Fitness Mantra: Make the most of your zumba workout

Let loose: Zumba is all about having fun, and joining the party, which is hard to do if you’re stiff or self-conscious. The best way to burn more calories in class is to let go, have fun, and try not to think too much. People who feel inhibited or self-conscious about dancing during Zumba usually get less of a workout, so try to cast aside thoughts about what you look like or what other people think of you, and just dance! Letting yourself go will let the calories go!

Don’t forget to move your arms: Perhaps you were told in your first class by a helpful instructor ‘just concentrate on the legs’. To burn more calories, you need to advance to moving your entire body energetically. To feel the benefit, you can try doing a simple merengue step (of which YouTube has a lot of videos) with your arms loosely hanging next to your hips, then compare it to doing the same step with your arms engaged and fully extended at shoulder height. Now try lifting your hands above your head while dancing, and soon you’ll start to feel the burn in your arms’ muscles.

Do the high-impact version of the moves: Zumba class is essentially an interval workout, alternating between high and low-intensity dance moves. High-impact dance moves are those that get both your feet of the ground, like jumping, hopping or skipping. They elevate your heart rate, boost cardio endurance and send your body into fat-burning mode. Most instructors provide several alternatives within a routine, encouraging people to choose the level of intensity that’s right for their body. To burn the most calories you need to be doing the advanced, high-energy high-impact version. If your knees are opposed to jumps, at least perform the low-impact variation as energetically as you can.

Don’t let your body adjust:  One challenge that comes with any workout programme is the fact that your body can adjust. Being diligent with Zumba means you get more efficient at doing the dance moves, thus you may be burning fewer and fewer calories over time.  To keep challenging your body you need to introduce some new elements to your Zumba workout (like trying different instructors/classes). So even if you love your regular Zumba class, you should consider keeping your body guessing with a different flavor of Zumba. You can try Step Zumba, a new take on the traditional step aerobics  classes, where your legs’ muscles are further challenged by stepping on an aerobic  step bench.