Oh my soul, did I find something so refreshing, so hot and so exuberant! And I’m not talking Nando’s sauce or zinger wings. Nope. I’m talking Zumba. To be expressed with vigour and volume, I hear.  An aerobic exercise routine inspired by Latin dance. The music alone is enough to get me to every class.

A Zumba instructor combines slow, fast and resistance moves as to tone your body while you’re burning that malicious fat. Add some vibey Latino tunes to this mix and you have yourself a Zumba class.

I attended my first class last night and boy, was I in for a surprise. I love dancing and I can usually get the moves quite easily whether it’s hip-hop, krump or pantsula – even a waltz. So I figured I’ll be able to dance myself slim and fit without putting in too much effort. Good golly… I had to swing, shake, push and roll every part of my body.. yes, especially my lower uhm body. I’ve decided that I’ll choose my spot quite strategically next time; far away from windows and glass doors.

After the first “warm-up” song I was ready to have some water and start my stretching routine to cool down. This music is fast, the moves are even faster and the vibe is just crazy. I love it! I’m almost sad that I’ll be 60 one day, which means that I won’t be able to do this forever and ever!

Isn’t exercise supposed to be fun? We should all want to exercise. I can’t remember when last I felt that want. I usually do it because I just have to keep on going.  An exercise routine shouldn’t be boring and monotonous and we shouldn’t have to drag our unhealthy behinds to the gym. I can simply not wait for the next class… Truth be told, I’m actually considering buying the DVD to get the moves down so that I can really gooi’it in the next class!

How did it start?

Celebrity fitness trainer “Beto” Perez stumbled upon this brainwave in the 90′s. Where was I? Prancing around in my aluminous leg warmers and jumping to the beat of Jamie Lee Curtis’ Perfect. Lufly.

Anyway, he walked into his aerobics class one fortunate day and realised that he forgot to bring his music. He grabbed one of the other tapes in his backpack, comprising of the traditional Latin salsa songs he so loved. He improvised the moves and the rest is history!

In the past years the Zumba movement has spread like a wildfire and positioned itself as the single most influential movement in the industry of fitness.

With this MamaZet turns to leave, but not without first doing a slow bum bounce, Zumba style.