I promise I’ll stop talking about this stuff soon. But now that I’ve opened up to actually start talking about it, something I wasn’t ready to do for a long time, I find I can’t stop thinking about it and wanting to share with ya’ll what I’m thinking about. So you’re stuck with a little bit more about exercise.
Zumba class last night was AWESOME. I’m trying to think of how to explain it. The Zumba website says this about the program:
The Zumba® program fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program that will blow you away. Our goal is simple: We want you to want to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. Zumba® Fanatics achieve long-term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exciting hour of calorie-burning, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements meant to engage and captivate for life!
The routines feature interval training sessions where fast and slow rhythms and resistance training are combined to tone and sculpt your body while burning fat. Add some Latin flavor and international zest into the mix and you’ve got a Zumba® class!
So basically, it was song after song of really fun music with aerobic jumping and hopping and squatting and dancing and oh, my gosh! so tired but SO MUCH FUN! The hardest part for me wasn’t actually keeping up with the different choreography, but keeping my heart rate from jumping up so high I had a heart attack. A lot of the moves were actually familiar to me from the Yoga Booty Ballet videos. There were variations, but the basics were similar. And with that in my favor, and how many other times I’ve followed choreography, I was able to pick up on a lot of the steps after a few times through.
But my heart rate! I’m supposed to be under 153 BPMs right now, but I think I maintained somewhere in the 166 area. And spiked up to 177 or so. And that was with me taking things slower and lower than other people in the class! I have a lot of work to do.
I ran into the children’s pastor from my church in the class, too! That was fun. She apparently has lost a significant amount of weight since she moved here a couple years ago and started coming to the gym. She was very encouraging.
When I got home, after the hour or so it took me to actually get my core temperature back down to normal (I get so hot and my face so red!), I crashed. I was so tired! Justin was a hero and got me food and tucked me into bed and we cuddled watching TV (Castle! Nathan Fillian as Richard Castle dressing up as Malcom Renolds for Halloween! *Squee!*)
And today my hip hurts and everything aches. But I’m feeling so good! And I am absolutely going back to the class next Monday. It’ll be the highlight of my Mondays and I can’t wait!
I tried zumba at our senior director conference and also thought it was great fun. I was all fired up to incorporate some of the moves into my aerobic classes, but then I couldn’t remember them. I’ll have to check out the website for some ideas. We did Zumba Gold, which is designed for older people, but was still fun. It is a great workout, too, so I hope you keep it up!
A shout out to good ol’ Yoga Booty Ballet! Who would have known when I ordered YBB years ago that I would be passing it around to my family and friends! 🙂
I’ve heard about Zumba and I’m soooo jealous that you actually get to go. The only times it was offered here was during the evening while I’m teaching (yes, one of the drawbacks of working every evening). I thought it looked like great fun, so I’m not surprised you like it. I’ve always like those choreographed dance thingys…
And don’t feel bad about posting about exercise. Remember my “Thirteen Thin Thoughts” saga? That was the perfect chance for me to write about it and really let my thoughts dwell on it all day. And that was really the spring board that got me going this summer. Sometimes you just need to write about what’s on your mind. And if it helps you to keep focused–then by all means, do it! 🙂
Hope you’re having a fabulous day!
Can I join you in the “trying to keep my heart rate at a reasonable level while exercising group”? That’s a pretty long group name!
I was checking the data from my Polar HRM and I’ve been much too high. Looking forward to seeing what distance I can cover with my HR at 153 🙂