Saturday Morning Class Time Change!!

Effective IMMEDIATELY, the Saturday morning Zumba® class at Turner Recreation Commission will start at 8:45 AM!

Please be aware this is a change from the current 9am start time!!  If you get there at 9am, we'll be into the set already (so just join in and remember to set your alarms a bit earlier for next week!)!

Early May Updates & Cross Training!

1.       The Zumba Heart-a-Thon is all set up and ready for participants to start purchasing tickets. Tickets are $15 if purchased in advance! The event will be from 1-3pm on May 14^th. You can click here for additional information. Unlike the last Zumbathon®, ZumbaChemist WILL be at this one, and will be leading the group in two songs (soon TBD) along with fellow KC instructors! The intention is to have the class at WRBC opt to come to the Zumbathon® (along with any other students too!) in lieu of our normal class day. While ZumbaChemist realizes $15 is not a free class, but this is not something that comes along every day either! The proceeds go to the American Heart Association, so it’s a great cause to support too.

2.       For today, there will be NO ZUMBA® CLASS at TRC at 4:30pm! My apologies to some of you gals who drop in, but unless TRC has folks sign up for the class, they do not call me in to teach (even for drop-ins). That being said – if folks do sign up this week – we can have class the rest of the month of May. I’d love for this to happen, so get thee signed up for Tuesdays at TRC!

3.       As the Gold’s class experienced yesterday and the TRC classes will get on Wednesday and Saturday this week, we’ve got some new song and new choreography for the month of May! A few of the songs are even new to me (as in, the song isn’t new, but the dance is!), but I have to say that my students reading this are extremely forgiving in that manner!

4.        Surprises…. Are coming… soon! Be on the lookout!

5.       Don’t forget to “Like” ZumbaChemist on Facebook! It’s updated at least once a day, if not more, so it’s a bit more “real time” than the blog here!

ZumbaChemist is a big believer in not re-inventing the wheel. After all, if someone more capable than you has already done it well, why not give them the due credit and save yourself frustration and energy? That being said, ZumbaChemist also is a believer in Cross-Training. Yes, Zumba® is fun, exciting and a great workout, but there is more to life than Zumba®! *Gasp!*   So, in case you're wondering about Cross-Training, check out this great article on the benefits of Cross-Training! As the reader will see, it focuses on Cross-Training for those who run, but the principles are readily applied to  Zumba® participants as well!

New Zumba® Wear!

Just yesterday the Zumba^® Shop launched the spring-summer line of Zumba^® wear for Zumba^® fans out there! Check out the shop link to see if there is anything you're interested in purchasing and let ZumbaChemist know!

As a FYI, some sizes in different styles sell-out quickly, so better to order sooner than later!

Blog Too Much Effort to Follow?

Follow ZumbaChemist on Facebook for your up-to-date class and scheduling needs!

How to Maximize Your Zumba® Fitness Workout

The question has been posed to me recently by a couple of students as to how to maximize their Zumba® Fitness workout.

Before I go further, I am glad that folks have asked me this! Hopefully students upon reading the answer can really see where they have been falling when they have been in class.

In a previous post I had mentioned that you should go at your own pace. This still remains true, but remember that everyone's pace will differ. If you've had knee replacement surgery, your pace will probably always be a tad slower than perhaps your friend beside you who has both of their natural knees. This is strictly a mechanics issue.

What is not a mechanics issue is that as you continue as a Zumba® student, you should expect your pace to change! As with any other sport, the more you practice, the better you get.  The better you get, the more efficient your body becomes at doing the moves for each song, and the more endurance you'll build up - requiring fewer water breaks, and being able to tackle more complex choreography with ease. As an instructor, this is why I change the playlists periodically to help prevent muscle memory. 

When do I know I need to change the playlist up as an instructor? Check out the Rate of Perceived Exertion below. Ideally, I want my students in class to be at the 9 or 10 level for the higher intensity songs, with a 7 or 8 level on our lower intensity songs (such as the belly-dancing tunes).

Yes, students should be, literally, breathless during most of class. It's not a matter of torture, it's just a matter of maximizing the workout!!  As a Zumba® instructor, I want to see my students improve their fitness levels just as much as the students do. But, if you're in class, and only working out at the 4-6 level - to the point of where you can carry on a short conversation - then one of two things is occurring:

1. As a instructor, I'm not giving students hard enough songs OR...
2. As a student, you're not focusing on the task at hand (that is, doing the highest intensity movements possible for a given song)

Hopefully, any of my students reading this will attest that the first option is not true for the most part. If my sweat-drenched instructor body isn't evidence enough, then hopefully the couple of water breaks where I can barely talk and my barely chirping instructions on occasion will also provide sufficient evidence.

So, for those times where #1 is not true, but folks can still talk, then it really comes down to each individual having to ask themselves, "Am I giving this class all I can give to get the best possible workout?" If you can't answer that with an honest, "Yes," answer, then you need to evaluate for yourself what you need to change to maximize your Zumba® Fitness workout.  

If you can't evaluate yourself, or perhaps you don't know what you're doing "wrong" to not allow yourself to really give it all you got, then don't hesitate to come and ask your instructor!  Contrary to popular belief, ZINs like to face the mirrors so they can see their students, not themselves! Odds are, if you're not maximizing your workout, and you ask your instructor, they can tell you what to do to help give yourself that extra push to really sweat it out! As always, your instructor is there to encourage you, so remember that any "critique" is simply an attempt to help you in your fitness journey!

But, I believe there are times where #1 is true, and those are the times when the music will get a significant change-up! It's looking like May will be one of those times for the "land Zumba®" classes! So keep your eyes (and ears) peeled!

