There's a serious party going on at Zumba classes across the country. I snuck into a session at the Midway YMCA in St. Paul last month and found myself dipping, swaying and shimmying into a lathered workout that felt, well, like party time!
This cardio class was fun and didn't feel like fitness training. So if you despise working out, are battling that bulge or have been ordered to the gym by your doc, then consider this as a fun way to groove toward a healthier you. It's easy medicine.
Zumba's energizing dance moves first were brought to Miami in the early 1990s by Colombian fitness trainer Beto Perez. Since then, his synchronized salsa, merengue, hip hop and other moves became a DVD and a movement that combed this nation. It's caught on in Minnesota gyms, churches and community centers and toned many gluts, legs, abs, arms, hearts and attitudes. It's often dubbed the "feel happy workout."
Warning: It's addictive.
Yolanda Kibwana was leaving a strength training class at the YMCA one day when soulful Caribbean and Latin rhythms ebbed from another room, beckoning her for a peek. Inside, the joint was jumping. The seductive vibes sucked her right into the Zumba movement. One year later, she's a certified instructor.
"It took me 10 months to get certified and it was so easy. If you can't get the steps, you just keep moving," she said. "I have lost four pant sizes. People would ask me, 'What are you doing?' I tell them, 'I'm doing Zumba.' We had a '70s party recently and I wore a fitted polyester jumpsuit and people said I looked great."
Last month, 17 other students and I mimicked the sultry moves of Zumba instructor An'Nisa Parker, a cardiac nurse at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. By night, she's smooth and graceful, demonstrating cha-chas, rump-shaking, ride-the-pony moves, sexy arm circles, squats, shoulder shimmies and hip wiggles.
To an island beat, I shifted my weight from one leg to the other and squatted. Small. Left then right. My gluts and hamstrings soon kicked into gear and I realized I was doing cardio and interval strength training at the same time. It definitely got my heart pumping.
Warning: Bring water. You will sweat.
"I've been coming for eight months. I love it," said Henrietta Titkos, a Hungarian-born participant who was too enthralled in her dance to stop when the music quit. Her husband did an impromptu Mexican hat dance followed by a salsa dance with his wife during a break.
Mario Alonso, a native of Mexico who lives in Cottage Grove, wiped the sweat off his brow and chugged water before jumping back in. "This is my first time. I like it. It's very motivating and it's good for your circulation and for staying in form," Alonso said.
Curious? Click on ZumbaFitness. com, ZumbainMinnesota.com or FitSugar.com. Or try it with friends. Along with the YMCA, Halsa Fitness Center in Woodbury has classes on Saturday. Bally's will offer classes this fall.
As for me, I'm definitely heading back for another whirl.
Dee DePass • 612-673-7725
