I would like a butt kicking, please

Zumba is one of my all time favorite work outs these days. I have no idea what the Zumba videos are like, of how hard other Zumba classes are at other gyms, but my Zumba, on Friday nights, KICKS MY ARSE! It is definitely not easy and it is not a typical girly "dance" class. It is 55 minutes of pure, intense, cardio. And I am in love with the class.

There are, however, two Zumba instructors at my gym. Actually, there is a Zumba instructor (we will call her Jane)and a Cardio Dance Party instructor (we will call her Martha), because apparently unless you are a “certified” Zumba instructor, you can’t call the class “Zumba”. And that should have been my first clue that the Cardio Dance Party teacher was not going to be up to my workout standards.

When I started Zumba, I started with Jane. And her class, made me want to die, 15 minutes into the workout. The hubbub in class, my first night, was that Jane was WAY harder then Martha. 99% of the people in class wished that Martha was there. According to them she was easier to follow and her class was much better. But I never experienced Martha, I only ever took class from Jane, because she was the one who taught on the nights I was free. And yes, she moves very quickly, she does not stop for very long to teach you new steps. But that is because this is not a dance class. We are not supposed to be learning how to Salsa or Mamba, we are supposed to be working our large butts off! And moving, constantly. People, Jane, she can move that skinny body in ways I didn’t know was possible. She is one heck of a healthy lifestyle motivator. And she makes sure she works all of your body parts, including lots of abs.

Last week, I ended up, unexpectedly, taking Martha’s Cardio Dance Party class.  I was apprehensive from the very beginning. Before class had even started, the other participants were RAVING about how happy they were to see Martha, and what a hard time they had with Jane, over the past few weeks. And I just stood there, at the back of the room, biting my tongue. One of their other big complaints was that they couldn’t understand the lyrics, to the music that Jane played. Well gee people, it is LATIN music. And AFRICAN music, and BELLY DANCING music. You aren’t supposed to be singing along, you are supposed to be WORKING OUT! Jane plays a wide variety of music, some of it is the popular stuff, with a heavy Latin beat. Maybe it’s more that those ladies wanted 70’s disco or something, and they were out of touch with “what the kids are listening to these days”.

I TRIED to give Martha the benefit of the doubt. But people, our class consisted mostly of walking three steps to the left, doing a low kick, and walking back three steps to the right, with small variations in between.  And in between songs, Martha stopped to get a drink of water (which is what Jane does too, for about 10 seconds), and had a conversation with the other ladies in the class about different types of tea, and the health benefits of green tea, and even how she had found a green tea that can be made into instant iced tea. I think out of the hour class that we worked out for 30 minutes.

Here’s the thing. I understand that there are all kinds of levels of people at the gym. I understand that not everyone can keep up with Jane and her level of intensity. Honestly, I get it. But for me, I go to the gym to kick my butt. If I go to a 7pm class, and miss that last hour of my son’s day, I want to feel like it was time well spent. I want to feel like I am going to fall over from complete exhaustion by the end of the class. I want to be covered in sweat. I DO NOT want to spend my time at the gym talking about iced tea, and doing exercises that my grandmother would have been able to do. For me, I take classes because they usually force me to work harder then I would on my own. I guess the silver lining is that at least I went to the Cardio Dance Party class, instead of sitting home on my butt. But let it be known universe that Andrea wants to have her butt kicked when she works out. And that wimpy excuse for a class was just not up to my new workout standards.

Comments

[Barb]

I've got the DVD's and they kick my arse but I am a wuss. ;) I need to dust those puppies off and start doing them again!

Good job on looking for the harder workout!