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!
1. Our Body is such a complex structure. I am very interested and passionate to know how each system works. We spend so much time of our lives figuring out how technology function, studying for tests, learning the wonders of the world and we barely know ourselves, what our body need and required to work up to capacity. It is time to learn more of ourselves!
2. In a Heart training, I learned that we burn Fat up to a certain level of intensity and after that our bodies burn sugar. So why work harder? We need to train our bodies to work smarter. If our intention is to burn fat and build lean muscles we should not do cardio at high intensity all the time. What we need to do instead is work at intervals, let the heart recover and rebuild intensity. If you are a Cardio Junkie like myself, spice up things a little! Go for a Yoga, Pilates and even a walk and you will notice a significant difference in your body.
3. There are 3,500 in a pound! What a revelation! I never new such a simple fact prior to April. By just doing 2nd grade math you can figure out what it actually takes to loose a pound. For a long time I was in maintenance mode. I was not loosing weight nor gaining weight which is really frustrating because I was working out at least
4-5 times a week. What changed? Counting calories. A calorie counter app could spin the wheels around and give you an idea of the calories you are consuming vs the calories you are burning. For example I have a Fitbit and a New Balance heart rate monitor that tells me the calories that I burned during my workouts. I also use My Fitness Pal to know my food intake pattern. Seems like a lot a of work and many gadget, but after a while it becomes a routine. Since January I have lost a good 9 pounds working with a few apps and working out.
4. Your window of opportunity (where you still keep burning calories) to eat after your workout is just about 30 min. Have your meal prepared after workout folks! I have heard this before, but never apply it before. Same with eating enough a few hours prior to workout in
order to have enough energy to burn fat.
5. Ideally, the average active adult workout for about an our 3-4 times a week. Think about it that is only 4% of the day they would devote themselves to be fit. Then the rest 96% we work, cook, run errands, etc. Where I am going with this is that in order to really take advantage of that 4% some changes in nutrition and habits need to happen.
I am very impressed on how much information I knew before, but never apply it or couldn’t put it together.
This video was release a couple of days ago, but I just came across it. The footage was taken on 2012 before and during the Zumba Fitness convention. When we as instructor go to the convention we are amaze by the decoration, the trainings, and concerts. We payed a fair price to be part of this event, but we rarely stop to think about all the effort that is diverted towards creating a show of this magnitude. By the last day of the convention I was exhausted, imagine that time 100 and that is how the ZES, Jammers and Beto feels by Monday morning. To accomplish this convention, Beto and his crew needs to work for several months, not only putting together a schedule and trainings, but conditioning their bodies to handle all that stress. I think it is call adrenaline!
For those that are not familiar with the Zumba Fitness stucture. The Zumba Instructor Network known as ZIN is the membership that instructors are part of in order to maintain their license. With this membership Instructors received numerous benefits including music and choreographic ideas. This month I received ZIN 50. To give you an idea, I receive 6 of these wonderful videos made by Zumba Educational Specialist and Beto himself every year. ZIN 50 is special special because we can see the long trajectory and appreciate the dedication and hard work that Zumba Fitness have put into creating this material for instructors.
Hint hint…this ZIN is hot! World Cup ready!
Zumba Fitness Evolution!
Of course I would like to Master the Business of Fun. Who doesn’t? That is why I am very interesting in attending the Zumba Fitness Convention this year. I feel I will get a better experience this time that I have been in the business for almost three year. When I joined I thought that this craze was going to fade like other things that I have tried before, but surprisingly I have stick to it and going stronger than ever. I wish I could do this for more time and bring the joy of dancing to many people.
Look at the promo video. Isn’t sensational? The energy is contagious and exhilarating. Next week, exactly on Wednesday the convention registration will open up. My heart is beating as I write this. Last time I took classes with incredible instructors and to this day I incorporate their lessons in my classes.
For a while I wanted a tracking device to see what I am doing right and where I need improvement. This devices typically range from $80-150 dollars. For me and many of you I asume, price is a driving factor. I always have to balance it out and choose between a training which provides me with more understanding, knowledge and experience on what I do as a Zumba fitness instructor or a device that would tell me how many calories I burn.
