Basic Zumba steps
While there are countless Zumba moves, Doug and Joan Jones, owners of The Studio Fitness in Vandalia, and their instructors picked five of their favorite steps and told us how to perform them.
Basic merengue march: March in place with knees turned inward slightly. Your hips will move in time naturally, side to side. “This move make everyone feel successful while getting a great workout,” Doug said.
Reggaeton crunch: Start move with legs together, arms should be raised in front of your chest with a bend at the elbows. With right foot in place, lift your left knee up toward your midsection while contracting your abdominals. While leg is lifted toward the belly button, let your arms meet down and under your knee. Add direction for more fun. “Everyone likes a good ab workout, right? And to reggaeton music, standing abs have never been so fun,” Doug said.
Cumbia machete step: “This is a fun move that engages every muscle in the body for an all over body workout,” Joan said. Place feet together. With your right leg step front, center, back, center and keep repeating this pattern as your left foot stays in pace, letting hips flow naturally. When you are in the forward step let your right hand make a motion downward as if you are chopping sugar cane. Your left hand is placed on your hip. You alternate legs and arms to breaks in music.
Cuban salsa: “I love the salsa first and foremost because of the music,” said Zumba instructor Marianne Pitts. She said the side-to-side Salsa step is great for toning the lower body muscles, especially the calves. It’s also good for strengthening the ankles. Start with feet together, with arms positioned at waist. Step out to your left, shifting your weight to your right leg. Return to starting position and begin to step out to the right letting your weight now shift to the right, letting arms and hips move naturally.
Basic cumbia step: One foot steps front and back while the other foot stays in place with a slight pulse.
There is a whole lot of shaking, shimmying and hollering going on at The Studio Fitness in Vandalia, and the gleeful commotion comes from students in a Friday morning class of Zumba, a Latin-inspired dance phenomenon that has gone worldwide and is now marking its 10th anniversary.
Imagine a sultry nightclub atmosphere without the drinking, the smoking or the awkward pickup lines. More than 12 million devotees attend weekly Zumba classes across 125 countries in 110,000 locations. Classes are found in gyms, churches, fitness centers, schools or anywhere with a good floor on which to dance.
Doug and Joan Jones, owners of The Studio Fitness, have been instrumental in the program’s success in Ohio, and, as Zumba education specialists, they have trained more than 3,000 Zumba instructors. The couple has appeared in two Zumba infomercials and their story is told in “Zumba: Ditch the Workout, Join the Party! The Zumba Weight Loss Program,” by Zumba creator Alberto “Beto” Perez and Maggie Greenwood-Robinson.
Geographically, it was an unlikely alliance as Perez, a celebrity fitness trainer and choreographer who has worked with stars such as Shakira, first developed Zumba in his hometown of Cali, Colombia. In 1999, Perez brought his new dance-fitness style to Miami and in 2001 met entrepreneurs Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion. The men created a business, calling it Zumba Fitness LLC, trademarked the word Zumba and set a goal to expand the dynamic exercise class to the masses. First came the DVDs, then the infomercial, then came the demand for Zumba classes and Zumba instructors.
The vibrant moves and music of Zumba transcended international borders and made their way into the heartland.
As Joan recalls, she was watching TV one wintry night in Ohio, and was intrigued by an infomercial for Zumba. A former personal trainer, she ordered the DVDs and taught herself the Zumba steps and routines. She invited some friends to do the Zumba DVDs with her, and eventually the group moved to the local YMCA.
Featuring a blend of contagious choreography set to upbeat international rhythms, Zumba classes claim to provide an effective total body workout that tones and sculpts while burning fat.
“Zumba engages the big power muscles in the legs, your core and your upper body and everything in between. It is great for the mind and spirit, too,” Joan said. Participants can burn 500 to 700 calories in a class.
Joan enlisted her husband, Doug, a body builder and a Federal Express driver at the time, to teach the growing Zumba following at the Y.
Doug, who admitted he didn’t know the difference between a merengue and a salsa, was quickly enamored with the program, to the point that he had the Zumba logo tattooed on his shoulder and now leads 12 classes a week.
“The music gets you going and keeps you going,” he said, adding Perez’s energetic choreography, which can be modified for all fitness levels, is intoxicating as well.
Eventually, the couple opened the 1,500-square-foot studio, which became one of the first dedicated to Zumba, and made fitness their full-time jobs. The facility also offers other classes, including hip-hop cardio and pole fitness, a weight room and a juice and coffee bar.
The Friday morning crowd was fired up as Doug instructed. “I fell in love with Zumba. It changes, and it’s never the same. Every class is fresh and new,” Marianne Pitts said as she took a break between songs.
Frustrated with feeling bored doing aerobics and walking, Pitts, a teacher at Mary Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Dayton, started taking Zumba classes in November 2007 at the Jones’ studio.
A year later, Pitts became a Zumba instructor.
“I dropped three pant sizes, and that was with no dieting,” recalled Pitts, who said she still keeps her “big pants” to show her Zumba students. “I call them my testimony pants.”
She praised Zumba as an exercise program suitable for any age group. “I see people apprehensive when they walk through the door,” she said. Then they start dancing and realize, “ ‘Wow, I didn’t realize I could do that,’ ” she said.
Students appreciate the variety of Zumba, which includes more than 2,000 steps. “It isn’t routine or monotonous,” said Deb Pulos, 49, of Clayton. “I went down two pants sizes, and I wasn’t even trying to lose weight. I am more fit now than I was at 30 or 35.”
Chris Mesker, a 51-year-old massage therapist in Vandalia, echoed that sentiment. “I feel like I am in the best shape of my life. It’s the most fun form of exercise.”
Sharon Hultberg, 35, of Vandalia, started Zumba two months ago. When she started a photography business in 2007, she gained 70 pounds. “I do five classes a week, and it’s kicking my butt,” she said with a smile. But she said it has been worth it: She has already lost 17 pounds.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0671 or rmcmacken@
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