Zumba is one of the latest additions to the fitness industry. It is also known as “Dance fitness”. It’s basically choreographed movements set to upbeat salsa and other music types varying from region to region. Zumba is originally a Spanish word that means move fast and briskly. It was started by Alberto Beto Perez, a Columbian dancer who started Zumba classes in the 90s in his home country. However, he officially conceptualized and started the dance classes in 2001.
Types Of Zumba
Aqua Zumba: As the words say, Aqua Zumba takes the dance to the water. It’s perfect for those with lower back injuries who can’t strain or exert themselves too much, as it’s a low impact exercise as well.
Zumba Gold: This is a customized version of the standard Zumba class which adheres to an older audience who wants the same fun, music and flair of a traditional class but performed at a lower intensity.
Zumba Kids: Suited for kids between 7 to 11 years old, modifies and breaks down the traditional Zumba moves by adding games and activities. To the class to keep them engaged and interested while they break a sweat.
Zumba Step: This is the same Latin inspired Zumba dance with an addition of an aerobic step to increase the intensity of the workout and add more leg strengthening moves due to repeatedly stepping on and off the elevated surface.
Zumba Kids Jr: Almost similar to the Zumba Kids, but this is modified to suit an audience between 4 – 6 years old and is tagged even more as a “dance party” to help keep this age group on task.
Zumbini: This is a once a week, 45-minute class which is modified for the smallest Zumba fans between 0 and 3 years old to bond over music and engage in age-appropriate active play with their caregivers.
Advantages Of Zumba
Zumba dance fitness programs generally start with slow music and gradually increase intensity over time. This helps to burn calories, enhance cardiovascular health, improve coordination and balance etc. Some health benefits of Zumba are:
Helps Burn Calories
Zumba requires the entire body to move. All the way from your hands to your feet, this is a dance routine that helps you move everything in a flow in a pretty quick and simple fashion. This way Zumba helps you burn calories and reduce fat. You can expect to burn between 500 – 800 calories in an hour and the entire body routine focuses more on improving your fitness and eliminates the stress on muscles.
Enhances Cardiovascular Fitness
Zumba is just like any other aerobic exercise which focuses on cardiovascular health as well. The dance moves in Zumba forces you to breathe hard which therefore makes your heart beat faster. This in turn helps your lungs add more oxygen to the blood, which gets circulated throughout the body.
Improves Core Endurance
Doing Zumba regularly can help improve your core endurance as almost every muscle in the body moves during Zumba and your core has to work continuously to stabilize the body.
Helps Control/Decrease Blood Pressure
Having or being on an unhealthy weight makes one more vulnerable to high blood pressure. The more the weight of your body increases the more likely you are to have hypertension (high blood pressure). A small amount of weight loss can reduce the chances of someone getting hypertension by a lot and since Zumba helps reduce weight, they are among some of the best ways to control/decrease blood pressure.
Improves Metabolism
Just like any other activity, a good Zumba workout can enhance your blood circulation, thereby improving your metabolism and immunity.
Cons Of Zumba
Among the many advantages of Zumba, there are a few disadvantages as well.
Hard To Learn And Remember
Zumba is inspired by Latin dance styles mostly that require coordination and rhythm. Therefore, this can be a bit challenging to perform for those who have no history of dancing. Also, the routine gets quite fast with a lot of movements and remembering the steps will be a challenge.
Does Not Improve Muscle Strength
Zumba is definitely one of the best ways to increase your aerobic endurance, but in terms of increasing muscle strength, it doesn’t provide much benefit. In order to gain strength and muscle it is necessary to make sure that your body works with load, which is one of the missing features of Zumba dance.
As seen above Zumba has plenty of benefits and is one of the perfect tools to help you tone your body efficiently. However, it’s important to understand that Zumba alone will not get you in shape. Hence, it’s best to follow a routine where you implement traditional strength exercises along with Zumba to make sure that your body responds and grows in the best way possible.
