Zumba

commsgirl2016

Hi,

Been doing zumba a few weeks now. First couple of weeks dripping in sweat and felt like I really worked out. Last week I know I didn't put a lot of effort in due to leg pain but this week I attempted all the moves but I've come home feeling like I didn't really work out and that the calories MFP gave me can't be right because I wasn't sweating and feel like I could go for a jog or another class etc whereas the first couple of weeks I didn't think I would be able to walk home.
Is it just simply a case of getting used to the routines?

Vonny198334

Yay for zumba!

Ive been doing it most days for about 6 weeks now & when I began I was dripping in sweat after about 15 mins. Slowly worked myself up & my workouts are generally 40 mins. But where I can relate is I began to notice I'd not start sweating until about 6 songs in, where as before it was usually around the 3-4 song mark.

Put it down to losing weight & fitness levels improving so I decided rather than increase my time (felt it was too soon for me) I'd increase my effort. This is going to sound really silly, but I pretend I'm the instructer & if I don't get it right, the rest of the class won't. Worth noting here is that the only audience i have is my cat & she's more of a "sit and judge" type than a participant.

It worked for me anyway & I'm back to sweating earlier on in the workout! Well done for getting out there & taking the class. May just be your activity level between classes is automatically improving & therefore building up your stamina. As for the calories, folk seem to have varying opinions on the accuracy of the calories given.

Keep on keeping on & it's all for the greater good I'd say!

Ps: I've found kino tape invaluable for strapping up my weak knee during Zumba. Don't know if that's any use to you, but it was definitely the cause of my leg pain. Best best luck!

jelly_potato

You can try putting more energy and effort into the high-impact song numbers and/or try doing some strength exercises beforehand (lifting, push ups, squats etc.). I have worked hard on my body strength, stamina, and endurance over the past months so I no longer get the same kick out of Zumba alone. I usually do some strength exercises before the class, bike harder and faster to the gym and back, or just go nuts during the high-impact songs.

commsgirl2016

Thanks Vonny, Not sure I'm confident enough to pretend to be the instructor but might try doing that when doing it at home :-) Jelly, actually thinking of going to the gym for half hour before class this week.

leggup

Common experience. Once you get the routines down, you're not struggling to change directions/levels because you have it in mental/muscle memory what comes next. There are some classes that use small hand weights during the slower songs with controlled movement. You could ask the instructor if there's any opportunity for you to get a higher intensity workout doing that. Just bringing it to their attention may make them switch up which routines they do. Zumba instructors are supposed to have a set of routines they cycle through, but they can also add more variations within their set to challenge the regulars.

kenyonhaff

The first time you do a workout, it typically is harder and sweatier and so on. But you get better at it and you aren't a panting dripping ball of sweat. That's what should happen.

I think you're in the static mindset of "If I'm feeling sweaty and tired, I am successful at working out" so if you improve and aren't feeling like you've been hit by a truck, you might panic.

Also, a good workout program should NOT have you working at 90%-100% effort ALL THE TIME. Not even Olympic-caliber athletes train like that.