February Zumba Music Playlist

Little known trivia about me: I hate February! Nothing good ever happens in February and I am so glad it’s over…

But still, I hope you enjoy my February Zumba songs:

La Cucaracha (Cumbia / Latin Pop – Warm Up)
Kumbia Kings

I Gotta Feeling (Pop – back by popular demand!)
Black Eyed Peas

Chaiyya Chaiyya (Bollywood / Zumba Toning)
Bombay Dreams

Me Gusta, Me Gusta (Salsa)
Zumba Fitness ZIN 24

Jump in the Line (International)
Harry Belafonte

Chiquilla (Cumbia)
A.B. Quintanilla III Y Los Kumbia All Starz

Hava Nagila (Traditional)
Zumba Gold

Kiss Kiss (Belly Dance)
ZIN Megamix 4

A La Nena Le Gusta (Merengue)
Zumba Fitness ZIN 24

Tigy Tigy (Reggaeton/Arabic)
Zumba ZIN Mega Mix 15

Salome (Salsa/Pop)
Zumba Fitness ZIN 24

Fuego (Cumbia)
Zumba ZIN Megamix 4

Loba (Latin Pop)
Shakira

La Isla Bonita (Pop – Cool Down)
Madonna

My First Boot Camp Workout

Being a group fitness instructor has its perks: One of the fitness centers where I work has given me the opportunity to participate in a weekly boot camp style workout! And the best part: It’s free for me!

Last night was the first night. I was unsure what to expect, other than calisthenics and some good, old-fashioned exercise. We started by running stairs – something I hadn’t done since high school (1997 if you must know). Running stairs transitioned into quickly hopping up stairs, one-by-one…

The rest of the hour-long boot camp workout incorporated chopping and high knees, burpees, and mountain climbers. We used stability balls, hand weights, and mats. It was an awesome total body workout and I’m excited to see what the results will be after this session of boot camp workouts once per week.

The instructor was great very motivating and encouraging, but strict. We shouted out the number of each exercise. If we started to slack or if our form started to get sloppy, we started the exercise set again at ONE.

Many of the participants were also very motivated and encouraged others to perform, but I was a little disappointed with some of the other participants. Do yourself a favor: If you’re not prepared to work hard, don’t register for a boot camp workout. No one can make you do anything you don’t want to do, and you’ll just be holding back other participants.

How Many Calories Does Zumba Burn?

I recently saw a thread on MyFitnessPal.com discussing how many calories does Zumba burn. Not that I need a reason to do Zumba, but what a good question!

The Zumba FAQ does vaguely address the question:

How many calories can I burn during a Zumba class?

The number of calories each person burns per class varies. However, depending on your body parameters (type, composition, intensity, range of motion), you can burn hundreds of calories per class.

A good source for calories burned is the list of Calories Burned During Exercise list from NutriStrategy.

Calories burned during exercise is affected by body weight, intensity of workout, conditioning level, and metabolism. Calories burned per hour are listed below for the example body weights of 130, 155, and 190 pounds.

According to NutriStragegy, “Dancing, aerobic, ballet or modern, twist” burns 354 calories per hour for a 130-pound person, 422 calories per hour for a 155-pound person, and 518 calories per hour for a 190-pound person.

The only way to know exactly how many calories you are burning during any given Zumba class is by wearing a heart rate monitor that is able to take into account your heart rate as well as your age, height, weight, and gender to calculate your personal amount of calories burned.

My November Zumba Song List

Better late than never… Happy Thanksgiving!

La Fiesta (Flamenco + Belly Dance / Warm Up)
Zumba Original Soundtrack

I Gotta Feeling (Hip Hop)
Black Eyed Peas

Ça Plane Pour Moi (Merengue)
(Plastic Betrand – National Lampoon’s European Vacation Soundtrack)

Baila Esta Cumbia (Cumbia)
Zumba Megamix 14

Bonita (Samba)
Zumba Megamix 14

La Morena (Merengue)
Zumba Megamix 14

Solo Se Vive Una Vez (Rumba Flamenca)
(Zumba ZIN Megamix 13)

Rompe (Hip Hop)
(Daddy Yankee)

Fuego (Cumbia)
(Zumba ZIN Megamix 4)

African Beat (African)
(Zumba ZIN 22)

Ritmo Caliente (Quebradita)
Zumba ZIN 22)

Krazy (Hip Hop)
(Pitbull Featuring LiL Jon)

Dance the Night Away (Salsa)
(The Mavericks – The Best of the Mavericks)

Every Breath You Take (Cool Down)
(UB40 – 50 First Dates Soundtrack)

Zumba with a Purpose

Attention Zumba lovers in Minnesota!

