Two Left Feet

The latest fitness trend has arrived in Germany, well, when I say the 'latest' it's probably quite old hat in America & Britain, you've probably moved onto something newer by now, but here, in slow 'n steady Deutschland, Zumba is the new big thing in calorie burning.

At my local gym, where I go to earn my cake and wine, we currently have a week dedicated to Zumba, lots of extra classes laid on for us all to try out before they slot them into the normal timetable. We've had to sign up for the sessions which gave the impression that numbers would be limited - except that when the numbered slots were all filled in people continued to add their names to the bottom, consequently the class I went to today was jam packed, fling your arm accidentally in the wrong direction, meet someone coming the other way and you could take that person's eye out.

Zumba is like a dance aerobics class with salsa type moves, lots of ass wiggling, tummy gyrating and toe tapping, you certainly work up a sweat - supposedly an hour long class can burn up to 1000 calories, although this would require you to put the effort in, unlike the girl (she was definitely a girl, she was there with her mom & had chosen to wear her badminton skirt - to a gym class? Clearly not her usual habitat) in front of me who barely broke into a sweat, but then she wasn't working at it, the rest of us were dripping with exertion after 60 minutes, the instructor managed to make his stage area resemble a pool, seriously sweaty!

My natural location at a class is at the back, I like to hide out and be inconspicuous, this works fine in yoga as the class is rarely too full and so the instructor can be seen up on his stage even from the back. In a packed Zumba class it was a different matter though. Everyone was shuffling around trying to see what our feet were suppossed to be doing and of course the people at the front are the people who least need to have a perfect view as they're the ones who've done it before, know all the moves and want to show off their proficiency to the teacher, good luck to them, I think he was more interested in the two men who had the nerve to try out the class.

Despite the overcrowding the class was great fun, kind of like going to a disco and dancing your feet off solidly for an hour - while wearing sensible shoes.

I shall have to hope that when they timetabe Zumba it fits in with my (everso hectic) schedule, it'll make a fun change from the treadmill and the cross trainer!