Posts Tagged ‘Zumba’
Sweating Your B00BS Off – Zumba
Posted on: March 9, 2011
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 3rd 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.
Sweating Your B00BS Off – P90X
Posted on: March 8, 2011
Part 2
Last summer, I was convinced by multiple infomercials and a picture of a friend of a friend on Facebook that P90X was the answer to my workout woes. I purchased the 12 DVD program that promised to transform my body into a lean mean muscle machine…or at the very least get me slightly more in shape than I was. It came with both a workout and food guide. I read both, but honestly following a food guide for me is equal to following the stars while sailing, I get the gist, I do the best I can but I get lost at sea. Instead I try to glean the basic information about nutrition and try to remain healthy, eating less of the pizza and more of the salad.
Trying the first DVD on the lean program was a disaster. I couldn’t believe what I got myself into. Core synergistics, feels like a made up word, is all about working the core. I worked on falling on my face, realizing that my body doesn’t fully grasp the concept of a pushup and I disliked Drea and her stupid roll. Drea, a trapeze artist there to set an example, made me feel a bit on the inferior side. Thankfully every video has different people working out with the host, so you aren’t made to feel inferior by the same people.
The man at the helm of these workouts, Tony Horton, like most workout junkies turned guru, says he use to be out of shape. I found him likable because of his quirkiness and a genuine attitude in wanting to get me fit. He is good looking but in an asexual kind of way. My roommate and I would often discuss his sexual orientation. Most women I talk to thought he was gay or maybe he is on a higher plane that doesn’t acknowledge sexual attraction. Most guys I asked simply responded with, “Nah, well he isn’t gay.” I haven’t asked any gay men, so maybe there is another level of insight I am missing. With workouts like these they are developed with attraction in mind, buff sweaty bodies making you want to look as attractive as the people you see or you hope to attract the likes of the people who are making you sweat.
Advertising plus the success stories on the website are difficult to argue with, so I continued to work through my lack of coordination and balance. The 90 minute yoga workout is worth the purchase of the entire system. Extremely challenging and works every part of the body. After 4 days of workouts and then a 90 minute Hindi enlightened body breakdown, you pretty much feel like a pretzel of tensions. Then you workout for 2 more days and for the 7th, just like God, you could rest. It felt painful to move, to sit, to laugh. Something was definitely happening, progress was being made. Everyday the workout would change, every 3 weeks the schedule would very, but you were still working out 6 days a week for 12 weeks. I made it through 8 weeks.
There was an obvious change; 10 lbs went missing in exchange for muscle. I’ve never had anything resemble muscle on my body. The weight loss wasn’t dramatic but because I was getting sculpted it looked like I lost 20lbs. I went down almost 2 dress sizes but my boobs stayed the same. I had a wedding to go to and my now disproportionate waste to “my hump” ratio made for a very happy boyfriend but was not made for retail. After trying on every dress on 5th Avenue from 14th street to 42nd, I found the perfect dress. I finally understood the phrase, “Fit like a glove.” My roommate thought I looked like Selma Hayek. I felt amazing.
Then you realize how difficult it is to go back to a 6 day a week workout regiment after being off it for a few days. Then when you start getting back into the mood to workout, you remember how hard the workout was and aren’t in a huge rush to get back into it. Then life happens and you have to find a new place to live, you have more weddings to be apart of, your cousin gets pregnant, you hate both of your jobs, you don’t know where you’re going in life. You forget all about Tony and his magical DVD’s that can have such a transformative power over your body and would rather see what Steven Colbert’s AmeriCone Dream could do for your crumbling mental state.
After life settled back down, I returned to Tony once again for guidance. Then I realized I wasn’t as motivated the second time around. Most of the motivation for the first time came from getting my money’s worth. I didn’t feel like I could “Bring It” like Tony wanted me too. I needed something new and fresh, so I purchased the next craze in infomercial workouts, Zumba.
buy the time ... 