Zumba!!!!

AHHHHH So excited!

I made it thru Saturday and I am officially licensed to instruct Zumba!!

A couple things I want to mention then I will move on to my recap of training....

You will notice on my website I now have some "ads" for Zumba. If you click on the banner, it will take you to the Zumba store. There you will receive a 10% discount on Zumba Wear!! Who doesnt like a good deal?? I wanted to pass on the discount to my readers.

Also...I am SORE!! As in, I havent been this sore since my half marathon. My calves still ache today BUT I need to get working on my routines. And I think I am the only one that can burn over 4000 calories on Saturday and still GAIN weight. LOL. I am sure it is because of muscle bloat though. That night after training, it was a lose, lose. It hurt to stand up, it hurt to sit down. LOL.

Ok so this is how our day went:

8-8:30am Registration
8:45-9am Introduction
9-10:15 Master Class- full out Zumba class. SOOOO much fun!!
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-12 Lecture- going over the science of Zumba, about Beto and why he made it, the purpose of warm up and cool down, etc.
12-12:15 Warm up with drill- going over the science of warm up and putting it into practice (more Zumba moves)
12:15-12:45 Basic steps for Merengue and putting them into practice
12:45-1:15 Lunch
1:15-1:45 Lecture on ZIN (Zumba Instructor Network) I signed up for this. And I am loving it so far. Plus the lecture gave our food a chance to digest before doing more Zumba.
1:45-2:00 Break to get water
2:00-2:15 Lecture going over the basic steps of Salsa
2:15-2:45 Basic steps for Salsa- More Zumba!!
2:45-3:15 Cueing- how to and working on nonverbal cueing
3:15-4:15 Cumbia- this is the move that I was the worst at prior to training. This helped me SO MUCH!
4:15-4:25 Cumbia combined with cueing
4:25-5:00 Class writing a routine. We broke into 4 groups and each had to write a section of a song. Learned about how a song is put together and how to tell what type of song it is (merengue, salsa, cumbia, reggaeton)
5:00-5:30 Mini Master class (more zumba) and cool down
5:30-6:00 questions, evaluations & certificates!!

By the final mini master, I was beat. I thought that I wasnt going to make it thru. LOL. But I did. And it was so worth it. At the beginning, our ZES (Zumba Education Specialist) asked who was familiar with Zumba, who was a fitness instructor (other than Zumba) and who had never taken a Zumba class before. The shocker? We had two people who had NEVER taken Zumba before. One of which was an older gentleman (think mid-50's). He did great and received his license as well but I couldnt imagine not knowing what Zumba is and enduring a 10 hour class- even with breaks and lunch.

Yesterday was spent recovering and working on my new Zumba website and exploring ZIN (Zumba Instructor Network). ZIN is the place you go to for training, forums, help, music, marketing materials, etc. AND they send you music and routines as long as you are a member :)  If you want to check out my website, it is www.leemitchell.zumba.com.

Tonight (as I mentioned at the beginning of this post), I plan on starting to learn the different routines we were given. I want to get some of them down so I can look for a Zumba Instructor position. PLUS I am asking my instructor at the gym if I could get some of the music we use that I know the routines to. My hope is that she will later let me teach a couple songs during the class to help me gain my confidence.

My friend Maggie (who I met at the gym) went with me to training and got her license as well. We are going to get together on Wed to start working on routines. My hope is that we will teach together for the fun of it. We always joked about starting our own business together- Blonds With Barbells. LOL LOL.

Ok...now for some interesting factoids about Zumba- this is how a Zumba class SHOULD go... the ones you go to may not do this exactly (and they should!!).

Your class should be 70% latin music
Your class should be 30% other types of music (think Rock, Rap, Hip Hop, Pop).

A class should be 70% cardio, 30% fitness
A class should be 70% dance and 30% strength and toning

A class should be NON-Verbal cueing

A class is NOT about getting the steps and movement right-- just moving and having fun. Let the music MOVE you!

Very interesting huh?

And I learned that I am not a certified instructor...I am a licensed instructor BECAUSE I am licensed to use the Zumba logo. :) Happy days huh?

And I got some cool clothes for teaching in. They had a whole selection for us to choose from. I ended up getting one pair of pants and three shirts (one says instructor- hee hee).

On the food front, because of the class, I did go off the fruit/veggie fast for this weekend. Today I start back up again.

So that is the news for now. Sorry for the long post but can you tell I am excited about this new endeavor? If any of you have any questions about my training or ZIN, please let me know. I am very happy to answer questions. And I am already looking for my next Zumba training course. I am thinking Zumba toning or Sentao (which is a chair based Zumba!).

Tip of the Day:

WHY WATER IS IMPORTANT!!