Last night I took another Zumba class.
Back in September, I tried one for the first time and it was pretty horrible. I knew that at some point I would try again, but I was planning on that some point to be a long way off.
This class was a Zumba Tone class, which was supposed to be less cardio intense and more fun with weights. I thought that maybe I’d improved a little bit where an exercise class was concerned so decided to go ahead and give it another go.
We were told to pick either 1, 2, or 3 lb weights, so I went total lightweight and did the one pounds. The warm-up was alot of moving around but not as much as I remember from the first class. From there, a couple of the songs were more dance while others were more focused on arms and using the weights.
I improved a little bit. In the first go round, I left the class completely after 10 minutes, in too much pain to keep trying and way too embarrassed to just sit there. This time though, I’m happy to say I stayed for the whole thing. I sat down several times but always got back up again. Even when I was sitting down I still moved my legs or lifted the weights.
I didn’t try to keep up with every little move the instructor did. Most of the time I improvised. I mentioned on my FB that I kind of looked like a flailing sea monkey. My knees are improving but they’re still not great and they’re definitely not in lunge or squat shape. There’s also no way I’m going to do all the hopping and running. Instead, I did kicks or lifts, just something to stay going.
Breathing was fine. It was the pain in my back and ankles that was the hardest to take. The ankle stuff was likely the result of moving in ways I’m not used to. The back stuff is just more of the same pain I’ve been dealing with and not having been to the chiropractor in a couple months. I also realize both ankle and back problems are weight related as well and another reason to not jump around any more than is healthy for me.
I’m proud of my progress, but I was also really frustrated. Everyone else seemed to be having a good time, and everyone I talk to about Zumba seems to find this magical glorious fun time when they do it. I did not have the magical glorious fun time moment. For me, it was about trying to stay caught up and not falling on my face. It was about pushing through the pain and saying that I did something that I didn’t think I could do a year ago.
During FB comment chat, a friend said that she found that it got more fun each time she went, so I’m going to hold on to that hope since I do plan on going back in a couple weeks and then trying it a few more times on an every other week basis. If I end up hating it, then I’ll at least know I gave it a good try.
Right now, the goal isn’t even to look like I’m really dancing. It’s just to finish a class without sitting down.
The Romance Factor 