Since January 6th, I've done Zumba at home every day except 2. That's over 30 days of Zumba. I started doing a 20 minute routine, and being out of breath. The last routine I did was 50 minutes, and I felt energized at the end. These were all done on my Wii or Xbox 360 Kinect, and they pushed me greatly. I am burning about 500 kcal in a 45 minute routine. My favorite by far is the Xbox Kinect Zumba Core video.
One thing I want to focus on is to continually challenge myself, so the next step for me was to take a real class. Now, I don't just take a real class lightly. In fact, I haven't taken a group fitness class in about 10 years, so this was a big step to me. I decided yesterday that I was going to do this. I was going to go to the YMCA, and do the 9:30 am Zumba class. I just needed something to keep me from chickening out, so I called up my friend Cori, and soon we had another friend along.
And we NAILED IT! And by nailed it I mean something like this:
I survived my first Zumba class, burned upwards of 700 kcal. The instructor was great, and made me feel completely comfortable, and I'm already looking at the schedule to see when I can go again. After Zumba, Cori helped me start my first day of The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I feel like it could be a little more intense overall, until I got to the Prone Jackknives Yeah that is a picture of someone doing it. You walk the ball out and then back in...15 times. Let me tell you guys, it was not pretty. But that's ok, I was doing it.
It's amazing how going into the gym weight room with your head held high makes you approachable. The PT came over and helped us with some form and tips for the Jackknives Another guy helped me with my squat form, and figure out how to hook something up for a seated row. I think old Erica would have curled up and died on the inside, wanting to remain invisible at the gym, but not this girl. I'm totally fine if they see me as their gym charity case, I can and will use all the help I can get. And I probably wouldn't have done all that today without my Cori.
Now when do I get to Zumba again?
Way to go Erica!
ReplyDeleteI used NRoL4W last spring and felt ridiculous at first in the weight room because I'd never lifted free weights before. The program is great because you can see how much you're improving as you go. I stopped eventually because I preferred lifting in a class but if BP wasn't available, I'd totally do New Rules again.