not to get the appeal of Zumba?

[manicinsomniac]

I feel like a complete freak. Everyone I know loves Zumba, goes on about how great it is, how much fun, what an amazing workout etc. I was so excited when I saw it advertised at the gym. I like the Les Mills Body Jam but thought this seemed better, if anything.

When I tried it I found it so dull and slow moving. When the woman said we were going to start to cool down I looked around and nobody even appeared out of breath let alone seemed to have borken a sweat. I know I hadn't. Yet they still said they enjoyed it and had got some good exercise.

Any positive Zumba experiences out there? I go to a gym with a lot of high impact classes so I did wonder if they were intentionally keeping Zumba easy and that it might be a lot better elsewhere. I half thought about trying another class in the village where I live but I pay £50 a month to be a gym member so only really want to do their classes.

[Bridgemanfitness]

Zumba isn't intensive by any means, it's exercise for people who don't normally do it. I agree with the comments about spinning, but as with most group exercise, so much is down to the instructor. If you're looking to really improve your fitness and burn some serious calories spinning is excellent.

[ivykaty44]

I really think zumba has its place and will get people into a gym where they wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the zumba. For me its the smae as a walk - only I would rather go for a walk, no offense but I am not keen on zumba. I do go to a few classes though as I can't do spin at the moment and for me

Zumba is like drinking hot chocolate when really all I want an expresso

[Knackerelli]

I tried Zumba and was so bored. I didn't break a sweat and barely raised my heart beat. But I need to thank it for kick starting me back into finding a combat class which I adore. As my old instructor says "if you can still breathe you haven't worked hard enough!!!"

[LonelyLinda]

Zumba depends 100% on the instructor and the music. You can get good and bad instructors and good and bad music. In my class it is all fast beat music like JLo's new song, really lively full body action/dancing. It is exhausting, very fast, sweating and the best work out ever but I tried a different class 2 miles away with a different instructor and it bored me to tears.

[nijinsky]

Personally I think the appeal of Zumba lies in the name. Its short, ethnic sounding in a non-threatning way, and newish. I'll be sticking to my running...

[BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack]

Zumba is a fun work out - nothing more, nothing less!!

I dont think people think they can just do zumba and get a body to die for - we all know diet and healthy living is a massive factor too.

Yep, depends on the instructor - as someone else said you dont have to be a qualified fitness/exercise to music instructor to do it, it's just a fad which is riding high at the moment but wont last. I have been teaching my aerobics class in a church hall for 10 years now and in the same hall a guy has just started zumba (now, he is bloody fantastic) but I really dont think he will still be there in 10 years.

We're all different, some love zumba, some hate it and talking about it...must go now for my zumba class!

[abbie1985]

zumba is absoloute rubbish dont bother. I gave up my usual routine for two months and put weight on with zumba!!! the instructors do the course in 2 days its rubbish if u want a body like a supermodel you basically have to cut sugar and carbs and eat a healthy diet of protein and veg, work out 3 times a week example 30 minutes cardio and 30 mins weights and you will look better than ANY zumba person what a load of rubbish!!! how do I know?! I am a dietcian studied a degree in my spare time plus have done high fashion modelling for 3 years, have done covers for Elle, Vogue ,Glamour magazine, Marie Claire, campaigns for Calvin Klein, Estee Lauder, Yves Saint Laurent, have modelled for D&G ,Vera Wang and Vivienne westwood, Please do not get sucked in by this crap. get rid of your excess fat by following a protein rich diet e,g prawn stir fry for lunch, chicken breast with peppers and mushrooms for dinner and work out to music doing 30 mins cardio and 30 mins weights. The zumba crap is a way for instructors to make a fortune by doing a weekend course and making it out to be a party and fun, sure its fun but thats all.. you would have to do it 7 days a week for 2 hours to look half decent xx

[Hardhatonamission]

Everyone i know who has done Zumba has thrown their backs out. Can't say as i see the appeal!

[shubiedoo]

There can be a big difference in instructors/levels. The one I've been going to is OK, more for active seniors, but the instructor always shows both low and high impact versions of the steps to give people a choice.
That said, I'm going to try another class that's faster, just to compare. I love dancing and prefer a fast workout.

[Pachelbel]

It's really interesting to hear of the variation people have found between classes, especially as I work in a leisure centre who have recently added Zumba to our list of fitness classes on offer.

Most fitness classes (LBT, Combat, Tri class etc) require you to have a general exercise to music qualification before doing courses to specialise in each type of class or activity - meaning each instructor is highly trained.

The odd thing about Zumba, which may explain the variations, is that you do not need any other fitness experience or qualifications to get onto a course to teach Zumba, meaning absoultely anyone can do a course and call themselves a fully qualified Zumba instructor. This is the thing that not many people realise, and it's all a bit of a farce IMO.
The courses are really hard to get onto as they're so popular, but theoretically even little old me with no coordination at all could train and set up my own class! It's all just people jumping on the bandwagon and realising how much money they can make out of a new fad..

