As part of Weight Watchers brand new Activate Your Autumn campaign they asked me to try out a totally new sort of exercise for me and head out to try a Dance exercise class.
The campaign is aimed at helping people shake off their lethargy, boost their energy and embrace a more vibrant life style as a start or to maintain a healthy plan.
Obviously there are all sorts of dance exercise classes out there, but as one of the biggest exercise crazes in the world, I decided it was time I tried out Zumba.
I’ll be completely honest. I wasn’t expecting to like it. My only experience of Zumba to date was as the warm up for Race for Life Twilight in 2013 and it wasn’t fun, I had no clue what was going on and I don’t like to made to make whooping noises, thanks.
Still, I roped 3 friends into keeping me company, dug out my brightest leggings and headed off to my nearest Zumba session at 6:30pm on a Monday night. Excuse the grainy photo, it was taken at twilight, the worst time in the world for photographs, but I felt my attempt at Zumba brightness ought to be documented.
On arrival we were met by some very friendly ladies, and asked to sign our lives away on one of the scariest participation waivers I’ve ever seen in my life, and I play Roller Derby so I’m not unfamiliar with the world of terrifying waivers.
What followed next, I was astonished to discover, was actually a lot of fun!
The routines the instructor followed were obviously mostly the same each week. There was a group of regulars who clearly knew all the steps, but not everyone was intimidatingly co-ordinated and there was a reassuring amount of slightly confused faces at points. The moves weren’t overly complex, and once you’d got the hang of them they tended to repeat a few times so by the end of the song you pretty much felt like you were TOTALLY NAILING THE MOVES.
So it was super fun, but was it a good workout? Well, I think that depends. You very much get out what you put into it. You could walk through the steps, or you could really throw your all into it and get a lot of bouncing and high energy in there and it would be a completely different workout. That, I think is part of the appeal of Zumba, it works whatever your current fitness level might be.
For me, while I was certainly sweaty it wasn’t the hardest cardio workout I’ve ever done. It was, however, probably one of the most fun.
You can find a Zumba class near you at Zumba.com
