Sweating Your B00BS Off – Zumba

Posted by: Marisa on: March 9, 2011

• In: Uncategorized
• 4 Comments

Part 3

Do you enjoy Latin beats? Dancing? Shaking your booty?  Slightly awkward accents? Then you’ll enjoy Zumba with Beto.  My opinion is strictly based on the $64.95 I spent with Amazon.com and not the live classes.  I hear there is a huge difference, but with most classes going for at least $15 a session, I will have to stick with pressing the replay button.

Many of the moves remind me of salsa class and dancing at my families’ Big Fat Filipino Weddings.   Most of the moves are fairly easy and a lot of fun to do.  While they are meant to make you feel sexy, “letting the rhythm move you” – DO NOT LOOK IN THE MIRROR WHILE PERFORMING THESE MOVES.  It might just be me, but I never thought I could look that disjointed while shaking my own ass.  And like Zoolander, I found out I am not a ambi-turner. Every time I tried to shake my ass, hold my arm out and turn left, it proved to taxing for my hips to twist while stepping to the beat.  Regardless of such hardships as not knowing my left from my right, the workout always made me sweat and I look forward to working out.

Quirky things about this workout, mind you I have only been doing it for a little over a week now, but there isn’t much variety in the DVD’s.  There are only four of them and many repeat the same moves.  The Cardio Party disc has the most amount of material with a lot of variety, but if you are doing the “10 Day Drop a Dress Size” challenge, you do that particular workout 5 times alternating with the Sculpt Tone disc with Abs disc.  You don’t have the option to turn off the instructions so when Beto, the creator, encourages you for the umpteenth time in a lilted Brazilian accent saying, “You can do it” – you know he’s just dialing it in.  The other instructor, Tanya, who does most of the instruction, is a little more direct but what she says becomes obsolete after the 3^rd time doing it.  The music is much lower than the instruction, so the repetitiveness becomes far more apparent and additionally annoying when they start singing along.  Also I am constantly made to feel uncomfortable by the very curly red-head in all black who seems to be seducing me; either that or she had a very familiar relationship with the cameraman to get that much face time.  I find myself envying Gina, her body, the way she moves – that envy however motivates me more.  Then there is the random guest appearance by Flaviana “the International Pop Sensation”, can you call someone international when they are only known in Brazil.  I thought Flaviana was the crappy instant coffee served in offices.  She immediately grades on the nerves with her tiny waste, perfectly wavy blond hair, huge breasts, and the fake and bake that accentuates the G-string tan she has going on.  Now with all that cattiness, I still am moved when she points out that I should keep my shoulders up and suddenly we are friends.

Getting up and moving is the main issue here.  Right now I’m not turning them off or running back to Tony and his grueling twisting and contorting, so for those of you who like breakdowns, here is a pro/con list:

 

PROS

–         Very Fun

–         Relatively Easy (Except for the crazy jumping bean workout from Mexico)

–         Easy enough to stick with every day

–         The girls are great eye candy (boys you can just fast forward and watch Flaviana over and over)

–         Makes you sweat

 

Cons

–         It is not as challenging as P90X so it might not make a huge difference on people who are fairly fit

–         You can’t turn off the instructions

–         The batter between instructors is awkward and totally campy

–         The music is fun but is two low

–         There isn’t much variety in the workout

All this said, I am sticking with Zumba.  Because it is lower impact and I want to get back to my P90X body without using P90X, I have supplemented my workout with Kettlenetics with Michelle Khai.  I don’t feel I’m getting enough strength training and muscle building, so the kettle bell workout will help with that.  I’ll talk about Ms. Khai in my next blog.  In just 7 days, using both, I have lost 4 pounds and my jeans are already feeling better.  I guess the best part of waking up, is Flaviana in my cup.

 

Tags: Beto, Flaviana, P90X, Weight Loss, Workout DVD, Zoolander, Zumba