Zumba Support

During this past year, I’ve recognized how important it is to have support.  Yes, receiving your training and learning your routines are very important parts of teaching, but if you don’t have the right support, it’s tough to keep your head high and to keep growing.  It makes this big fun adventure that much harder to do.  My biggest supporters are definitely my husband and kids.  They have motivated me, cheered me on and supported me from the beginning.  They have to deal with my crazy workout/routine learning schedule and suffer through listening to a song on repeat for hours.

My other big supporter is my Partner-in-Crime.  She has been with me since the beginning when we went to our very first Zumba class.  We motivated each other and pushed each other to keep going to class.  I really couldn’t have gotten through all the craziness without her.

Besides my family and friends, I’ve surrounded myself with positive ZIN members, students and instructors of other programs.  We feed off of each other’s positive energy to help better ourselves.  I’ve actually become really good friends a few instructors and whenever I take their classes I think, hey I like this move, I want to use it in a routine.  Or, I really love this song, I should incorporate it in my class too.

Why have negative people in your life who aren’t supporting you and encouraging you to do better and be a better person? Without my support system,  I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

I have a few exciting things coming up in the next few weeks.  First, I’m going to run a 5k in May.  This will be my second one and I’m making my kids and possibly husband run with me too.  It’ll be a great family activity even though I know my youngest will whine and complain the entire time.  We went hiking up in Skyline Drive last weekend and the whole time we were out there, she complained about her feet and legs hurting and how tired she was.

My second big news is I’ve signed for Zumba Toning training.  I’ve very excited for this training.  I love weight training and want to be able incorporate that into my Zumba classes.

The third big thing coming up is ’m participating in an Open House at ArtInspired.  We will be showcasing a variety of different programs taught at the studio and will be 3 hours of fun and fitness.  Check out the flyer for more information.

Midweek Recap

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted.  I got sick and was laid up for about 4 days, then my daughter started soccer for her high school.  So I haven’t had much free time and don’t anticipate having much free time until the kids are all out of the house 🙂

But I do have some very exciting news.  I will be teaching at ArtInspired in Newport News on Wednesday nights and a couple of Saturdays too.  I love this studio!  The instructors are great and the variety of classes makes working out fun.  I had been subbing at ArtInspired off and on for a few months and love teaching there.  Because I attended classes at ArtInspired before teaching, I had already built relationships with some of the students.  So teaching them isn’t such a scary experience.  I am so excited to start this next journey in my Zumba career.

In fact, I subbed at ArtInspired tonight and received a great compliment from one of the ladies.  She said that I got her to sweat and that’s not easy to do and it wasn’t so much from the tempo of the routines, but from the intensity.  That made me feel good.  I love knowing that I’m making a difference and helping them get healthy.

I’ve been working on a few routines.  My head’s spinning from so much choreography.  They’re all ping-ponging in my head and competing for space in my brain.  I’ll have 4 new ones ready to roll out for my 1st official class.  And I can’t decide on which song to do next.  There are so many fun songs out there, it’s so hard to choose just 1 or 2 or 10.  If anyone has suggestions on songs or routines, let me know, I’m open for suggestions.

I hope to see you all next Wednesday at my first class!

Midweek + 1 Recap

Wow, it has been a pretty crazy couple of weeks here.  I haven’t done much Zumba, well, other than coming up with routines for my playlist which is almost done by the way.  I have about 4 more routines to figure out – thank goodness for Youtube!

The biggest thing going on right now is SNOW!  I live in an area where we seldomly get snow and when we do, it’s usually 2-3 inches at most and is gone by the next day. And of course it cripples the whole city and everything is shut down.  Well, I have no idea what happened this year, but we’ve already gotten three snowstorms in two weeks.  Whoever is making Elsa mad needs to hurry up and apologize to her NOW.  In fact, bring her flowers and candy while you beg for her forgiveness.  My kids have only been to school 2 days in 2 weeks.  They’re experiencing cabin fever and have been having hallucinations of sunny tropical beaches – ok, maybe that’s me.  I’m ready for the snow and winter to go away.  And yes, i will be one of those people who will complain about how hot it is in the summer.

Currently, I’m still looking for places to teach, and have somewhat of a plan, but have gotten sidetracked with all this snow.  My plan is to toss my name out all over town and see if anybody bites. It could work, right? I’ve also been in talks with a couple of people about bringing Zumba to their places of businesses.  I’m crossing my fingers that something will come out of it.

I’ve started taking a Mindful Movement class that’s offered through work.  It’s a combination of Tai Chi Chuan, breathing techniques and mediation.  I gotta say my favorite part is mediation.  The instructor has us lie down on our backs and picture ourselves in our happy places.  Mine is anywhere but at work.  It’s been a lot of fun going out of my comfort zone and learning other forms of exercise.  My favorite classes are still the toning and sculpting ones so I’ll definitely be beach ready.