My advice to those of you taking classes would be to find out about your instructors other qualifications - if their only course has been in Zumba then the class may not be quite the workout you were hoping for!

[MABS]

love Zumba! gorgeous Columbian male instructor in veeeery tight shorts may have something to do with it though :)

[Insomnia11]

I did the 45 minute intermediate Zumba workout on the Wii on Saturday, and I sweated more than I would doing a 45 minute jog.

Attraction for me: it's dancing which I love, but not too hard in terms of the complexity of the moves, so I can keep up and get aerobic activity out of it. Dancing uses nearly every muscle in your body and it makes me immediately feel more toned and flexible.

[redexpat]

I'm a zumba instructor. It's not everyone's cup of tea. There is also a massive anount of variation between instructors so if you didn't like your first class, try someone elses. The fact that you didn't even break a sweat tells me that you should DEF try another class! As for it being a class for fatties, loads of my students have lost more weight with zumba than any other class or diet.

[dinkystinky]

[FlaminGreatGallah]

at "Zombie Fitness"

I'd go to that. Copyright the idea now Ryoko.

[alemci]

I haven't tried Zumba but do enjoy line dancing which is great fun.

[Ryoko]

I've never heard of Zumba until today when I spotted Zumba Fitness in the UK games chart, it interested me purely because at first glance I thought it said Zombie Fitness and envisioned a Wii game with a Zombie trainer instructing you on "hooows ttttt dooo-aarrhhh ta Zombeeeee ssss...ssshofffle" etc .

imagine my disappointment when I read it properly, I am now longing for a Zombie fitness game.

[mickeyjohn]

Manicinsomniac, you actually live near me! I hope it not my classes you hate!!! hahaaaa!!!!! (I am in Winslow.....) Which gym are you going to? I know some good Zumba teachers locally....

[fastedwina]

love dancing but didn't find it high energy or high impact enough. The routines were mostly good and fun but a few made me feel a bit eewwee! Trying to get us to prance about like a bunch of preening podium dancers - some of the women were grannies in the 60's FFS!

[manicinsomniac]

A1980 - I'm near-ish to Milton Keynes/Bedford/Aylesbury area.

mickeyjohn - I asked my gym to do Attack when they were wanting suggestions and one of their main reasons for not having it was that they wouldn't get the uptake as it was too hard! I'm going to try it at my sister's gym though. I do a lot of Combat and Pump but the circuits stuff isn't for me - I don't like working with other people in the class, I get embarrassed! Jam used to be my favourite but lately I'm liking Step the most. Balance is growing on me too.

[hairfullofsnakes]

Yes you can work hard at salsa but Zumba is not like a proper salsa class to me

Yes rebounding is on the little trampettes and if you go to a class where you are constantly bouncing and squatting etc on the rebounder it is hard! Toughest class I've done!

[CaveMum]

You CAN work hard dancing salsa - you get out what you put in

[salsa teacher disclaimer]

[mickeyjohn]

I am a Zumba instructor, as well as teaching a million other different classes (combat, pump, spin etc) - some Zumba is good, some is bad (REALLY bad!) - we all teach it totally differently so you need to maybe try a few classse with different teachers to see. Having said that, some people just plain don't like it! I teach 6 Zumbas a week and I am bloody sick of Latin music at the moment!!! You need to love the music! Personally, I wouldn't go to it as a participant as it's not hard enough (the most prolific calorie burners and classes that will get you physically fitter are combat, spin, attack, a decent circuits or bootcamp class and pump...AS LONG AS YOU WORK HARD!) - I try to make my Zumba as hard as I can but you just CAN'T work that hard doing a salsa!!!

You'll never get mega-fit doing Zumba - even the harder classes, as it's just not high intensity enough, but it's good to go to if you're not that fit as it all helps! But all that stuff about burning 700 calories a Zumba class is bollox - sorry! Essentially it has the same physical advantages as aerobics- burns a few calories and get a bit sweaty, but it's not hard enough to see huge fitness benefits and you won't get super toned from it (you need resistance to do that, whatever they try and tell you on the informercials!!) However, it's really good fun, and I have found that it gets people into exercise who wouldn't otherwsie set foot in a gym , so from that point of view it's great. I think it'll wear itself out in a few years anyway, like step and aerobics which were HUGE in the 90s, like Spin and Pilates were massive in the 00s, but not quite so big now....

[A1980]

I haven't read the whole thread but in response to the OP, you haven't found the right class yet.

My zumba teacher is awesome and I finish the class on a massive high and drenched in sweat and out of breath. It's a vigorous work out.

Where do you live OP? Maybe you're close enough to try mine.

[trixymalixy]

I've done zumba classes with 4 different instructors and it really varied. The first one I thought I was actually going to die, the second one used the same music, but I hardly broke a sweat. The last two were on a par with body jam in terms of feeling like I had had a decent workout.

I think particularly with the dance based classes it really depends on what you put into it. I much preferred body jam to Zumba but all the gyms round here seem to be replacing it with zumba.