Today was a good day for me, but I first need to start with some background information. During my first week at the BLR there was a lady that I met who lives in another part of the Houston area, about a mile from where my parents live. I still have other friends that live in that part of town as well. So today a few of us met to go hiking. There was me, one of my friends, this lady that I met at the BLR, and my mom. We went to local park that has a hiking trail and it was very good.
It was nice to put water in the Camelbak hydration backpack and go hiking. Now please realize that hiking in Houston just means walking because we don't have any mountains here. On this trail there were several small hills that were maybe 6 ft high. We brought our lunch with us and had a picnic at the end. We were there for about 4 hours and did a lot of socializing and hiking. Actually, it was more socializing than hiking.
For almost 8 years now I have had a gym membership at 24 Hour Fitness, which means that I have access to all of the clubs nation wide. I talked to one of my other friends in this part of Houston and we decided to go to the gym and do the Zumba class. I've seen info-mercials for Zumba and noticed that 24 Hour Fitness offers it as a class, and I wanted to try it.
Oh my goodness, what a workout it was. For those that don't know, Zumba is a cardio dance class that is a mix of latin and salsa music with a hip-hop flavor added. It is high intensity with quick movements for the entire class. It was both mentally and physically tough. The class moves quickly and it was mentally tough trying to learn the movements and keep up with the rest of the class. If was physically tough because it is non-stop for the entire hour. There is no warm-up and the cool down part was a dynamic cool down and was very short.
I'm not sure if this Zumba dance class will be a fad or not, but it was a great calorie burn and a good cardio workout. The dance moves are different from other classes and I recommend it. I also recommend getting to the gym early to warm up and stretch first. I can't imagine going to that class cold because it is non-stop for the entire hour.
In cardio disco and other classes I've been to, the instructor shows the moves, breaks it down slowly until the entire class gets the moves down. Zumba was not like that at all. The instructor did the moves and we had to follow. There weren't any instruction of the moves or breaking it down slowly. First time people like me had to pick it up fast. I'm a fast learner so this wasn't a problem for me. I'm definitely going to add this to my cardio options because it was a fun class and burned a lot of calories. Next class I'm going to wear the heart rate monitor that tracks calories burned to get a number. I wouldn't be surprise if the number of calories burned was over 1,000 in that hour.
As I continue to look for for my next project I would like to continue the hiking part with the people mentioned above at least one time per week. I'm also going to add Zumba to the cardio options. Tomorrow I pick up my ice skates from the rink and will start skating next week because I can't fit it in this week. Tomorrow and Thursday will be filled with job related stuff and I'm going out of town this weekend, so I won't be back in the gym until next week.
If your gym offers Zumba, I recommend checking it out. Time will tell if this is a fad or not, but I'm going to enjoy it while it is offered because it is a good calorie burn, it is a different kind of workout, and I had fun.
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