Zumba: The Fun Way to Lose Weight Now
Zumba is becoming more and more popular thanks to its two great virtues: you have fun while you dance and it helps you lose weight. Thanks to this, it’s become many people’s first option when they didn’t dare go to the gym to lose weight.
Find out in this article what Zumba is and why it’s so beneficial to your overall health. In addition, we’ll share some tips to get the most out of your Zumba session. Ready? Let’s go!
Why Is Important to Lose Weight in a Fun Way?
Unfortunately, there are people who are obsessed with losing weight. The cause may be some issue in your organism making it hard to lose weight or a lack of consistency in terms of good eating and sports habits. However, this problem can make people very frustrated, and can even lead to anxiety and depression.
It’s fundamental to change the way you understand your body. You must maintain a balanced weight for your health and in order to feel good about yourself. However, this shouldn’t cause daily anguish and guilt, but rather see it as one more challenge in your life.
To achieve this permanently, you need to adopt a healthy relationship with food and enjoy physical activity. For this, you can discover the new activities that gyms offer nowadays. You’ll definitely find something that you enjoy. Once you start, you’ll want to keep going back.
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What’s Zumba?
Zumba is a physical activity –that originated in Colombia– that’s been around for almost 30 years. However, it’s become very popular in the last decade. Most gyms offer this or something similar as Zumba is registered by its creator, Alberto Pérez.
Zumba is based on different Latin American rhythms, like bachata, reggaetón, salsa, merengue, cumbia and samba. These dances combine with aerobic routines to effectively support weight loss.
When practicing Zumba, your body burns a lot of calories while toning muscles and gaining flexibility. In addition, these dances help you learn Latin rhythms in a fun and accessible way for everyone, even children. Nowadays, there are also variations to practice on your feet, in the water, in a wheelchair, and more.
What’s a Zumba Session Like and How Long Does It Last?
A Zumba session lasts between 50 or 60 minutes. At the beginning and end, there’s a brief sequence of stretches to warm and relax muscles and prevent injuries. Additionally, they’re great to activate or relax your metabolism because the dance can get intense.
The songs let you make different types of sequences that you repeat, making it easy to follow. In this sense, Latin music helps with muscle memory. This is because moves are associated with the different verses. In addition, as the steps are easy, you’re guaranteed to have fun.
Check out: Why Dance Therapy Is So Good for You
How to Lose More Weight with Zumba Sessions
To increase energy expenditure and lose weight more easily during Zumba sessions, we recommend the following tips:
- Drink water before, during and after the session. In addition to helping with weight loss, it also prevents dehydration.
- Don’t eat right before a Zumba session. Otherwise, you might have indigestion because of the high intensity exercise. However, you can eat something small and nutritious up to an hour before.
- Try to eat some protein before half an hour passes after the session. This way, you’ll speed up recovery and tone your muscles more.
- If you go to Zumba in the afternoon you should ideally eat vegetables (salad, vegetable soup, gazpacho, sautéed vegetables, etc.) and a protein (lean meat, fish, vegetables, fresh cheese.) However, we recommend you eat carbohydrates throughout the day if your goal is to lose weight.
- Zumba combines aerobic exercises and anaerobic ones. That is, in addition to intense exercise that makes you sweat, don’t forget to strengthen your muscles. The more muscle you have, the more you will speed up your metabolism. Therefore, the more calories you will burn. In addition, you will tone your body, and your overall health will thank you.
Final Comments
In conclusion, a balanced diet and moderate exercises like Zumba will help you lose weight. In addition, you will gain in well-being and mental health. Of course, this process is more enjoyable if you have fun, so don’t worry about being perfect, worry about enjoying what you do when you do it. However, we always recommend that you consult a specialist in case you want to keep track of your progress.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Chavarrias, M., J. Carlos Vivas, and Jorge Pérez Gómez. “Beneficios para la salud de zumba: Una revisión sistemática.” Journal of Sport and Health Research 10.3 (2018): 327-338.
- Lorente, Celia. “Adictos al Zumba.” Tiempo 1646 (2014): 69-71.
- Romero-Barquero, Cecilia Enith. “Al compás de las clases de baile: una experiencia dentro del aula.” Educación 39.1 (2015).
