly fitness and health column aimed at readers of all ages to get off the couch and get into shape. Each week will feature a fitness, health or nutritionprofessional from around the area who will share some friendly tips on how to improve your overall health. Our goal is to make getting in shape fun and easy to fit into your existing lifestyle and daily routine. If you are a reader and would like us to tackle a certain topic related to health and fitness, then let us know and we’ll do our best to cover it. If you are a fitness or health professional and would like to contribute to this column, then let us know that too; we’d love to work you in. Well then, I guess it’s time to get moving, Emporia.
By Kara Thomas
Special to The Gazette
Today’s the day to ditch your routine workout routine and join the party!
I am a 30-something mother of two and like most mothers gained an undisclosed amount of weight during my pregnancies. After having my second child, I knew it was time I took the bull by the horns to get my body back. I joined an athletic club and became a regular in their group fitness classes. As the pounds melted away and my confidence grew I eventually started teaching my own aerobic classes. Striving to keep my classes fresh and new, I learned of Zumba. Dancing has been a passion of mine from an early age and when I learned of a class that combined an aerobic workout and my favorite dances I knew I needed to learn more.
The word “Zumba” is a slang word from Colombia, meaning to move fast and have fun.
Beto Perez stumbled upon the idea of Zumba when he walked in to teach one of his classes and realized he had forgotten his aerobic music. He grabbed his favorite music out of his car and improvised an exercise routine to the beats of Latin salsa, merengue, and cha-cha with dance steps he had grown up learning. This became his most popular class, and Zumba was born.
He brought this idea to the United States in 1999 and now there are an estimated 20,000 instructors in 35 countries.
I became one of those instructors in April 2007 and absolutely love what the music brings out in me. There is a lot of laughter and freedom in these classes. I get to add my personality in the routines and make them my own.
Anybody can do it. Yes, even you! Come to Zumba with an open mind and see what happens. If you feel you can’t do something the instructor is doing, then don’t do it. Everybody modifies to their own abilities no matter if you’re young or old. Just loosen up your hips and start shakin’ it. This may be just what you need to spice up your workout routine.
When you come into Zumba you will see hands and hips shakin’, shoulders shimmy and feet stompin’. Zumba is so much fun it’s like you’re at a dance party in a gym. I see so many smiles and people enjoying themselves, it lifts me up and pushes me to keep the routines coming.
While having fun dancing the hour away, the participants are slimming their hips, defining their waists and getting a great cardio workout. You can move quickly or slowly, but the most important thing is to keep moving the whole time. The sweat will start flowing and before you know it an hour has passed by and you have burned off anywhere from 500-600 calories (or that Dilly Bar, latte, or what ever your vice may be), and learned the cha-cha, salsa, merengue, some cumbia and walked out of my class feeling uplifted and ALIVE!
OK, yeah, then you have to get in your car to pick up groceries and do the laundry, but just think — there was that 60 minutes where you can say, “Hey, I was doing the cha-cha!”
My hope is that you will join a Zumba class as soon as possible, so you, too, can experience this addiction of dance.