My Zumba Story

As a child, I was diagnosed with asthma. Living in a small town, the healthcare wasn’t the greatest. I repeatedly heard that I should take it easy with exercise. Stick to swimming or water aerobics as the humidity would help keep my airways open. I struggled during the winters, getting respiratory infections regularly. I only remember one of them being very serious, but still.

P.E. in school was always a nightmare for me. I struggled with running the mile when it was required. My fourth-grade teacher was incredibly unsympathetic. She had a rule that if we were running laps and someone “lapped” you (passed you and ended up one or more laps ahead of you), you were required to run an extra lap. I don’t know if I ever finished as many laps as I was assigned. In middle school, I had a teacher accuse me of faking it to get out of doing things I didn’t want to do. She said I exaggerated things. In high school I was kicked out of the all-girls personal fitness class because I had to stop and use my inhaler while running laps. I was told fitness classes would be too much for me.

With experiences like these I was never really interested in exercise. On and off throughout my college years and my twenties I would attend water aerobics classes. At the gym I would sometimes use the weight machines, but I never really stuck with anything. In my mid-twenties I discovered yoga and Pilates. And I fell in love. I was getting a great workout, but it wasn’t aggravating my asthma. I was going to the gym on a regular basis. For the first time in my life I felt like I was making healthy choices.

And then I had a baby. While I was pregnant, I had difficulty with yoga, but I kept walking every day. But after my daughter was born, I was sick for a long time. And then we moved. It took awhile to settle in and get back to the gym. I started attending yoga classes again. And occasionally water aerobics. But other than that, I never ventured into other forms of exercise.

Then in 2012, I had some health issues. I had lost a lot of stamina and was tired a lot of the time. I would come home from work and have to take a nap and then still fall asleep before 10 pm. I wasn’t getting any exercise and I knew I needed to do that. There was a Curves gym on my way home from work. If you’re not familiar, Curves was a women-only facility with a 30-minute resistance-based circuit workout. I figured I could do that. So I joined. After my first few classes (part of the introduction process), there was a Zumba class about to happen. I didn’t really know anything about Zumba but I was pretty sure it wasn’t for me. But all the ladies in there waiting for class were pretty insistent that it was a great time. And the first class was free so I didn’t really have a reason not to.

When the instructor started her introductory speech, I was terrified. It seemed like there were a lot of instructions. Watch your heart rate, drink water. Watch your movements and modify them as you need to. And after all that – remember to have fun. Wow, this seems really complicated. But then the music started. And, I was about 20 years younger than most people in the room (except the instructor). All the ladies were impressed with my “moves.” I was exhausted but I felt great.

Now, Zumba in the Circuit is a little bit different. The traditional Curves format is 30 seconds on a resistance machine and then 30 seconds on a recovery station, where you pretty much just march or jog in place. When you throw Zumba in, you spend 60 seconds on the resistance machines and then 60 seconds dancing. The entire workout is still only 30 minutes long. And that first class was just about more than I could handle. But the after-class feeling kept me coming back for more.

Soon, Zumba at Curves was something I couldn’t miss. It was something I looked forward to a couple of times each week. And it was getting easier. And I was making friends.

The instructor also taught regular Zumba classes (classes that are just dancing) at the YMCA where I still had a membership. After about a year of classes at Curves, I finally got up the courage to take her class. 45 minutes of dancing. I was pretty sure I would ok.

Boy was I wrong. After about the third song, I was struggling. I made it, though! I didn’t do much else the rest of that day, but I had so much fun and I was so proud of myself that I kept going back. After a few weeks, I got brave enough to go to another instructor’s class. And then I went to one of the hour-long classes. And I kept going. Soon, I was going 4-5 times per week.

I made great friends. I looked forward to the chatting before and after class almost as much as the class. I made friends with the instructors. I gained confidence while losing weight. After the health problems I had dealt with the previous year, I was feeling so much more like myself.

And I will never forget the day one of the instructors said I should be up in the front of the class. No way. Absolutely not. I am an extreme introvert. I don’t like being the center of attention so why would I voluntarily make myself the center of attention while dancing? That was a hard pass. But I did start to move up from the back row towards the front. Pretty soon, I was always in the front row of class.

And then came my birthday in 2014. The instructor that day asked for a couple of my favorite songs and she put them in the playlist. And then she (the same one who told me I should be in front of the class), brought me up in front of the class. And everyone was cheering me on. It was the biggest rush of endorphins I had ever experienced. I did something I thought I never could. And it wasn’t horrible.

Over the next several months, I continued to be up in front. I remember being at a fundraiser and seeing an instructor who wasn’t a typical instructor. She wasn’t performing as some other instructors do. She obviously wasn’t an extrovert and she seemed incredibly nervous in front of a crowd. But she was up there doing something she loved. I made an offhand comment to someone that maybe I could be an instructor. She said I would be an amazing instructor. I brushed it off because I knew that wasn’t true. And then a few weeks later, another instructor (who didn’t know about the other conversation) told me there would be an instructor training soon. Again, I brushed it off. But the seed had been planted. I started thinking about it.

I knew that instructors got to attend events that weren’t open to non-instructors and I would have the worst case of FOMO when I saw Facebook posts about them. I didn’t exactly want to teach regular classes (I have a full-time job already) but maybe I could just be a sub. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it.

So, almost two years after I stepped foot in that first class, I became an instructor.

There’s maybe only one other day in my life I have been so proud of myself. Eight hours of dancing and now I was a licensed Zumba instructor. After the exhilaration of completing the training, I sobbed on the way home. I thought of those gym teachers who had treated me so terribly. They were so, so wrong about me. I could do hard things. I was able to make it through a fitness class. I didn’t let anything hold me back. It only took me 20+ years to realize it.

And while I didn’t have a regular class right away, I had some mentoring instructors who allowed me to teach in their classes. Soon, I was on the sub list at a community center. This is what I had hoped for.

Then, a friend asked me to sub for her at a private gym. I was so nervous, but I had some of my instructor friends there to cheer me on. And again, I felt that sense of pure exhaustion but also of being proud.

I subbed classes on and off for awhile, needing to focus on my day job for a bit. I had a couple of auditions at other gyms, but they weren’t the right fit for me, and I wasn’t the right fit for them. Then, one day I saw a friend post that a local gym needed someone on Saturday mornings. I told her I was interested, and she put me in touch with the gym. It was for every other Saturday which was absolutely perfect for me. And I got the job. Starting in January.

Now, if you go to a gym or fitness facility regularly, you know that January is always busy. It’s one of the most popular New Years’ resolutions. I was really nervous. I couldn’t remember ever being that nervous. But I had great friends come to support me and I made it through that first class. And I settled into a bit of routine. And then the community center where I was a sub needed someone to take over a class. So soon, I was teaching six classes each month. Way more than I ever dreamed of, but I loved every minute of it.

I now get to go to all the instructor-only events, including the annual convention in Orlando. I’ve been four times (and it would have been five if a global pandemic hadn’t cancelled the 2020 convention – 2021 it’s happening). I’ve never experienced anything like it. 8,000 instructors from around the world who all love the same thing you do. The love and support and positivity at that event blows me away each and every year.

I’ve made some of my best friends through this crazy dance class. I couldn’t imagine my life without these people. Zumba gives me an opportunity to show people that you don’t have to be a size 2 or a life-long dancer to experience the benefits of dancing. Google that. Dancing is one of the best things you can do for your mind, body, and soul. And even if just one person gets something from my story or my classes, then it will have been worth it all.
Peace. Love. Zumba.