Ways to make Zumba more challenging?

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  • kzooprincess
    kzooprincess Posts: 232 Member
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    Find an aqua Zumba class in your area. It's gotta be more difficult in the water!!
  • giggitygoo
    giggitygoo Posts: 1,978 Member
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    Yea, so something else...zumba is glorified dancing, its barely a workout

    PS: Dancing is HARD.

    Case and "pointe": Buff ballerinas

    misty5.jpg

    Misty Copeland
  • woodml1
    woodml1 Posts: 199 Member
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    GO TO A LIVE CLASS! And find an instructor who challenges and motivates you! Some Zumba instructors have a very dancy-style while others teach a very fitness oriented class.

    Do not go above 3 lbs with the toning sticks due to the added stress on your rotator cuff. The 'resistance' from Zumba toning comes from your opposing muscle group, not the actual weight. Remeber to keep you entire arm engaged and 'squeeezzzeee' as the instructors always say.

    Feel free to shoot any additional questions via PM. I'm a certified Group Fitness Instructor and I hold licenses in Zumba and Zumba Toning :)
  • ElleFerguson
    ElleFerguson Posts: 51 Member
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    I'm assuming that you're not going to the class but you're doing the DVD routine. I say put aside the DVD and go to a class. I'm sure there will be a major difference when you're moving across the floor keeping up with the instructor. My instructor is the greatest and changes it up on us so it's always a challenge and new.
  • Strobins05
    Strobins05 Posts: 716
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    By walking past the class and going to the rack to do heavy squats instead?

    ^^^LMBO, this was funny! But I love the Heavy Squats and my Zumba class!
  • vestarocks
    vestarocks Posts: 449 Member
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    By walking past the class and going to the rack to do heavy squats instead?

    Don't assume that people who do cardio don't do heavy strength training as well.
  • juicy_cat
    juicy_cat Posts: 145 Member
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    Zumba may well be glorified dancing....but hey I would be happy if I had a dancers body...

    That aside...I have lost consistently since I started on this site...at least one pound every 6 days and my main exercise is Zumba....Yes it gets easier but I just work harder, jump higher etc.....Love it!!
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    Do it on one leg
  • Denjo060
    Denjo060 Posts: 1,008
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    You can add some weights like the ones you put around your ankles or wrists or even some 2 or 4 lb dumb bells for some of the moves
  • Strobins05
    Strobins05 Posts: 716
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    Yea, so something else...zumba is glorified dancing, its barely a workout

    PS: Dancing is HARD.

    Case and "pointe": Buff ballerinas

    misty5.jpg

    Misty Copeland

    My daughter's Dance School idols her, she is amazing to watch!
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    Go to a class, I guarantee you will get pushed harder than the DVD!

    Maybe substitute one day of zumba with something new and challenging?
  • sexikc
    sexikc Posts: 153 Member
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    Scowls at the people who say Zumba is gorified dancing and barely a workout :angry: Zumba is (as is Dancing) a hell of a workout! hmph!
  • mlouise143
    mlouise143 Posts: 30 Member
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    RE: barely a workout...I have been taking Zumba classes with a GOOD instructor and still drip sweat and breath hard every time. We had a Master class the other day and a woman's HRM said 905 calories burned.
  • OfficiallySexyVal
    OfficiallySexyVal Posts: 492 Member
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    Try to up the intensity level by jumping higher lifting your legs higher and just at more emphasis to the moves....there is always a way to help improve the workout!
  • BamsieEkhaya
    BamsieEkhaya Posts: 657 Member
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    *
  • sexikc
    sexikc Posts: 153 Member
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    sorry to steal the thread !! but seeing as it's about zumba, how do I add zumba into my fitness diary ? (again sorry!!)

    I used another app (cardio trainer) to estimate my calorie burn and just added an exercise once you add it it is there for you to use all the time. If you dont have an app just google calories burned doing Zumba and you will find a tool that can estimate the calories. Then you can add it to your exercises.
  • bluegrasschica
    bluegrasschica Posts: 224
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    I would defintely look for a different instructor. My instructor adds new dances every week so she has tons of them. We always have different dances to do so every week is never the same. I've been doing zumba for almost 2 yrs now and l still get a good workout when l go!
  • leilamarchi
    leilamarchi Posts: 34
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    Yea, so something else...zumba is glorified dancing, its barely a workout

    PS: Dancing is HARD.

    Case and "pointe": Buff ballerinas

    misty5.jpg

    Misty Copeland

    THIS.

    "Dancing" by loosely jiggling around at a club while you're drunk and stupid - not really a workout.

    But actual dance is DEFINITELY an exercise. It's not strength training, no, but that doesn't make it "not a workout."

    One of the fittest people I know personally who doesn't work at a gym is my cousin, who has been dancing all her life and is very strong, very toned, very thin, and very healthy.

    Zumba is like the beginner's/layman's version of being a "fly" person - what do Madonna's backup dancers look like? Or any other live performance dancer? They're toned, they're strong - just like with any other exercise, Zumba (and any kind of dance) has proper forms. You don't do the form, you don't get the results.

    And it depends on the instructor you have. I've had an instructor (for one class only, lol, never again) who was lazy and sucked, an instructor who made me feel like I was trying out for the cheerleading squad with her moves, an instructor whose "dance" was more like kickboxing, and, my favorite, one who gets my booty shaking, my legs pumping squats, my arms moving like crazy, works in core strengthening movements, twists, plyometrics and a huge range of dynamic motion to make me work so hard that I feel like I might puke from the exertion, but I also feel great. I've been doing Zumba for about 3 years now, and constantly-changing routines mean that it's still a kick-*kitten* workout.

    But I agree that if you're drunk and falling over people in a club, all the while considering yourself a badass "dancer," then no, that kind of "dancing" is not a workout. You'll probably lose calories when you puke from all that alcohol though. ;p
  • duckychic
    duckychic Posts: 57 Member
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    What about using ankle weights while you Zumba?

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