Zumba Fitness

I want to write little things about health and fitness on here once and a while. Cause it's important to me. :) So here's the first installment!

Found these old pics. She loves "working out" too. This is why I go to the gym. I get nothing accomplished if I try to exercise at home! I have a little girl who wants to exercise with (or on) Mommy. :)

I really enjoy staying fit and being healthy. I don't especially LOVE working out. But I like the results---so I do it. Ha! I would love to go to the gym and hop on an elliptical for 30 min. and call it a day. BUT, there's this little secret about weight loss and being toned. Ready? *Whispers* Doing 30 min. of cardio a few times a week is not gonna do much for ya. *Gasp!* You have to do things that are hard and not so fun. Like lifting weights. And squats (sticks tongue out in disgust). This builds muscle which burns fat well after your workout is done. It gets results. Cardio is important....don't get me wrong. If you strength train the right way you'll keep your heart rate up. It's really hard for me to motivate myself when I'm doing a series of exercises that aren't fun for me. So I try to get in my cardio and build muscle in other ways. My favorite??

ZUMBA! Love it.

It's a super fun hour of dance. I never thought I would EVER be into dancing. Me= a pretty bad dancer. :) But I was surprised at how easy and fun it is! Ok, yes. For the first few weeks you will look ridiculous.
Like this:

Found this on Pinterest. It made me smile.

I still might look like this some of the time. Haha!
An hour of Zumba will wear you out (burns up to 800 calories/hour!) and tone your muscles. The peer pressure keeps you going and the hour files by. You occasionally have to do squats (yuck). But they don't seem as bad when everyone else is doing them too. I highly recommend taking a class!

BUT....I can't always do Zumba. And I still have a few baby pounds left. So I am on a quest to find other exciting workouts. I'm going to try a spinning class next week. Yes, spinning. Like when you get on a super fast spin bike for an hour and do crazy things. I'm terrified. But anything is better than trying to motivate myself. SO, wish me luck! I will write a little segment on spinning (the good, the bad, the ugly) in a few weeks. Stay tuned.