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!