Zumba’s Beto Perez on the Cover of May 2012 Men’s Fitness Magazine

Zumba creator Beto Perez is on the May 2012 cover of Men’s Fitness magazine. The magazine describes him as “a true ladies’ man” and encourages guys to take note: Beto is super fit and women love him.

So what will it take to get more men to try Zumba???

Filed under Zumba, exercise | Tags: 2012, Beto Perez, cover, guy, guys, love, magazine, man, may, men, men's fitness, women, Zumba, zumba fitness | Comment (0)

Z-Kickz LOVE Limited-Edition Zumba Shoes

New limited-edition Z-Kickz athletic dance shoes are now available from Zumba! Introducing the Love Edition, just in time for Valentine’s Day:

Filed under Zumba | Tags: athletic dance shoes, athletic shoes, black, Dance, dance shoes, edition, heart, kicks, kickz, love, pink, Red, shoes, z, z-kickz, Zumba, zumba fitness, zumba gold, Zumba in the Circuit, zumba instructor, Zumba shoes | Comment (0)

Christmas Gifts for Zumba Lovers

Do you have a Zumba lover in your life? Want to give them a Christmas gift they’re going to love? Here are some Christmas gift ideas from a Zumba lover for Zumba lovers:

Zumba Wear
Some people wear their everyday gym clothes to Zumba, but Zumba wear is different than gym clothes. It’s a cross between street wear and dance wear. Zumba wear is available from the Zumba online shop and will cost you anywhere from $14.95 for a pair of Zumba flip flops to $94.95 for a pair of Zumba athletic dance shoes. A safe bet for any Zumba lover is a top to wear to class. A Zumba wear top will cost you anywhere form $14.95 to $39.95 + shipping. Shop now if you want it to arrive by Christmas!

Zumba DVDs
The gift that keeps on giving – a Zumba class right in your very own home! There are two authetic Zumba DVD sets available: the Total Body Transformation System (as seen on TV) or the Zumba Exhilarate DVD Experience. There is even a set of Zumba DVD’s for children called Zumbatomic. The DVD sets are expensive ($89.95 for Exhilarate on Zumba.com, $49.95 for TBTS on Amazon.com), but contain five DVDs including a live workout and choreography to tone the arms, abs, buns, and thighs. Shop for DVDs on Zumba.com or Amazon.com.

Zumba Video Game
I was lucky enough to participate in the Best Buy release of the original Zumba Fitness video game for Kinect on the XBox 360 at the Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minnesota last year and let me tell you, it is amazing! The Zumba Fitness video game is available for Wii and Playstation and WILL give you a workout. This year, the Zumba Fitness 2 video game is also available for Wii. Shop for DVDs on Zumba.com or Amazon.com.

Here are some other ideas for Zumba lovers:

• Dance lessons – Maybe they’re ready to start salsa dancing???
• Exercise clothes – Bright, neon colors are popular in Zumba classes. Popular exercise clothing brands in my classes: lululemon athletica, lucy, C9 from Champion available at Target, Victoria’s Secret PINK (yes, Victoria’s Secret), Old Navy
• Hip Scarf – Belly dance and Bollywood songs in Zumba have inspired some Zumba lovers to wear colorful hip scarves during class.

Zumba lovers, do you have any other suggestions?

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Is It Creativity Or Imagination?

Am I creative? While revising my resume recently, I used the word creative, but it just didn’t sound right. “Creative” wasn’t what I really wanted to say…

I stumbled across the following description of “creativity” and “imagination” in Helen Fisher’s book, Why Him? Why Her?: Finding Real Love By Understanding Your Personality Type. I think she accurately describes the difference I perceived in the definitions of the words creativity and imagination. I was trying to describe myself as having the ability to take known data and facts from the past and present and use them to come up with solutions for projects or problems at work. The word I was looking for was imaginative, not creative.

I’ve come to believe imagination is a slightly different brain activity than creativity. People with powerful imaginations combine existing data and ideas, while those who are especially creative generate new data or ideas. We often do both, of course. But I suspect that imagination stems from web thinking. For what is imagination, but the ability to reach into the breadth of one’s stored knowledge, mentally assemble reams of information in new ways and “suppose” how these combinations of variable connect and interact?
(From The Philosopher King – The Negotiator – Imagination)

As I’ve mentioned, I don’t think creativity and imagination are exactly the same thing, although they are often complementary. Creativity often requires some imagination, and imagination is often creative. But you can create a piece of music or develop a theory of natural selection and never daydream about tomorrow or reflect on yesterday. And you can daydream endlessly without creating a song, poem, hypothesis, or gaget.
(From The One – How We Love)

I highly recommend any Helen Fisher book. I was lucky enough to find Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love by chance at a Half Price Books store in Highland Park, Minnesota years ago and I’ve read everything she’s written ever since. She often contributes to news stories as on of the world’s leading experts on the nature of romantic love and attachment. She recently became the scientific advisor for Chemistry.com.

Sources
Helen Fisher. Why Him? Why Her? New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2009.

Filed under interests | Tags: anthropology, attachment, chemistry, chemistry.com, creativity, Helen Fisher, imagination, love, romantic, Why Her?, Why Him?, Why We Love | Comment (0)

This ain’t just some neon love come lately…

A hard-to-find country song got stuck in my head, but I could never remember enough of the lyrics to find it.

It started out, “We got married in high school…” and the only other lyrics I could remember were something about “love come lately…”

I finally found it! It is “Sacred Ground” by McBride and the Ride.

Sacred Ground
McBride and the Ride

We got married in high school
Had a baby when we turned eighteen
I bagged groceries in the daytime
At night I learned to fix TV’s

When you come by things the hard way
Well you learn how to hold on tight
So don’t think you can waltz in here
And take her without a fight

This ain’t just some neon love come lately
Its a precious thing you don’t know nothing about
We were joined in the eyes of the Lord
In the eyes of our hometown
Why don’t you leave her alone
You’re treading on sacred ground

Guess I took for granted
She would never look at someone else
Now I’ve got some patching up to do
Oh, and I don’t need your help

I know you’re the leavin’ kind
Well, I sure hope you will
Before she goes and burns those bridges
That took so long to build

This ain’t just some neon love come lately
Its a precious thing you don’t know nothin’ about
We were joined in the eyes of the Lord
In the eyes of our hometown
Why don’t you leave her alone
You’re treading on sacred ground
Go on and leave her alone
Why don’t you leave her alone
Go on and leave her alone
You’re treading on sacred ground

Filed under music | Tags: country, love, lyrics, mcbride, music | Comment (0)