Description

Zumba is a Colombian dance fitness program created by dancer and choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez during the 1990s.
Zumba involves dance and aerobic elements. Zumba's choreography incorporates hip-hop, soca, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo, martial arts, and some Bollywood and belly dance moves. Squats and lunges are also included. There are 12 million people taking weekly Zumba classes in over 110,000 locations across more than 126 countries.

When participants see a Zumba class in action, they can't wait to give it a try. Zumba classes feature exotic rhythms set to high-energy Latin and international beats. Before participants know it, they're getting fit and their energy levels are soaring! There's no other fitness class like a Zumba. It's easy to do, effective and totally exhilarating, often building a deep-rooted community among returning students.

Zumba seems to be an optimal fitness choice, mixing cardio intervals with resistance training. Many experts believe that an interval/resistance combination maximizes caloric output, fat burning, and total body toning. Zumba mixes effective body sculpting movements with easy-to-follow, fun dance steps. People seem to forget about working out during a Zumba session, allowing them to exercise longer, and burn even more calories.

As for weight loss, a brisk hour walk might only burn 140 calories, which is the equivalent of one cookie, but Zumba can burn between 500 and 1,000 calories in the same amount of time.