Midweek Recap

So tonight I decided to try out a Cardio Conditioning class.  I was a little apprehensive about going because I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I’m glad I went even though the instructor kicked our butts!  We did lots and lots of squats and lunges and burpees… oh my the burpees.  I literally crawled to my car once class was over.  Everything hurts including my eyelashes! Yes, I know, pain is good, but I don’t want to be in pain, I just want to look good without trying.  I had to keep telling myself, beach body ready, beach body ready.  I know it’s only February, but summer will be here before we know it and all this killing myself will be worth it.

This week I’ve been busy learning some new routines.  I have 3 new ones that I’m working on, one of which is a Tango.  It’s got some fancy leg moves, but goes pretty slow and it’s a cute song, in fact, my almost 15 year old likes the song!  I’ve also got a fun Cumbia and a fast Reggaeton.  I did promise fast right?  I’m also working on a Calypso that’s fast (yep that word again) with lots of leg lifts, a fun Russian-style dance, a Moombahton, a Merengue, yes the list keeps going and going!  I want to go through the whole spectrum of different dance rhythms in my playlist so my students to experience as much as they can, and have fun while doing it.  Isn’t that the whole point of Zumba?

I’m also looking for a new warm-up and cool-down/stretch.  I’ve been doing the same cool-down/stretch routine for over a month now.  I love the routine and song, but it’s time for a change.  I’ve got so many songs that I want to learn I’m not sure when I’m going to find the time to get to them all.  There’s also a new song by Francesa Maria that’s so cute and perfect for a pre-cool-down or a recovery song.  And of course, I have to throw my boys in the mix somewhere, so yes, there will be some NSync coming, I just have to choose my favorite song, so many choices!  It’s overwhelming trying to narrow it down to only 15 songs.  If anyone has suggestions on song choices, let me know, I’m always up for suggestions.

I finally feel official!  I ordered and received my brand spanking new Zumba business cards. Woohoo, I feel like such a grown-up, lol.  I can’t wait to start handing them out, yes, it’s the little things.

Midweek Recap

So to update everybody, my Tuesday classes at Menchville Baptist is still cancelled.  I’m not sure if or when I’ll teach there again, but no worries.  I do have a couple of things in the works.  Who knows, I could be teaching as soon as 2 or 3 weeks.  But I don’t want to say anything just yet because I don’t want to jinx myself.  Yes I know, I’m a tease, but you’ll have to be patient.

Although I didn’t teach last night, I still stayed busy and active.  I’m in the process of creating a whole new playlist with fun, fast songs.  Yes, I said FAST!  I have a ton of songs that have been playing in my head while I was learning my Christian playlist and I’ve been itching to do routines to them.  I’ve got a fun Belly Dance and a couple of new Reggaeton and Cumbia,  Who knows, I may even throw a Tango in the mix.  I’m excited and can’t wait to get started on learning the new routines.

I’m staying positive about all these sudden, unexpected changes and in fact have been making changes myself.  I even went to my first Zumba Toning class today and LOVED it!  Why haven’t I gone to one before?!?!?  It was an action packed, zumba toning stick shaking, killer squat class!  I had been debating on getting Zumba Toning certified but had never taken a toning class before so I’m soooo glad I finally went.  I got an awesome workout in but man,  will my legs kill me tomorrow!  If anyone wants to come out next week to try a Zumba Toning class, let me know.  First class is free at ArtInspired.  You won’t regret it!

Midweek Update

The more I teach, the more fun I have.  It takes me a while to get comfortable enough to engage with the class and I think I did a pretty good job last night.  Teaching has made me not only comfortable with being in front of people to dance and teach, but has put more confidence in me with public speaking.  I’ve always had issues speaking to a group of people, it was really bad.  I know a lot of people have issues with public speaking, but I would be so nervous that I could hardly get a word out.  I still get nervous, but it’s not as bad as it was before.

So I have some sad news.  Unfortunately, because my class size was less than 10 last night, I was told that it would be my last, unless I can find 10 people to attend next Tuesday.  I do however have 4 people who have signed up to come out to next week’s class, but that’s still not enough.  So come on peeps, help a girl out and come out to my class and bring your friends, neighbors, and total strangers.  It’s hard being a new instructor with no following.  If anybody has tips on retaining students and getting more people to come out, I’m all ears.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am now Zumba B2 licensed.  What that means is that I’ve successfully learned 6 new dance rhythms – tango, soca, belly dance, quebradita, flamenco, and samba.  I had a wonderful time at the training and met a great group of women who I hope to share future experiences with. I look forward to learning and choreographing routines to these 6 rhythms.  I think the first one will be either a tango or belly dance.  I can’t wait!

