If you have trouble exercising and finding the motivation to engage in a regular fitness routine, we might just have the perfect solution for you and it comes in the form of Zumba. Zumba is a great form of aerobic exercise that trains your whole body from top to bottom, plus it is very fun too. It incorporates various exercises along with Latin inspired dancing to provide you with a very motivational and challenging workout routine.
The benefits of Zumba are very vast and include a variety of things such as better cardiovascular health, increased muscle strength, better coordination, socialization, and much more, all things which we will talk about below. If you have never before considered doing Zumba, after you read about all of the benefits it has in store for you, you might just change your mind.
Benefit #1: Burn That Belly Fat Away
One of our very favorite benefits that come along with practicing Zumba on a regular basis is that it can go a very long way in helping you burn calories and lose a lot of weight in the long run. Zumba is great for maximizing fat burning thanks to the fact that it regularly changes its pace and rhythm, meaning that your body has to adjust to those changes, and in order to do so it is going to expend a whole lot of energy.
Of course, that energy comes from the calories in your body as well as your body’s fat reserves. An average person can burn anywhere from 600 to 1,000 calories in one single hour long Zumba class. To put that in perspective, 1,000 calories is about half of the recommended calorie intake for a woman every single day, and a little less than half of a male’s recommended daily calorie intake.
Of course burning 1,000 calories is great and will go a long way in helping you maintain a healthy weight level. However, if your body does not have enough calories at its disposal to create that energy needed to Zumba, it is going to take that energy from your fat reserves, thus contributing directly to weight loss. If you want to get rid of those love handles, thunder thighs, or that pot belly, Zumba is definitely a good choice to go with.
There is also the fact that aerobic cardiovascular exercise such as Zumba does a great job at increasing your metabolic rate as well as your exercise post oxygen consumption. In other words, even after you stop dancercising your body will continue to burn an increased number of calories thanks to a revved up metabolism, thus also directly contributing to weight loss and that fantastic beach body that you dream of when you look in the mirror.
Benefit #2: It Teaches You To Dance
Perhaps one of our very favorite benefits that you can get from engaging in regular Zumba classes, or even just from doing a Zumba routine at home, is that it teaches you how to dance. No, it is not strictly dancing because it does involve some modifications to account for the need to exercise, but many of the motions are still the same. There is also the fact that Zumba does involve working with the rhythm of the music to dancercise, therefore it does help to teach you how to step and move to a beat or rhythm.
Zumba is definitely a very good way to get your daily exercise requirements in while also training your brain to follow a certain musical pattern. People around the world love to dance and there is no better time to do so than when you are on a date. Doing some Zumba a few times a week might just be all of the dance training you need to blow your next date off of their feet when you hit the dance floor together!
Benefit #3: Zumba Tones Your Whole Body
Another big benefit that you can reap from engaging in some regular Zumba dancercising is that it helps tone your whole body from top to bottom. No, while it is not quite as good in terms of muscle building as something like weight lifting, it does engage your whole body and virtually every muscle group in order to fine tune them.
Zumba involves a lot of different arm movements which strengthen the muscles in your arms, shoulders, chest, and upper back. Moreover, Zumba also involves engaging your core to build stronger abdominal, oblique, and lower back muscles. On a side note, having a stronger core is important for maintaining a healthy upright posture.
Of course, this is a type of dancing so you will also be using your legs a lot and that works to train your calves, glutes, hamstrings, and all of those other muscles in your legs with ridiculously long names. While Zumba is not the best way to get Arnold Schwarzenegger like muscles, it is a good way to tone them and increase their strength by quite a bit.
Benefit #4: Increasing Flexibility
The next thing about Zumba that is very beneficial for your body is that it helps to keep you flexible and maintain a good range of motion. Zumba involves a ton of different movements, postures, and dance positions, all of which force you to move your limbs and your body in general in ways that you would not otherwise move them.
This keeps your joints limber to maintain a decent range of motion and keeps your flexibility as high as can be. Of course being limber and flexible is good for a number of reasons including a reduction in muscle and joint injuries, it makes your everyday life easier, and it makes you better in bed too, something that your lover will definitely appreciate.
Benefit #5: Zumba Can Be Done At Home
Another big benefit that you can get from Zumba is that you can do it from the comfort of your very own home. It doesn’t take much space to engage in Zumba dancercise. In fact, as long as you have something like a 5 by 5 foot space available in your home, you should be just fine because most of it involves movements on one single spot. It’s convenient because it is a space saving type of exercise that does not require a lot of room, nor does it require a bunch of expensive equipment.
There is also the fact that you don’t have to go anywhere to do Zumba, which is in large part thanks to there being countless Zumba lessons, books, and DVDs out there for purchase. It can be really hard to get motivated to exercise when you have to first get in the car and go to the gym or the dance studio, but thanks to the at home capabilities of Zumba, finding the time and motivation to dancercise has never been easier.
You can literally get out of bed in the morning, pop your favorite Zumba DVD into the TV, and get exercising, all without having to ever leave your home. On a side note, we also really like the fact that Zumba has a lot of variety, with there being so many different routines and levels of difficulty for different fitness levels, it is pretty hard not to find a Zumba workout that will do for you.
Benefit #6: Zumba Is A Great Form Of Cardiovascular Aerobic Exercise
If you didn’t already know, Zumba is a fairly high-paced form of exercise, at least if you take intermediate or expert classes, but even the beginner classes can have you working up quite a sweat too. The high-paced nature of this form of exercise gets you breathing heavy and your heart pounding hard.
Of course, engaging in aerobic cardiovascular exercise like this is fairly important for both your short term and long term health. Exercising your heart and lungs is very important because a healthy cardiovascular system leads to an overall healthier you.
