Thank goodness I got rid of those first class jitters, now I’m working on 2nd class jitters, 3rd 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.
Zumba with Elizabeth 