I also have a few things in the works in regards to training.  I’m hoping to get licensed to teach Zumba Toning in the near future.  I haven’t taken a Zumba Toning class, but have taken several Sculpt and RIPPED classes and love the way my arms are looking.  My husband has even commented that I have bigger muscles than him.  After getting Toning licensed, I’m not sure what the future will hold for me, but I’ll be ready for whatever life wants to throw at me.

Zumba B2 Training

Yesterday, a friend and I went to the Zumba B2 training.  I decided that this was a great opportunity for me to further my Zumba journey and I’m really glad I went.  I did have some trepidation about the training beforehand, because I wasn’t sure what to expect.  After the B1 training, I was so overwhelmed by all the information I received, I didn’t know which way was up and which was down.  Plus, the class size is huge and I felt lost in the class.  However, the B2 class was a lot more intimate and the class size is a lot smaller.  You immediately felt like you were surrounded by family, your Zumba family.  I know I’ll stay in contact with these wonderful ladies.

The B2 training focused on 6 rhythms and styles of dance – Flamenco, Tango, Samba, Belly dance, Quebradita, and Soca.  I gotta say, my favorite was the Belly dance, well, except for the backwards figure 8 hip rolls.  I’m not sure if anyone in the class was able to figure it out, but it was fun trying.  My least favorite is the Samba rhythm.  My hips, legs and feet don’t work in conjunction and if you’ve ever seen the Samba done, it’s super fast, something that my body doesn’t do.

I love my ZES, April, who was also my B1 instructor.  She’s just this bubbly, energetic, fireball.  I loved that all the dance moves/rhythms were broken down and explained in detail.  But I have to say, the networking and interacting with the other women in the B2 class was my favorite part.  The class broke up into 3 groups for a couple of group activity/exercises.  We bounced off ideas off each other and discussed issues that we’ve had teaching and how we worked around these issues.  It was great knowing that other people have gone through the same issues as I have.

On another note, I have my iPod backup plan in place.  That’s right, I’m the owner of a brand new sparkling pink iPod.  I’m also going to be smart this time and just download my playlist onto my phone.  There’s no such thing as being too prepared right?

Here I am with my ZES April and my friend Jenny.

Zumba fun

I had another wonderful class last night.  I’m so glad to have been given this opportunity to teach something that I love.  Not only am I getting fit, but I’m helping others feel better and get healthier.  I don’t know about you, but after class I have all these endorphins running through my body and am ready to go another hour.  Although, I don’t think my legs can handle it.  I’m glad to have familiar faces come back to class.  It makes me feel like I’m doing something right.  There are so many other places they could go to get their Zumba kick, but they’re choosing to come to my class.

I did have a slight glitch towards the end of class where my iPod decided to crap out on me.  I’ve been having issues with it lately where it would want to shut itself down.  I called it my possessed iPod.  It’s only about 7 years old and has been dropped several times, but the old gal is still kicking along.  So a glitch happened, what do you do?  Just keep going along with it and DON’T PANIC!  Thankfully the class saw the humor in it and laughed along with me.  I did have a back-up plan, but the back-up planned backfired.  What can you do but laugh right?  Exercise is about having fun as much as it’s about working out.  I have a new backup plan, yep I’m getting a brand-spanking new iPod.  There will eventually be a memorial for the current one in the near future; Poddy has been very good to me.

I can’t wait for next week’s class.  I have a new routine to share with the class, or maybe two, depending on how motivated I am.  I’ve been having fun finding Christian songs to add to my playlist.  If anybody has suggestions for songs, I’m open to ideas.

My next focus will be to add a couple more classes to my already busy schedule.  It’s hard finding places in the area because there are a TON of Zumba instructors and not so many places to teach.  I may have something in the works to teach in Williamsburg, but it may be a couple of months from now.  So if anybody is looking for Zumba instructors, let me know, I’m available 🙂

Midweek Recap

Thank goodness I got rid of those first class jitters, now I’m working on 2^nd class jitters, 3^rd class jitters…  However, last night’s class was amazing.  I had a great turnout, lots of new faces and plenty of returning ones too.  Yes, I did mess up a little bit, not as much as last week; hey I’m only human, I make mistakes and I’ll admit to it.  But, I’m having a great time teaching and the class is having a fun time learning and that’s what matters.

I had a really nice compliment from one of my students last night.  She asked if I had any formal dance training because my movements were so fluid.  No, I haven’t had any formal dance training, I’ve just always loved to dance.  I was part of my High School Dance Team though, but I wouldn’t consider that formal training.