Zumba® Fitness with a Chemist is on FACEBOOK!!

Let's face it, not everyone has time to read the blog in great detail. Nor does ZumbaChemist always have time to write out a long and detailed blog for students to read!

But you have enough time to read less than 420 characters of text right? Yes! I figured that would be the case!

All that being said, go ahead and Like ZumbaChemist on Facebook! 

You'll be able to receive up-to-date status updates on your mobile phone that way, and so you'll know if something is going on that's exciting or otherwise Zumba® related!

*******************************************

Two other REALLY cool things!

ONE - On THIS Monday, April 25, the Zumba® office is launching it's spring and summer line of Zumba® wear! Remember that orders are being taken through the end of April, so if something cool and snazzy catches your eye on Monday, let the ZumbaChemist know!

TWO - This UPCOMING Friday is the Zumbathon® supporting the American Heart Association. Tickets are still available for this two hour Zumba® blast starting at 6pm!

Have a great Easter Sunday everyone!

Quick Zumba® Updates

My apologies for not posting sooner than I have today, while my class schedule has not changed,  I have been  putting in more hours at my Chemist job since we have some deadlines that are looming!

I just wanted to briefly touch upon four things:

1.   Orders are still being taken from students until the end of April for various Zumba® wear. Remember that you won’t be paying S&H charges if you get your clothes through me rather than the zumba.com website.

2.   Now is the time to sign up for the May Aqua Zumba® class at TAC! It is $30 for two times a week (Monday & Thursday evenings at 7pm). I’ve already had some choreography requests from some of the current attendees to work some more of the legs, so I’ll be working on that for the May session.

3.   I’ve had a few students in my classes recently use some cool ways to improvise their Zumba® Fitness experience for their needs. Beth, a student at Wornall Road Baptist Church on Saturday mornings at 11am (which, if I’ve not mentioned before is a FREE class and you don’t have to be a church member to attend!) has recently been using a chair for many of the songs. She’s had some back issues in the past, so the chair allows her to really be able to focus on doing more moves rather than worry about her back. She’s told me that she’s getting a heck of a core workout since doing some of the leg-lift type moves in the chair requires a lot more ab muscle involvement than she ever expected. Another student at TRC has been using the window sill in the same fashion as she has had back surgery in the past and some of the moves present  a challenge without some additional body support.

4.   The speakers at Gold's Gym seem to be back in operational order! Hurrah!

I do want to elaborate further on modifications, but in a different post!

In the meantime, don’t forget that there is a Zumbathon® coming up on April 29^th! Tickets are still available at $10 each for a two hour Zumba® event to benefit the American Heart Association  (AHA)!

Aqua Zumba® Safety Reminder!

Tonight ladies, we really lucked out, as the storm that's hitting the Kansas City area tonight rolled in just as our class ended! Whew!

However, just as a reminder, per TAC policy, if lighting is spotted in the area they will evacuate the pool area. I'm fairly certain this will interrupt a class in the future (this is the midwest after all!), however, I'm sure that you all want to stay safe! 

If this does happen in the future - and it's in the middle of class - once you all are out of the pool, I'll try and make sure we do a cool down before folks depart so that you don't risk injury from suddenly going from lots of moving to no moving at all.

Zumba® Fitness at Gold's Gym: Stereo Update

A quick update after today's class with a horrible sound-system. I think fingernails on a chalk board was just a step below the quality for today's class. For anyone who is new to the class, I have no idea what happened between today and last Monday when the system was working (or as well as it ever had). I know it's not my fault, but I can't help but apologize to you all!

I talked to the owner after class and he said he's not sure what the cause of the problem is - that being said, if the problem is the speaker, there are no plans to repair it because it's too expensive.

This really disappoints me because not only does the stereo being shot highly affect the Zumba® classes conducted there by myself and the other fellow, but it also is a problem for the rest of the Group Fitness classes there too! I know Butts & Guts uses music and I suspect that most of the other aerobics classes use music too. 

I'm half tempted to buy a second-hand boombox and hook it up, or cheap computer speakers and hook up my Blackberry to it.... anything has got to better than what we had to put up with today in class! :(

More Questions Answered & Zumba® Wear

For any regular (or new) students reading this blog, you might want to mosey over to the FAQ where some new questions (and their respective answers) have been posted! If there is a question you have that the FAQ doesn't answer, feel free to email it to the ZumbaChemist, or post it as a comment to the blog posting!

************************************************

Anyone who has been doing Zumba® for a while and enjoys it knows the mental conversation all too well ...

"Man, I love those Zumba® clothes!"

"I wish I had a way to show off how much I enjoy my Zumba® Fitness classes!"

"Zumba® duds are totally hot and steamy!"

If you've had the eye for Zumba® Wear  for some time, you can satisfy that urge!  Over the next few weeks, ZumbaChemist will be taking orders for Zumba® Wear  from anyone who wants to order some. One plus to ordering from the ZumbaChemist is that she can get a flat S&H rate on large orders, so you can order your Zumba® Wear  without S&H costs!

Some items that are available currently (check out Zumba.com for even more items to chose from!):

Zoom Zoom Raceback (Available in Black, Aqua, Pink and Purple)

Classic Cargo Pant (Available in Black, White and Aqua)

 Looking for something a bit more modest? Chic Bling Fashion Top (Available in Blue or Yellow)

And, especially helpful for Aqua Zumba, something to carry your towel and clothes home - Zoom Zoom Drawstring Backpack!

Please contact ZumbaChemist before or after a class if you're interested in ordering a product, or you have questions about clothing sizes!