As I wrote a before, I started my using Gym Pact at the end of January and decided to give it a try to see how legitimate this app was. It turns out that is better that I anticipated. Now we are in April and just yesterday I withdraw funds for the first time. I took out $30.00 and left a cushion in case I miss any of my pacts. That being said, two weeks ago I bought my Fitbit from Amazon for $99 shipping included. What is great is that my Fitbit is almost 1/3 paid with what I earned plugging information about my daily habits on my Gym Pact app. So when I get more money, I will keep paying myself.
Having the Fitbit means that it will sync directly with the Gym Pact and will make the process more easy for plugging information in. I do spend about 8 mins per day on the Gym Pact from entering data on the app and other partners app to rating veggies & fruit pacts in the community. The Fitbit have speed up the process which is great because that means more time moving and less time seating.
I took this pic maybe two days ago, but today is Friday and all my veggies & fruit are checked. I still have one more workout to do and entering data to Fitness Pal.
Gym Pact to date
I got a reminder yesterday that exactly 2 years ago I opened this blog. Now I have been teaching for 2 1/2″ year and this summer is my Zin Aniversary. When I look back at my older post and my teaching style, a lot have change. I now cue a lot in my classes both physically and verbally, I interact way more with my students, and even make jokes. I am way less introverted than when I started teaching. I am not sure yet how will I describe my style as it is still in the works. I say my style is fun, freestyle and free-flow. I craft my class this way so that people can enjoy even when they are not following or make mistakes. I want students to have a good workout without worrying if the steps are correct. For me the end goal if for the participant to feel the music, feel good and have a great workout.
Here is a little something from me! What do you think? Is it a little wild?
Yesterday I got my Fit Bit hooray! I have been wanting this item for a long time just to have an idea of the level of activity that I endure during day and to get a sense of where I am slacking daily. Today I tried it fully. Something must be lighting up in my reward system in some part of my brain because I have been looking at the dots all day. My goal for day was the standard 10,000 steps. To give you an idea that is about what you can do in a 5 mile walk. In reality is a lot if you have a sedentary job were you sit down all day like I do. I was using an app call Moves and I was averaging 3,000 steps on a day were I didn’t go to the gym or did a strength activity such a lifting weights.
This morning I taught a Zumba Fitness class and I accomplished more than half of my goals in only an hour of cardio. My step count was at 7,000 steps at 9:30 am. It felt so good to actually measure and know the extent of my effort. Now I can confidently tell my students an approximate amount of steps and calories that they could be achieving if they put all their effort into the class. Of course everybody’s level of intensity, metabolism, and skill sets are different, but numbers can motivate students to work harder upon their goal and make them feel they are doing something that is not only fun, but effective as well.
Is exactly 9:30 pm and I have achieved 18,379 steps and burned 1,922. I think they are great numbers for the first day of Fitbit use. I know not all days are going to be like this one, but I hope at least to maintain consistency and work upon achieving a good number and keep moving.
Hoorray my Fitbit said after achieving the daily goal! Love it!
If you are wondering how I did all those steps today here is a break down
* 1hr Zumba Fitness Class
*3 hours and half of multiple formats, including body pump, cycling, cardio, kick boxing, zumba, & yoga
*2 hours of walking in a mall with a 4 year old child.
= I am so tired that I had an epson salt bath and recurring to ice to ease the pain (epson salt + ice = magic)
I can’t believe that I am hosting the one and only Dorie Wexler in West Des Moines! For those of you that are unfamiliar with her work here is a quick outline of her experience. She was one of the pioneers of Zumba Fitness in Colorado. Has acquired licensed to teach every Zumba Fitness format and have been teaching since 2005. Given her full energy, dedication and experience, Dorie became part of the the official Zumba Fitness presenters and have been traveling around the United States as well as Europe to present at Conventions and Conference. She is truly a humble human being and have inspired thousands of instructors and students along the way.
Dance with international Zumba Fitness presenter Dorie Wexler! You will experience 90 min. of Zumba Madness. Dance to the most incredible international music in the market, learn new moves that you can rock anywhere, make new friends, and above all have a great full body work out! What else can you ask from a 90 min Zumba Fitness Masterclass?
October 26 2013 is the day! 5-6:30pm! You do not want to miss this Master Class!
Follow Claudia Leitte in her brand new Zumba Fitness production Largadinho. Don’t get behind in your Zumba Fitness class, practice and show off your new moves. Do it the Brazilian way. You got to let your body loose for this one!
Wepa! Zumba with Me! 