Zumba

It is just a regular Saturday morning, with no big plans.  I get up, get the kids breakfast at 7am because they can never sleep past that time.  I eat some toast with my coffee and head out into the cold, ready to hit the Zumba class even though I haven't done any working out since before Christmas.  I am so glad I got my butt out of the house in this freezing weather.  I feel recharged, refreshed, motivated and ready for the weekend.  Working out with a group of women is also what adds to it.  You can't slack off, you have to try your hardest and you feel like you are doing it with friends all around you.

I have been introduced to this funky exercise style a few months ago.  I'm sure most people have heard about it, it's becoming very popular in the US with a lot of Zumba studios starting.  It is basically dancing, combining sort of hip hop, latino and funky dance moves.  Mostly I think it's supposed to be Latino style, very much belly and butt twisting. :)

So first of all, I am so NOT a dancer.  Even though I attended one short course of ballroom dancing, I am so far from knowing how to move right it's not even funny.  I have the hardest time following choreography and it takes me quite a while to finally get the steps.  It is funny because watching our little Ani at her first experience of a dance class, I totally saw myself in her.  She couldn't follow the teacher's moves because the teacher was facing the kids and Anika had a very hard time following the mirror image she saw, exactly my problem once the steps get a little tricky.

But, despite the fact of me being such a poor dancer I always liked dancing to a good upbeat music, especially when I knew no one was watching. :)  I haven't done it much for a while though until I went to the Zumba class, and I think it brought it back to life in me.  For example, the last time I was running on the treadmill this great Gypsy Kings song came on on my mp3 player and suddenly running fast wasn't enough.  So I jumped off and started crazy dancing all over our basement just having a blast.  Kason and Anika just stared at this crazy lady at first (mostly because only I could hear the music I was dancing to) but soon they joined in and were dancing all around me.  I love coming up with my own moves and just move to the music because that way I get the best workout from it and at the end of a song I am totally out of breath.  And that's what Zumba is trying to accomplish, having a fun time while getting exercise.

Even though I personally need a lot more out of my workouts than Zumba alone can give me, I really like doing it on top of running and strength training (which I really haven't been able to do lately).  Especially during our COOOLD winters when the only option is to run on the boring treadmill, Zumba brings such a fun variation to my week.  I always feel so good after doing it and it motivates me to do more.  So today I am going to be thankful for what I have in our tiny town.  No fancy health clubs with childcare (which is almost the #1 thing I miss about the cities), but there are things I can do like Zumba or ice skating or cross country skiing and I have to treasure that and have our kids treasure it with me.