Take a peak at Zumba® Fitness latest creation. Yes! A commercial that implies that everyone has rhythm in their nature. A reminder that dancing can be addictive and contagious! They first released it at the ZIN convention 2014 and I absolutely loved it. I have to confess that I feel the same way everyday at my day work. I just want to jump out of the chair and dance till my toes hurt. I wish more and more people feel the music and what Zumba® has to offer!
I am in! Zumba Convention 2014
Or maybe is close? With over 8,000 participants, this is without a doubt one of the largest conventions in the nation. The popularity is so high that by the middle of the day yesterday most of the workshops and all of the training were gone. I managed to start my registration about 7:30 am central time and it took me 3 min. total because I already knew which training I wanted to take ahead of time. By 8:00 am servers were busy and my friends could not log in or often time their page would crash. I think I was a lucky one this year. Back in 2012 I though about it for a full day to see if I wanted to go, but I did ended up registering to really nice workshops and manage to get 1 training, this year is another story. Every year the Zumba Fitness becomes more and more successful. Every year they say they are at their peak until they release their next best thing to keep the interest of instructors that maintain the company afloat.
I have to admit that I die to trained with the very best Zumba instructors out there and bring all that knowledge back to my classes. 2012 was a year of transition for me and I couldn’t bring back everything I learned right away in to my classes, but this year I have serveral classes going on and some other on the works. I going to be an exciting 2014.
Below is my schedule! Pretty Awesome ha!
There’s more than one reason to get excited about Friday!
If you are looking for the perfect outfit to join a Zumbathon this month checkout this fantastic sale that Zumba Fitness is offer for just a few hours! Hurry and save an extra with my discount code: ZFASHION10
Exactly a month I survived my first Zumba Convention. It was wild, hectic & stressful! I knew I was going to be surrounded by thousands of Zumba enthusiast, but didn’t account for the limited space for motion in the parties or the long lines to do basically anything at the convention. I guess there is a first time for everything and if there is a second time, I will try to make it a vacation and relax! It is just hard to figure how to do things strategically and efficiently in order to to make it on time to the workshops, shower, eat, and still party. Since it was my first time, I wanted to make it on time to every event, and some priorities were left behind, such as eating & relaxing. Below are some things that I learned, cons & pros, tips & tricks for future conventions.
1. Register as soon as you can to avoid lines and save time on the actual day first day of workshops.
2. Store opens a day before, lines are extra long, it is very disorganize and will take you about 4 hours or more to get in and out. Tips: Bring cash to speed transaction. This store does not have any discount except your Zin of course and they have plenty of items on stock so it does not make sense to waste 4 or more precious hours of your time on it. The only negative thing is that if you don’t get there right away, there may not be any
convention shirts left as Zumba only released about 1,000.
3. Outlet store is open next day early in the morning. Unless you are buying to resell, it does not make sense to wake up early (3-4am) to buy since it will be open later. Save time & energy for your trainings and workshops please! That is why you go anyway right?
4. Do not bother to be in front row for training. Rooms are spacious, there are screens and you want to make sure you have enough space for your range of motion.
5. Do no make any lines for parties or event. You may spend time in lines if you are one of the first to arrive, but parties are held in spaces that can hold more than the amount of people attending the convention and there is always a good chance of getting a nice view. Anyway, the front row people are there to record the dancing and do not move at all. It is really hard to be in the front if you want to workout. Again save time for the important things to do like eating and relaxing!
6. If you are a Zumba celebrity fanatic and you are there for the picture, realize that dancers are humans like you. They are there to do there job and deliver a great convention. Do not take it against them if they can not take a picture with you. They have meeting, workshops and family to go to and you may not take that into account.
7. Be there for the training! The training and the workshops are out of this world. They provide great ideas for boosting your class and to motivate your participants. Don’t be shopping while you are supposed to be on training!
8. Do not follow Beto like spy, he has tons of work to do and is clearly tired (or at least looked like at the convention). I saw him nearby randomly and everyone surround him and it was not pleasant at all. He manage the situation well, but it just didn’t felt right.
9. Do not stress out for your themed party outfit or any outfit. Chances are that you are so tired that you would not even attend to the party or you don’t have time to even take a shower right away to get dress. I participated from a dance competition and I did not even had time to breath!
10. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy…it might be your first and last convention.
I started in college in the fall of 2002 and I remember back then watching an informational of a Latin inspired workout called Zumba almost every night. I didn’t had much time between getting into architecture school and socializing that very first year, so I always end up watching about 10 minutes and let it go. It wasn’t appealing to me at that chaotic moment in life where I spent days and night in the studio and weekends at “The Boheme”.
The Boheme was the place where underage people could get in and have a good time. They use to play all sorts of music, a hint of Arabic, a taste of bhangra, and of course all the Latin music that we ever desired to hear. I used to dance all night non stop until my feet could no longer stand the pain of the heels. The thrill of going to that special spot was so that I would pick my outfit a day in advanced, and tried to finish up any projects ahead of time so that I could enjoy my Friday night out.
After the days at The Boheme where long gone, I would play music in my apartment and dance freestyle hoping to sweat like I used to do every Friday night. I gained a few pounds here and there, traveled for a while, started a job and decided that it was time to get rid of some of that weight. That is when I joined a gym, did Pilates, Yoga, Kickboxing, hand weights and Hip Hop. In a year I lost 8 pounds which might not seem a lot, but they were lost in in a healthy manner. I also sculpted my body really nicely, gain endurance, strength, and flexibility. Budget became tight, and I did no renew my membership, but started working out at home. Not really exciting, but I found many workouts online that I could take advantage for free. Among them, I found one in HULU called “Dance and be Fit” that I really enjoyed because I was already familiar with the dances. Surprisingly, the workouts made me sweat, I was tired and legs were sore.
