It’s the New Year, and I love the New Year. I love New Year’s Eve – the optimism of it, the blank slate-ness of it, the countdown, and kissing, and popping of that cheapy bottle of Prosecco you bought in Spar and pretending it’s Dom Perignon….and I love resolutions!
Every January I find that as I relish this time of year, I want to try out a new and revoluntionary-for-me exercise regime or routine. It is time, I say to my body, to recognise that – much that I would like them to be – Quality Street and wine are not food groups.
And this year, I chose Zumba as my new exercise regime. This was largely down to the advice of my friends, co-workers, and mother. Try Zumba, they said. Be grand, they said.
My experiences of Zumba can be summarised in two concise lists (lists being standard January fodder in my world):
Things Everyone Told Me About Zumba
- You’ll love it!
- It’s just dancing-as-exercise, you won’t even realise you’re working out.
- It doesn’t matter if you go alone or with someone, you’ll get chatting to people.
- You won’t know yourself afterwards.
Advertised
- The trainer is so nice!
Things No One Told Me About Zumba
- You’ll love it… if you don’t embarrass easily, and have no problem jiggling all about you that can jiggle in front of a huge wall of unforgiving mirrors.
- Dancing-as-exercise is grand fun, if you can dance. If you can’t, well then you will definitely know you’re working out – but unlike when you hop onto the Cross-Trainer, there is most certainly a wrong way to do it.
- You should definitely, 100% go with a friend. ‘Shimmying’, which is really just a pretty word for helicopter-ing your breasts, is something you can laugh about with a friend. Gyrating your hips Dad-dance-at-a-wedding style, you can similarly laugh about with a friend. On your own, not so much.
- You will know every inch of yourself afterwards. This will be because you have been forced to look at yourself in aforementioned mirrors for an hour, and also because parts of you will hurt that normally you’re quite happy about not noticing!
- The trainer is so nice that she will try to give you a one-on-one session because you are the only one who can’t fathom a basic salsa step. And she will shout ‘Almost!’ to you when you’re close. And you will go redder and redder, both from exertion and from blushes!
Funnily enough, I think all of my complaints (mainly the embarrassment factor) would have been solved by dragging along one of the friends who kept telling me all about it.
Advertised
So, Zumba, I won’t give up – I will just make it mandatory for all my mates.
What’s your New Year shaping up like? Are you embarking on any new fitness regimes or do you already shimmy at a Zumba class? And can anyway help me with the second part of my routine?