Zumba with a Purpose to benefit Toys for Tots with a $10 donation on December 12, 2009 from 1-3pm at Gold’s Gym in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. This Toys for Tots benefit will feature a group of local Zumba instructors and, keeping in the spirit of Toys for Tots, Marines.

Click here for more information and enjoy!

Knee Pain During Zumba

I heard one of my Zumba class regulars who disappeared recently has quit doing Zumba because of knee pain. This is not the first Zumba knee pain complaint I’ve heard. Why do people’s knees hurt from Zumba?

As I mentioned in my past Rencsi.com post Sticky Shoes During Zumba, most athletic shoes are designed for forward movement only. Running shoes and walking shoes have heavy traction and robust soles to resist sliding and turning and this is exactly what runners and walkers need. This is not what we want in Zumba class.

Zumba incorporates the twisting, turning, and sliding movements of Latin dance. While the body is moving, the heavy traction of popular athletic shoes causes the Zumba dancer to stick to the studio floor. The foot stays put and the leg, knee, and hip twist, turn, and slide.

Think of a basic Cuban salsa move – you step to the side, shift your weight to that foot, shift your weight to the other foot, and bring your feet together and repeat and repeat and repeat. The thick, wide soles of most athletic shoes are designed to prevent the lateral movement of salsa, one of the basic dances in a Zumba class.

It’s no wonder some exercisers experience knee pain from Zumba!

The good news is knee pain does not have to end your Zumba workout. There are many styles of athletic dance shoes available that will allow you to turn and slide freely. Here are some articles to help you find the best shoes to wear during Zumba. Enjoy!

Zumba FAQ – What are the best shoes to wear in a Zumba Class?

Do I need Zumba shoes?

Coming Soon: Z1 Zumba Shoes

Where to Buy Dance Shoes

Good Dance Shoes for Zumba

Best Zumba Shoes

Sticky Shoes During Zumba

Zumba Faq – What are the best shoes to wear in a Zumba class?

Straight from the horse’s mouth: What does Zumba Fitness have to say about finding the best Zumba shoes?

What are the best shoes to wear in a Zumba class?

Zumba Fitness recommends that you wear “cross training” or “aerobic” style shoes. They provide the cushion and medial lateral support needed for side-to-side movements. They also have low traction rubber for easy sliding and turning. Please be careful with “running shoes” since they use a heavy tread on the bottom and are designed for forward movement.

Click here to read more Zumba Faq’s.

How to be the Worst Zumba Instructor Ever!

(Please read “How to be the Worst Zumba Instructor” from rencsi.com with heavy sarcasm!)

Would you like to be the worst Zumba instructor ever? Ignore everything you learned in Zumba Basics and follow these easy instructions from rencsi.com and you’ll be hard to beat at being the worst!

1. Carry notes. That’s right: Carry notes while you lead your Zumba class. Hold that piece of notepaper right in your sweaty hands and check it often to see what move comes next or what song to expect.

2. Break often. Stop the music between every song. Take a drink of the Diet Coke you brought along. Breakdown every step of the choreography of the next song in your own weird way.

3. Use your iPhone as an mp3 player. The feedback from your iPhone cell phone will let us know how popular you are as your phone continually interferes with your music as you get phone calls during class. Keep your cell phone right next to the sound system speaker at all times for maximum interference.

4. Let your 4-year-old child do your Zumba choreography. Sophisticated, interesting choreography is overrated. Surely, elementary moves that would not challenge even the simplest of minds will delight the child in all of us.

