Zumba Toning

So I realized I have an extra hour in the morning before I have to go to work (our weekly staff meeting was cancelled), and somehow that results in me staying up late.

But I'm watching the Zumba Toning DVD so I feel like I'm being productive. Oh yea, did I tell you I got certified to teach Zumba Toning? Yep, last Friday I used one of my extra vacation days before the end of the year to spend the day at a training.

It was really awesome and I'm excited to start teaching those classes soon. (I'm thinking I'll set up a class probably starting in February and pre-register the group.)

HOWEVER, the scary thing with this whole thing is the lack of training that the group as a whole has. They do encourage you to further get certified as a group exercise instructor and as a personal trainer...training I think would be beneficial to a lot of the people. (And I do plan to do the group instructor certifications in the future.) Granted, I have a lot to learn as well, but I feel like I have a more solid foundation of knowledge than a large part of that group. For example, when I first started getting more into weight lifting, I worked out with a group of 3 with our own personal trainer...who focused on our form and doing the exercises correctly. I have also been a group exercise junkie for years and am the kind of person who focuses on the details of doing things right and the benefits of each exercise.

As I watched other people in my training last year, I was bewildered by the lack of this knowledge that people had. Granted, maybe people are using this training as a first step and are planning on doing more before actually teaching. Maybe it's wrong to think the male teachers in the class should have lifting knowledge...but I couldn't believe the lack of form a couple displayed.

I can't help thinking how horrible it could be when they show that lack of form in their classes and then their students copy what they do. Granted Zumba Toning doesn't use more than 3 pound weights, but the form students pick up from you in this class will likely transfer over when they do heavier weights...weights that COULD cause injury.

One thing they focus on in the training is doing movements that could also be done with a 10 pound weight (i.e. not too fast, not flailing about, with clear transitions.) I think this is SMART and beneficial advice. At one point, we were working in groups creating choreography and this kid says something to the effect of "My Zumba Toning teachers obviously don't follow this slow and controlled training; they are all over and fast and crazy and FUN."

Uh, I may have shook my head at him. Those instructors (and likely this kid in the future) are sacrificing safety for what they deem to be more fun, a choice that could eventually be a determent to any number of students.

Anyways, just my thoughts about that aspect of the training. Overall the experience was AWESOME...I enjoyed it much more than my basic training, probably because I was much less familiar with Zumba Toning than I was with the basic Zumba (I had been doing it for like 3 years afterall.)