Zumba: My Healthy Fitness

Guest post courtesy of Mackenzie

In May, there was a rather strange post in the bulletin at my church. It talked about this thing called Zumba Fitness. And I thought: “what in the world is Zumba Fitness, and why are we going to have it?” Then all of a sudden, that’s all anyone could talk about. Everybody and their brother was just asking around to see if everyone else is going to the first class, in the gym, on Tuesday. Even if hardly anyone knew what it was, they knew they were going.

So my mom and I jumped on the bandwagon, and decided to attend the first class. My mom and I changed into our workout clothes, grabbed waters, and left the house—not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into. Sure mom had heard that I was fun, that you sweat a lot, and it was some sort of dance workout, but other than that we were oblivious. We were mostly there, because our friends were there.

When we finally got in the gym, mom paid, they gave us our cards, and we signed the release form thing. Music was faintly filling up the gym, but the chatter from the other attendees was overpowering it. Mom and I spotted some friends and stood in the back with the rest of the newbie’s, because we were afraid of how we would look in front of everyone. Then after a short wait, Marcee our instructor hopped on the stage, cheering, and then the music was turned all the way up.

The first song was slow, just a warm-up, everyone followed the moves easily. But after that the songs got a little faster, and the moves were a bit harder to follow. I found myself laughing, because I couldn’t get most of the moves. At the end was another slow song (from Ice Age) that we cooled down too, and by then we were all drenched in sweat. We all grabbed our waters, sat down, and listed to Marcee read a Bible verse. After the verse, came announcements where Marcee let us know that we weren’t allowed to quit after the first class and that we had to give it at least three tries—if we weren’t addicted after three times, then we could quit.

But after class, Zumba was all I could talk about! I found ways to bring it up in conversation, bought bracelets, and immediately started inviting people to class. After that one hour, I was pretty much addicted. And I still am. I try to Zumba it up, three times a week (except when classes are cancelled).

Although I’ve recapped my first Zumba experience and told you of my addiction, I haven’t really described what Zumba is. So I’ll let the website (www.zumba.com) explain: “It’s an exhilarating, effective, easy-to-follow, Latin-inspired, calorie-burning dance fitness-party that’s moving millions of people toward joy and health.” In my class alone, we have lost over 1000 pounds! It’s amazing what a little rumba can do.

I don’t do Zumba to lose weight, because I’m pretty sure I’m underweight—so that’s the least of my concerns. I do Zumba because it’s a good way to stay in shape, and most importantly it’s fun! I have never had so much fun jumping around, acting crazy than I have doing Zumba. The first time I did Zumba I was in the very back and was so afraid that people might see me, that I didn’t care if I could see what Marcee was doing or not. Now I’m in the front row when it’s out at my church (sort of in the middle when it’s somewhere else I go to), and I don’t care who sees me. I do my own thing, and everyone else does there’s.

Zumba has made me more confident and comfortable with my body. Like I said earlier, I’m pretty sure I’m underweight, I barely have boobs, and my butt is pretty much nonexistent. But when I do Zumba, I shake what little I got and I don’t care one bit. And that feeling of not caring, and freedom, carries into every day and not just that hour. I’ve finally become fully comfortable in my own skin, and I love it.

Life is a highway, and I want to rumba all night long!