Do you have a fear of Zumba?

Zumba Newbie

Zumba. If I had to name one of my fears in life, Zumba would be right up there on the list. “It’s not that scary” is what my friends told me.

I simply laugh at this.

OK, sure, it’s not that bad for someone who has no coordination what so ever when it comes to the dance floor and has the inability to move her hips, shimmy or shake her butt. Right, not that scary. I beg to differ.

You’re looking at the girl who ran track, played soccer, swims and rock climbs. I’m the one out on the lake fishing with my dad; not on the dance floor. Some girls are gifted with the ability to dance. I am not one of them. Give me a fish to flay, easy. Tell me to run the 300 hurdles, piece of cake. Put a climbing harness on me and hand me a rope and say climb, I’ll work my way to the top. Ask me to shake my butt and move my hips? I will be cowering in the corner vigorously shaking my head no.

No, thank you.

However, that is all before I actually attended the Fun Fit Forever Zumba class.

I never considered dancing a form of exercise that I might try. My idea of a workout is having a good 30 minute cardio consisting of either running, biking or elliptical. Throw in some lap swimming or kick boxing for good measure. If I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll do some sprint intervals. Then 20 to 30 minutes of strength training with weights or pilates.

However, I was taught to have an open mind about things and incorporating Zumba into my exercise routine might be good for me.

I look at it as cross training.

The first day I tried Zumba, I will admit, I felt rather foolish. I had no grace on the hardwood gym floor and there was definitely no way I looked even close to sexy as I tried to dance to the Latin music. But, I confess that I had fun.

Isela, the instructor for Zumba, made it fun, light and enjoyable. She took the time to show us the difficult moves and from there we played follow the leader. Often times I couldn’t help but laugh at myself as I tried to mimic Isela as she performed the various steps to the catchy upbeat music.