Officially {Zumba} Certified

Never in a million years would I think that I would EVER get a Zumba certification, seriously NEVER! As of this past Wednesday, I am officially certified to teach! Crazy right?! Ok, so let’s back up to wear this all even started.

This past Spring a dear friend of mine asked me to teach a fun glow in the dark dance party (sorta like Zumba more hip hop) at camp on Monday nights over the entire summer. I was like, what me?! No way, I don’t really know how to dance and although I love taking Zumba on occasion, I don’t think I am the person who should be leading on stage! But I do love teaching all kinds of fitness classes, so I courageously said YES! So fast forward I am four weeks in to teaching and I love leading the class every Monday night and I actually really look forward to it more than I ever thought I would. So when I was offered the chance to get ZUMBA certified for FREE from the Blogfest folks at the Idea Conference (post to come more about the entire conference this week) I was ALL OVER IT!

Wednesday came and I was a bit nervous, didn’t really know what to expect out of a Zumba training. Would we be dancing for eight hours straight? I had know idea, but I knew it would be fun no matter what. When I got to the training I immediately connected with a few other bloggers that were there and we were all pretty excited about the day ahead.

We started the class with a one hour Zumba class led by master trainer Marcie Benvavideszes, who is now my new hero!! Not only was she a great instructor, but she also led our entire training and kept us all focused and inspired.

Here are just some fun facts that I learned about Zumba’s history that I never knew before:

• Zumba was created by Alberto “Beto” Perez, an aerobics instructor in Cali, Colombia, when he forgot his workout music for a class. He improvised with some salsa and merengue tapes he happened to have in his backpack, and the class was an instant hit!
•  Zumba has at 70% music from all around the world, so that folks are introduced to different rhythms that are not in American music: including cumbia, salsa, merengue, mambo, flamenco, chachacha, reggaeton, soca, samba, belly dancing, bhangra, hip hop, axé music, and tango.
• Always follow the feet in Zumba, because they are super simple. When we add in the arms and the flavor it looks more difficult than it really is.
• Zumba can burn anywhere up to 400-1000 calories in an hour (not 100% sure about this one, but I was a sweaty mess).
•  Zumba they like to say that it is, “disguised exercises”.
• The term “Zumba” is derived from a Colombian word meaning “to move fast while having fun” or “buzz like a bee”.

(moving my tushy or trying to 😉 )

It was the most fun certification I have received by a long shot! I am not sure you can beat a certification that you get to dance in the whole time. I am going to start going to a lot of the Zumba classes at my gym to get more familiar with the teaching styles and then hopefully begin teaching in a couple months! I am excited to add some Zumba to my life!

Question: Have you ever taken a Zumba class?