5. Tell us how much you’d rather be somewhere else. You know you have better things to besides leading Zumba class – let us all know what you’d rather be doing and what a burden Zumba class is to your busy schedule. Better yet, show us by starting class late and ending class early!

Follow these real-life examples, and you’ll be the worst instructor to ever lead a Zumba, or any other, group fitness class!

See more about group fitness at http://rencsi.com/b/category/group-fitness/

Good Dance Shoes for Zumba

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I wear 4-year-old Nike Shox that are in good condition to Zumba. My new running shoes have too much traction for Zumba class and the soles are too big and bulky – I kick myself. My old Nike Shox are lighter, but the footprint is still large and cumbersome. I know that others in my Zumba classes are struggling to find the right Zumba shoes because class often sounds like a basketball court – full of squeaks as their Zumba shoes stick to the dance floor.

Tonight, I participated in a Zumba Master Class with Tony Witt, nationally acclaimed Zumba instructor. For the occasion, I pulled out my old pair of Nike Zoom Waffle running shoes. I think I may be on to something…

I was originally introduced to Nike Zoom Waffles in high school cross country. I trained in standard Nike runners, but raced in Waffles. Cross country shoes are like track and field shoes, without the spikes.

I loved my Nike Zoom Waffle running shoes so much, I also wore them as dance shoes during high school pom and dance team practice. They were attractive, light, flexible, and low profile – perfect for dancing.

When my first pair of Nike Zoom Waffle running (and dancing) shoes broke down, I bought a new pair. I quickly found out that new Nike Zoom Waffle running shoes had far too much traction for dance. I had worn my previous pair enough to wear down some of the traction on the ball of the foot – all this new shoe-traction made turns very difficult. I wore the new shoes daily to get rid of traction for practice for my university dance team. Practice was held on a rubber gym floor, which made turns difficult enough.

The pair of Nike Zoom Waffle cross country running shoes I wore tonight as dance shoes are the same shoes I wore to dance practice in college several years ago. The ball of the sole is worn nice and smooth.

My conclusion is that Nike Zoom Waffle cross country running shoes work well as a aerobic dance shoe – AFTER you break them in and wear down some of the traction on the sole. Cross country shoes are a relatively inexpensive athletic shoe – especially if you can buy youth or boys’ sizes. Avoid track and field shoes, which are very similar, but have spikes.

Of course, there are athletic shoes designed especially for dance. Look for a circle or concentric circles on the ball of the foot of the sole of the shoe to identify atheltic dance shoes. Also see my “Best Zumba Shoes” and “Sticky Shoes During Zumba” and “Where to Buy Dance Shoes” posts at Rencsi.com for more information.

Sticky Shoes During Zumba

The most common “complaint” I hear about Zumba is about gym shoes that stick to the floor during class.

Most gym shoes are built for traction. During volleyball, I often wipe the dust off the bottom of my shoes for a better grip. Too much traction in Zumba is not necessarily a good thing…

To some, it is just annoying – you are dancing and moving, but your shoes are sticking to the floor.

To others, it’s painful – you are dancing and your shoes are sticking to the floor and your feet are sliding around inside your shoes. Either way, sticky shoes could cause you to develop blisters and other foot or ankle injuries.

I have three suggestions to prevent sticky shoe syndrome at Zumba class:

1. Pick up your feet. It might not be how you would normally dance and not what you prefer, but if your shoes or feet won’t slide and you are sticking to the floor, pick up your feet to prevent injury.

2. Wear last year’s tennis shoes. Don’t wear your newest pair of gym shoes – wear an older pair. The grips will be worn down slightly and may help you slide across the floor better during Zumba class. I often wear a pair of Nike Shox I’ve owned for about four years to Zumba class.

3. Buy dance shoes. I often wear my Capezio dance shoes from dance team in college. You can buy directly from Capezio or any major shoe manufacturer like Nike. Major shoe stores like Zappos carry athletic dance shoes. Go for an athletic-style dance sneaker to give you the support you need – if you are thinking about your shoes and feet during Zumba class, you won’t be able to concentrate on your workout!

Also see my “Best Zumba Shoes” and “Good Dance Shoes for Zumba” and “Where to Buy Dance Shoes” posts.