Does Zumba really burn 600 calories per hour?

Depends on the weight of the person I guess. Best way to tell is wear a Polar Heart Rate Monitor watch. It will tell you exactly how many cals burned and time your work out lasted. Ave heart rate, max heart rate, fitness burn minutes and fat burn minutes.
I love my Polar FT7! It is waterproof and I use it in the pool also for water workout classes. At my gym they said the Water in Motion class would burn 500 cals in one hour. When I wore my Polar FT7 HRM it was more like 300 cals for me!
Pam

It depends on your weight, the teacher, and how hard you dance! On Tuesdays I have a wild teacher, and I am extremely enthusiastic, and my HRM has me burning between 550-650 per class. My heart rate is close to max the whole time and by the end of class I feel like I'm going to drop over dead. It's awesome! Another teacher is slower and less fun, and I burn 350-450 in that class. I weigh 145.

If you don't want to get a heart rate monitor, you could guess based on exertion. Are you breathing as heavy as when you sprint? you might be burning 600. Breathing like a brisk walk? Probably more like 300. If it feels like 300, it probably is. If you burn more, it will be a bonus!

Absolutely! It depends on you and your instructor. I sometimes wear a heart rate monitor when I want to know exactly how much I am burning. If I am in a class with a high energy instructor, and I keep up with the high energy pace, I will burn between 500-600 calories. Last year I did a Zumba-thon (hour and a half) and I burned 1000 calories! (that was awesome to see on the HRM) :happy:

It's going to vary widely for each participant. I have taught Zumba for 2.5 years now, and I typically average 650-750 calories for a 60 minute class according to my Polar HRM. (5'6" and 180 lbs) I have also taught Zumba Gold classes for active older adults, and I still burned 500-550 calories for a class. It's all going to depend on each person's participation. They have to get those arms up, get the hips moving, squat lower, jump higher.... I see people in my class working crazy hard, red-faced and dripping sweat, and they have burned up to 1000 calories according to their HRM. I have other people in my class that are barely moving, not sweating, and then complain that it isn't a good calorie burn.

I also teach Aqua Zumba, and that is a lower calorie burn, but that is because it is more resistance training than regular Zumba.

I recently started doing Zumba, and I wondered the same thing myself. I believe it can burn upwards of 600, depending on how much you're pushing it. Some of those dances are brutal!

I have done Zumba for years and consistently could burn upwards of 600 calories in a high energy class based on my HRM. Secret is to keep full range of motion with both arms and legs and keep moving all the time. Amounts may vary based on your size but either way, it is a fun workout.

It depends on the intensity and your weight makes a difference too. I've burned 600 in an hour several times (although not by Zumba, but any high intensity cardio should do the same thing). I would recommend a heart rate monitor. I have a Polar FT7 so I can see what I burned.

With my HRM I usually am between 500-600 an hour.

I weigh 162 lbs and I do Zumba 4x a week. I usually clock anywhere from 325 to 475 calories.

Some teachers are more intense then others and I also think it depends on the exertion you're putting in, as well as how long you've been doing it.

Like everyone else has said, depends on your weight and effort.
I am currently doing Zumba Core a personalized class for approximately 30min, and I burn easily 280-320 calories. Just recently I added hand/wrist weights and I'm up burning about 360calories doing the same class.

Zumba is fun but not just about bouncing around, I feel like if you pay attention to many of the moves are squats, lunges, jumps, and other exercises, so if you think about that and putting good effort you burn more calories.