While some people are ready to spend hours in a gym and others enjoy running kilometres on a daily basis, some people would like to participate in active workouts but they are not attracted by the traditional offer of fitness centres. Such people can try one of the forms of workouts combining exercises with simple dancing movements which are making the entire training process particularly pleasant and also beneficial for your body. One of the most dynamic options you can find is zumba which has become quite popular nowadays. If you want to know more about zumba workouts, you will find everything you need to know in this article.
What is zumba?
First of all, let’s understand better what zumba exactly is. As you can imagine, this fitness programme is based on dancing movements. Here, you will be able to learn beautiful and energetic movements of hip-hop, flamenco, salsa, rumba, belly dance and many other kinds of dances. Of course, the entire group workout is filled with the sounds of music. At the same time, zumba also includes a lot of exercises from aerobic. Thus, as you can see, zumba workouts are pretty diverse which means you will not get bored.
Many zumba coaches actually call this type of a workout a dancing party. Needless to say, it is a perfect way not only to improve your physical condition but also let the stuck energy of your body out at the end of the day or boost the energy level in the morning. Anyway, this will be great for your mental well-being as well.
Can you lose weight with zumba?
Certainly, many people decide to participate in workouts for the sake of losing weight. This gives us the second question. Is it possible to lose weight with zumba?
Zumba can be used as a fitness programme for losing weight. In its case you will perfume dancing exercises of high and low intensity in turns. A particular plan of exercises will give you a chance to go through the entire workout without making a single break. This makes zumba quite effective.
According to an average estimation, you can burn around 369 kcal during a zumba session. This is quite a lot comparing to other types of workouts whereas zumba is not thus tiresome and exhausting as other fitness programmes. Actually, regular zumba workouts will let you lose weight even if you do not decrease the amount of calories in your daily intake.
What are the benefits of zumba workouts?
As you have just learnt, zumba can be used successfully for weight loss. At the same time, this is a great way to improve your overall physical condition.
For instance, participation in such a dancing workout, you will be able to strengthen your cardio-vascular system and generally make your body more resistant to physical exhaustion.
Undeniably, a huge benefit of such workouts is the fact it can strengthen the muscles of your body. Many movements typical for zumba are involving different groups of muscles. Most of the exercises used in zumba are great for legs, tights and even ABS. The only exception is that these movements are not particularly efficient for strengthening arms and back, however, you can always add light dumbbells into your workout in order to make it even more intense.
Do not forget that zumba is also a great way for improving stretching.
One of the great features of zumba is that all of these benefits can be received by participating in very enjoyable workouts which will make you sweat and breath a lot and, at the same time, will not drain you out. Undeniably, this only increases the probability that you will be interested in participating in zumba classes on a regular basis.
Should you choose a zumba fitness programme if you do not know how to dance?
Some people resign from taking zumba classes as they are too much concerned about a lack of dancing skills. This is absolutely unnecessary.
The dancing movements used in zumba are very basic and can be performed by people who have never taken any dancing classes. In addition to it, all of these movements are repeated many times so you will have a time to practise them and remember. Remember that zumba is a dancing party and not a class of a classical dance. All you need to do is moving actively.
Are there any restrictions for zumba classes?
Even though the majority of people can take part in zumba classes, there are some groups of people who should be careful about picking this fitness programme.
In the majority of the cases, the restrictions are related to a quite dynamic and intensive path of zumba classes. For that reason, it is not particularly recommended for pregnant women and people with medical conditions of joints and spinal cord. People with diabetes should also be attentive since an intensive workout can cause a radical drop in the level of sugar.
Just like in the case of all other types of fitness programmes including intensive cardio practice, people with cardio-vascular conditions should contact their doctors before starting zumba workouts.