Wellness Day: Zumba!

Caroline, Josh, and I decided to teach the class a little bit about zumba for wellness day. We chose zumba because we thought it would be more fun and interactive than just doing a workout move like push-ups or leg lifts, which we did consider doing. Who wouldn't rather listen to upbeat music and laugh with each other while learning an exciting dance and getting a great workout at the same time? Personally, I've been to a zumba class before and I really enjoyed it--45 minute class got my heart racing and beads of sweat dripping down my back. I know Caroline has also attended a class and loved it as much as I did. In addition, Caroline actually dances so we knew that at least one of us could look good and teach the harder dance moves properly. In preparing for the presentation and creating a dance routine, we watched many, many zuba videos and filtered through a lot of music choices to finally come up with a routine that was not too hard but was also hard enough that the class would sweat and have fun learning it.

I actually learned a lot about zumba that I would not have previously assumed, like the fact that zumba can burn 600-1000 Calories in an hour long class or that it worked out so many parts of the body. From the zumba class I attended, I could tell that zumba was cardio, but how many Latin based moves worked the abs, obliques, and lower back was new to me. Speaking of Latin dance, I had no idea that zumba had Latin origins. On top of that, the cardio workout was actually invented by accident in Columbia by substituting regular aerobics music with Latin music. Nowadays, hip-hip/pop dance moves are also incorporated into zumba for a modern kick.

This topic was important for health and wellness because we all need around 150 minutes of exercise a week to receive the benefits of exercise and to remain healthy. While there are many different types of exercise like weightlifting or cross fit, zumba is another fun way to meet 45-60 minutes of that requirement. Besides raising the heart rate, the dance cardio also works specific muscles in all major muscle groups, giving the participant a total body workout. Dancing can also relieve stress, especially if it's held in a happy and uplifting environment like zumba classes usually are. Participants can go with friends or even go meet new friends through the classes. You can kill, like, 5 birds with one stone!

The presentation was fun to give and I would rate my performance a 9/10 because I messed up while dancing in front of the class when I should have been more prepared. As one of the teachers, I should have known the dance routine a little better.

Here is the link to our presentation if you want to learn more specifics about zumba and its benefits!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rpNrNR7Qal8YfOlmei3lTgG7EyyY9qCsmVIQLQRI3JY/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00