to think Zumba is shit.

[inyurdreams]

Just that really.
Friends have nagged me for ages to go to Zumba with them, so I finally caved and went to a class today and hated it.
It was the longest hour of my life.

And breathe

I like a dance as much as the next person, but the instructor seemed to assume that we were all experts.

Former instructor here. We are told not to break moves down because you are supposed to do what you can, mastering the exact moves isn't the objective here. Moving in any way and having fun are the objective s. However I used to break it down occasionally if I could see the participants were lost, or there was some tricky footwork coming up on a new song.

There is definitely a difference between instructors and how easy they are to follow. I went to a master class last weekend and the woman doing the warm up was SO easy. The masterclass woman was just too many bells and whistles and I couldn't follow her. I strategically went to the loo.

My personal opinion? Hideous!

But if people find it fun and it gets them fit, why not?

Oh and one of the instructor s on my course had lost a phenomenal amount of weight just by going to zumba every day. I gained muscle. I had participants lose a bit of weight but it was a bonus, it wasn't their objective.

We have so different zumba instructors at the gym - there are the 'woohoo let's all go crazy and do whatever' ones (which I think is actually the closes to the original spirit), the ones who do the original choreography only without much emotion, and one that is really technical, actually counts the steps and so on. You would get a very different idea of Zumba depending on whom you happened to see the first time.

I love Zumba, but it really depends on the instructor. Mine is great, the classes are fun and we work really hard. She was on hols the other week so we had a sub, the class was so slow and I barely broke a sweat.
My least favourite instructors are the ones who do the entire class staring intently at themselves in the studio mirror!

My knees were hurting all yesterday and today.
I feel as if I accidentally twisted them trying to bust some moves

My shoes kept sticking when I was trying to turn the wrong way

It totally depends on the instructor I think.

I have a fitbit charge hr, so can see what great exercise it is! It burns 400 calories an hour, and really raises my heart rate- up to 148. Everyone in my class sweats profusely, and several have changed body shape. It's hard work, as hard as other classes I do. The steps are easy to follow. I think my instructor really concentrates on the exercise element though.

It has changed my life actually. After years of toiling away in the boring gym I have found an exercise I totally love! So in my opinion you are being unreasonable. I would go 4 times a week if I could.

It does depend on the instructor- I love it. The time whizzes by and I could do with more than once a week.

I gave it another go.

Still hated it. I don't think Zumbas for me.

I think you have to go 3 or 4 times before you pick up the steps.

I remember some of the steps that seemed hard to me at the start are now easy. It's just a case of getting them in your muscle memory.

Once you pick up the steps you can then really push yourself.

there are about a million different exercise classes out there, not to mention all other options like running, personal training, team sports etc. Can't like them all.
Personally I've tried various kinds of yoga and several yoga mix classes. Find them extremely boring, so I just don't go. Other people rave about them. So if zumba is not for you, try something else.

It definitely depends on the instructor, the class and on your personal preference. You're supposed to follow the instructor's moves and pick it up as you go - AFAIK you can adapt some of the moves if you're not familiar with the routine or can't manage it, and push yourself as you go later. Our instructor would go through any new or complicated moves for a minute or two before the routine, so it was easy enough to pick up. I don't think I would have enjoyed being in a hall with hundreds of people; quite liked a smallish energetic class though.
It was useful for me as a post-natal aerobic exercise as I like to feel moderately shattered at the end of any workout - not a huge game changer body shape wise but a lot better than nothing. I'd put it in the same category as step aerobic classes - you can choose to push yourself a lot or a little.

I found yoga classes really stressful, team sports off-the-scale stressful and Pilates a bit unsatisfying, but have friends who swear by both - they'd probably hate the circuit training I do these days. Try a few things and you're bound to find something you like.

There are some basic moves, when you know those each new song is much easier to learn. Persevere a bit longer.

I love the high intensity classes. I've been to a few where the instructer takes it down and it's boring especially if you know the basic moves.