Cardiovascular exercise is great for many different reasons including that it helps lower your resting heart rate so your heart does not have to work as hard on a regular basis, it helps lower your blood pressure which also reduces the stress your heart goes through, and it reduces the chances of suffering from heart or arterial diseases which can end up being fatal.
Other things like a higher metabolism of blood sugars, a reduced chance of heart attacks and strokes, and increased physical capacity are also things which you gain from having a healthy heart, something that you can easily accomplish through some regular Zumba dancercising.
On a side note, this form of exercise is also great for your lungs because it trains them to work more efficiently. Just like other muscles in your body, your lungs can be trained to be more efficient through simple repetition. Zumba makes you breathe hard and this trains your lungs to be able to absorb more oxygen over time and deliver that oxygen to your organs and muscles. This means that your organs can work more efficiently and your muscles can work harder for longer thanks to an increased nutrient supply.
Of course, in the long run, a more efficient heart and more efficient lungs lead to you having better endurance and better physical output. The more oxygen and blood your muscles get, the longer and harder they can work for before getting tired, thus proving quite valuable for all forms of exercise, sports, and your daily life in general.
Benefit #7: Zumba Is For Everybody
Yet another big benefit of Zumba is that virtually anyone can do it. Zumba is of course a mix of dancing and exercise, which right off the bat means that there is a certain level of fun involved, because after all, who doesn’t like dancing?
Anyway, there are a ton of different Zumba DVDs as well as classes that you can follow, and many are designed for specific fitness levels and/or age groups. There are Zumba classes for beginners who have no idea how to dance, have no idea what Zumba is about, and have a minimal fitness level. On the other hand, there are also very advanced Zumba classes and DVDs for people who already know many of the dance moves and have quite a high fitness level.
This is great because the versatility of Zumba means that men and women of all ages can practice it without question. It is a very fun type of exercise that everyone can benefit from, unlike many other forms of exercise that are very specific in terms of an age group or fitness level.
Benefit #8: It Can Help Improve Coordination
Yet another benefit that Zumba brings to the table is that it can help increase your coordination and motor skills. Zumba is a type of exercise that incorporates dancing, thus you have to be able to coordinate all of the various parts of your body to execute the different dancercise moves. Just like your lungs, your heart, your bones, and your bodily muscles, your coordination can be trained through repetition.
The more you practice your coordination through something like Zumba the better it will get over time. Coordination is a very important thing to have, especially when we get older and are at risk of things like disastrous slips and falls. A well-coordinated person is someone that can stay upright more easily and thus reduce the chances of suffering from accident related injuries.
Benefit #9: Zumba Can Be A Social Activity
The next benefit of Zumba that is definitely worth mentioning is that it can be a very social activity. No, this is not so true if you use Zumba DVDs and practice it in your own home, but even then, you could always create some sort of Zumba group that meets a few times per week at your home.
Zumba can however be very social if you take classes at your local gym or dance studio. This is great for people who work a lot, have kids and don’t get out much, or just spend a lot of time at home in general. Getting out of the house and meeting new people is very important, both for your social life and your mental health.
The bottom line is that humans were not built to be alone and in essence, we are just like cows or other herd animals in the sense that we do the best when we have a group to socialize with and back us up when things get tough.
Life is a lot easier when we have friends to help us out in tough times and even just having people to talk with is good for our mental health. A weekly Zumba class is a fantastic way to get out there, meet new people, and make some great lifelong friends that you can share your deepest secrets with.
Benefit #10: Zumba Is Inexpensive To Practice
The next benefit that comes along with Zumba is that unlike many other forms of exercise and sports, this is something that is relatively inexpensive. For example, a good pair of Zumba dancing shoes combined with an instructional DVD should not cost you much more than 100 dollars, which when compared to things like a gym membership or weight lifting equipment is very cheap. If you don’t have too much money to spare, Zumba is definitely a good option for you. Even if you do sign up for a class, it still should not cost you nearly as much as a gym membership or other regular exercise equipment.
Benefit #11: Zumba Is Fun
Something about Zumba that should definitely not be ignored is that it is fun. All too many forms of exercise force us to do something which is really not all that enjoyable, something that ends up being a problem in terms of motivation. Exercise is important and that is just a general fact, and the problem with exercise all too often is that it just is not fun, but that is not necessarily so with Zumba. Zumba is a great way to exercise because it incorporates dancing, something which everyone can get behind without a doubt. It is much easier to find the motivation to exercise when you are having fun, and Zumba solves this motivation problem without a doubt.
Benefit #12: Confidence & Mood Boosting Capabilities
The final thing that we want to talk about in terms of the benefits of Zumba is that it has the ability to boost your mood. Simply put, this is because things like sadness, anxiety, stress and depression can all be caused by a lack of happiness inducing chemicals in your brain, that or because of a neurochemical imbalance.
Well, regular exercise of any kind forces the neurotransmitters in your brain to release certain chemicals which combat the effects of all of those nasty mental conditions. When you exercise your brain releases endorphins such as serotonin which produce sensations of joy, relaxation, and happiness, all things which are necessary to contradict the effects of anxiety, depression, and stress.
In essence, Zumba helps to make you a happier and more stress free person. There is also the simple fact that you get to meet new people, make new friends, and get your body looking the way you want it to look, all things that will go a long way in improving your confidence and your overall mood.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many different benefits of Zumba that you can reap and they are all very important for your overall health. The benefits of Zumba will make you a happier, stronger, and more coordinated person and that is nothing to frown down upon. You should definitely give Zumba a try because we think that you will really like it.
If you have any questions or comments about it, please feel free to leave us a note and we will get back to you ASAP!