By this time in my life, I have totally forgotten about the existence of Zumba Fitness. It did not even crossed my mind until I got a gym pass and it offered Zumba among the classes. I took the class on a Friday night and was disappointed because the instructor kept asking me how do steps. I decided that this class was not for me and again forgot about it. On December of 2010, I traveled to Ecuador and started seeing the original Zumba Fitness videos from way back 2001. I decided to purchase a set and started to follow the same routines for several months. At the same time, the Kinect was released, I purchased Zumba Fitness 1 and that is where all the magic happened…the rest is history.
I like to think of a Zumba class as myriad of layers. Next time you go to class pay attention to your instructor and you will see that each routine starts with basic move and builds up intensity. You will notice that the instructor will first teach you the leg movements and as students get the idea, the instructor will add the challenge to incorporate arms motions. After a few classes you will see how your muscle memory builds up and what was a challenge before becomes a routine. This is the moment when you need to pick up the pace and try to make your range of motions as wide and exaggerated as possible in order to get a better workout. For example try jumping higher, try moving arms faster, do your basic Merengue step side to side moving your hips and you will be sweating in no time.
If you already know the steps from the previous class, try to pick up the pace and take the routine to the next level by yourself. Instructors often layer the routines for the students to pick the level of their choice, but you certainly do not need to do everything the instructor do if you already know what is coming next. Do not worry, the instructor should not feel disrespected if you add arms before he/she does because we understand that it is your workout and your hour.
Also, keep in mind that instructors are giving you the foundation for a better workout. If an instructor stops and starts cuing, do not think that the instructor is lazy, this is actually a way of the instructor to check on the crew and see how everyone is doing. Keep moving unless there is no music to move to! Remember this is your workout, own it, layer it and embellish it as desire. Dance like no one is watching!
1. You dance in a department store without realizing that everyone is watching.
2… you can’t wait to workout next day ( obviously to Zumba)
3…you spend hours in secret trying to master a move
4…you have more workout clothing ( specially Zumbawear) than casual or bussiness clothing.
5… all of your friends go to the same class as you do
6…your friends/ boyfriend or spouse are tired of hearing you talking about Zumba
7…all that you have in your schedule after hours is Zumba related
8…you have a Zumba pandora radio station
9…you have a Zumba bumper sticker
10…Dress up ready to party all colorful with your arms full of rubber bracelets.
11…You go to Zumba class in bussiness clothes cause you forgot them at home and did not want to missed class.
12…You can’t get the word Zumba out of your mind.
13…Your heart is happy and you wonder why didn’t you started doing Zumba before.
If you do 3 of the above mentioned, you are probably addicted. Get treatment soon! Find your dose of Zumba Fitness near you! 
If you read the “about” section you will already know that I am a Zumba instructor from Puerto Rico and that Latin blood runs through my veins. I get very excited every time that hear a song by a Puertorrican artist or the mentioning of Puerto Rico in any of songs played in a Zumba class. By far the following list contains the official music that Zumba has released from Puertorrican artists in the past year. Note that there are plenty of Puertorrican songs that are played in a Zumba class everyday that are not official to the Zumba program. Other songs that mention my island are “El Batazo” and “Rumba” both Zumba originals.
Living la Vida Loca-Ricky Martin
Tu Carnito- Puerto Rican Power
Taboo-Don Omar
Salio el Sol- Don Omar
Sexy Movimiento- Wisin y Yandel
En sus marcas listo y fuera- Daddy Yankee
Lo que paso paso- Daddy Yankee
* Most of the reggaeton played in a Zumba class comes from my island. Type any of these songs in Youtube to get a feel of the kinds of music that comes from my island. Zumba needs to include more salsa from Puerto Rico in their official music. Most of the salsa that they feature is of course from Colombia. Great music though, no complains! I will try to feature music from certain countries so that you can get an idea of the rich variety of music that each place has to offer!
You can find a Zumba® class at a gym, a school, community center, clubs and even at a church. Wherever there is a space and the possibility to gather a crowd to dance you can Zumba®. If you are not sure where you may find a class, visit the official Zumba website for more information. Classes are fun, engaging and challenging. I always encourage people to workout outside their homes as it motives people to show off their skills and let loose. People certainly get the most out of their workout when they have a fitness buddy because they can challenge each other to get the steps rights or one can help the other to achieve the goal.
Find a class: http://www.zumba.com/en-US/parties/search/
You can always do Zumba® in the comfort of your home too. If your schedule is hectic, you can purchase the new dvd Exhilarate set. This dvd worout set containts 7 dvds of hot Zumba® routines that will make you sweat in a heart beat. Zumba Fitness has also released Zumba Fitness 1 for Wii, Xbox and Playstation & Zumba Fitness 2 for WII and lastly Rush for Xbox. These games are fantastic and kind of addicting I have to say. All of these options are great for a home workout as they all capture the essence of Zumba®.
Exhilarate: http://www.zumba.com/en-US/shop/product/zumba-exhilarate-dvd-experience/
You can obtain either the dvd set or the games at ebay or Amazon. The games can be also found at Walmart, Target, or Game Stop.
You have plenty of options and no excuse to miss out on Zumba®!
Wepa! Zumba with Me! 