Everyone enjoyed the class so that makes me a happy instructor.  That’s my goal throughout this whole experiment – for everyone to have fun while exercising.

A couple of lessons learned:

Even if you think you’re prepared, you’re never prepared.  As I was leaving to go to class, I had doled out instructions to my kids.  You grab my drink, you turn off the lights, you make sure I have my eyes, etc.  I get in the car and asked one of the kids if she grabbed my water and of course she didn’t.  I had to find my house keys in my bag which took me a couple of minutes to dig out.  After I got to the church and carried all my stuff inside, I realized I didn’t have the usb cord to hook up the iPod to the speakers!!!!! I distinctly remember putting it in my bag, but it was nowhere in sight!  I had to run back out to the car to see if it fell out when I digging in the bag for my house keys.  Thank goodness it was in the trunk!  So I knew I wasn’t losing my mind.  My advice, stay calm and know that everything will work out and it doesn’t hurt to have a backup plan.

Shoes!  You definitely have to have the right shoes for the right sport.  Would you wear basketball shoes to play soccer?  I had a student ask me which shoes are the best for Zumba.  I’ve done a lot of research in this department because shoes are such an important part of my “uniform”.  First, make sure you find shoes with the pivot point.  A pivot point is a circular place on the sole of your shoes that help you twist and turn easily.

Zumba has a line of shoes that are cute, but I wouldn’t recommend them too highly.  The ones that I have are super slippery and I have to be extra careful with my movements for fear of doing the splits during class.  I have 2 pairs of Reeboks, 1 of which I love and the other not so much.  The one I love is the Fitnisrush.  It’s comfortable and has lots of support and is not too narrow or wide, but leaves you with plenty of wiggle room for your toes.  The other is the Dance Urlead which are super narrow and really hurts my feet.  I don’t know what it is about them but it hurts the top of my feet and, but I’ve only been able to wear them twice.  My all-time favorite pair are the Ryka’s.  I don’t remember which style but they are the most comfortable shoes.  They hug your feet right and has enough cushion for support.  There are many other brands out there that I haven’t tried yet, so if anybody has recommendations, I would love to hear them.

First Zumba Class

What a great beginning of the year.  I hope everyone had a great holiday and rang in the New Year with a bang.  For those of you who didn’t know, I am now teaching Zumba once a week.  This is such a great opportunity for me.  I have so much to learn and teach.  Not only am I learning new routines, but I’m learning from the class.  I taught my first class this week and had such an amazing time.  I had such great support from family, friends and coworkers.  I met some wonderful ladies at class and received some great tips that’ll help me improve and become a better instructor.  I hope to add more classes to my schedule, but for now, once a week is good.

Some tips that I learned in my first class:

Adjust yourself to the level of your class.  If you notice that the participants are struggling, especially with more complicated moves, make the move easier for them to mimic, you can later progress to the more complicated move later in the routine.  I know how I feel when I see instructors dancing and moving like they’re out at the club.  To me, it just feels like they’re showing off for the class and that’s not what Zumba is about.  You want your class to be able to pick up the move and not get frustrated because they have no idea what they’re doing.  I noticed on a couple of routines, the class was confused on how to do the moves, so I slowed down the choreography until they were able to pick up the moves.

Cueing is KEY!  Yes, we all learned this in Zumba training, but you don’t realize how important it is until you’re teaching a class.  Learning a routine isn’t the only part of teaching, you really need to know how and when to cue.  So when I’m learning my routines, I’m also add in cues during the routine.  I had a request from a participant who wanted me to do verbal cues.  I didn’t grant her request, only because it would have confused me and everyone in class.  Since I’m facing the class when I teach it’s hard for me to tell them to move left when I really mean for them to move right.

Practice, practice, practice.  But know that practice DOESN’T always make perfect.  I had my routines down, and could even do them in my sleep even.  However, I inadvertently had to do some “creative re-work” during a routine.  My mind started to wander and I completely blanked and couldn’t remember where I was in the routine.  I made up a couple of moves until I could get myself back on track, but it didn’t happen until almost the end of the routine.  I just had to brush it off and keep moving.  I know that I’m not the first one it happened to and it won’t be the last.  I just have to be more cognizant and more aware of what I’m doing.  But you know how it is, you start thinking about things you need to do, or make a grocery list, oh yeah, I haven’t eaten yet today, what should I eat for dinner; and then bam, you’re out of sync and can’t remember what move comes next.  Don’t be too hard on yourself and remember that the class won’t know that you did it wrong unless you tell them.  So just Taylor Swift it and Shake It Off.