Heart Rate Monitor = NEW GAME!

Okay, so I want you to know how easy it is to teach 10 classes a week and not lose weight, or even GAIN some. Trust me, it's super easy. I have done it repeatedly.

I've decided to break out an old/new heart rate monitor so I can get an accurate count on how much I'm burning in class to help me figure out if I'm eating the right amount of calories! I use Sparkpeople.com (free, free, free!!!) to track food and exercise. (Friend me if you want on there, I am WEBSAM)

Anyway, tonight I taught 2 regular Zumba classes and burned 1080 total calories.

In case you don't know this, the number of calories burned is not just flat and static. It depends on many factors, such as age, weight, fitness level, cardiovascular health, body conditioning, effort put in, engaging your muscles, and muscular content of your body. All of these variables will change based on each person, so it's important to find out how many calories YOU are burning if you want to do this math thing and burn more than you eat.

I will tell you that if you have questions, I know a good bit, but CAT is the expert! I'm serious, that woman is a huge blessing to me when I'm trying to learn these things. But, I'm going to try to post my calorie burning for a good week or two so I can establish a pattern with record.

If you are using an HRM to monitor your calories, feel free to post them here or on my facebook page! I love to see where we're going with this awesome fun time called Zumba Fitness!

WHAT a great class tonight you guys! AMAZING. A new record! It was CRAZY!

Zumba Love to you all!

Sandy

Why is Zumba is SO good for your heart?

High Blood Pressure & Heart Disease. These, unfortunately, are very common ailments in today's world. I actually used to take blood pressure medication.

Today I was reading in Prevention Magazine, and there's an article there about the best and worst types of exercise for heart health, and I wanted to share it with you! This was from the March 2010 edition, in an article written by Dr. Arthur Agatston, MD.

It says that the best type is interval training, and Zumba Fitness is an HIIT program, which stands for high intensity interval training. Did you ever notice how we'll do several high cardio songs that really challenge you, and then we'll do a slower one? The doc said that "continuously raising and lowering your heart rate improves vascular function, burns calories, and makes the body more efficient at clearing fat and sugar from the blood." (This doesn't mean you should intake more because of doing interval training!)

In this article, he also discusses training with weights for heart health, because if your body's other muscles are stronger, doing strenuous activities lets your muscles do the work and will not strain the heart muscle.

I hope this article helps you to understand what is happening in your body as you work out in a Zumba Fitness class, and I also hope that you understand that when we slow down in between high intensity songs, this is not just a rest, but for a purpose. During this time, we also tend to put more FLAVOR into our steps, and if you control your muscles and make them work, you'll get even more out of your workout!

Zumba Love all!

www.zumbawithsandy.com

Happy New Year 2011 Everybody!

Today is December 29, 2010. I am going to talk about NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS. I know many people make New Year’s Resolutions in an effort to lose a lot of weight, quit smoking, and form many other progress-forward habits. I would definitely encourage you to decide on some things you want for this New Year.

I personally don’t believe that setting New Year’s Resolutions is a good approach. Because they are easy to quit, year after year I found myself wanting to take on the same resolutions and it never happened. So now, I SET GOALS.

Goal-setting is something you can do all year long! You can change the deadlines if you need to, and you can keep trying. When it’s February 3 and you haven’t stuck to your new eating habits to lose weight, you can reset your goal. The New Year only comes once a year.

Step 1: Sit down and jot down all the things you’d like to accomplish (health, fitness, bucket list, personal, career, family, spiritual, financial, anything!). These can be as little as a day, or as long as a lifetime, but you want to just let your mind wander and write it down.

Step 2: Put it down and come back to it in a day or two. Cross off the ones that no longer get you excited.

Step 3: Write down each goal you wish to set now. Set a deadline (don’t stress on it too much, just pick something reasonable) for each goal, keeping in mind that you want to focus on one or two at a time.

Step 4: For those you want to work on now, write down the ACTION STEPS you are going to take to accomplish that goal, and what OBSTACLES you may face, and how you will OVERCOME those obstacles.

Step 5: Get started and hold yourself accountable.

One of my favorite websites for setting and tracking your goals is www.43things.com. It’s free so check it out!
Another great free resource that I love is www.sparkpeople.com if you have health and fitness goals and like to use internet tools. Oh, and I'm also a former smoker, and if you would like to quit, I STRONGLY recommend "Smoke Away" ~ it was the best choice I've ever made to quit, and you CAN DO IT!!!

You NEVER FAIL unless you quit trying to improve yourself!

Lots of Zumba Love everyone!
~Sandy
www.zumbawithsandy.com

I'm off to Florida!

Okay Zumba friends,

I'm going to Florida, but just for about 5 days. I leave tomorrow - Wednesday, and I'll be back Monday, and I'm going to the Zumba Instructors Convention!

Just wanted to tell you how excited I am go to learn more good stuff for your classes! What is the ZIN convention? Well, I will be happy to tell you!

WHEN?
I'm leaving Wednesday 8/25 and flying to Orlando non-stop (got a GREAT deal out of HARRISBURG, no less!) and will be flying back next Monday August 30.

WHAT?
Oh, too much excitement! I think this waiting will cause me to burst! Here's a link to a video cut from last year's convention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRtwr8t0tYE&feature=player_embedded

Parties? Oh yes lots of Zumba-type parties!

Wednesday night a pre-convention party with Patrizio Merlo. I have no idea what's happening there but it promises to be lots of fun. There is some other kind of mixer party, plus a Zumbathon and a themed party.

Thursday I'm taking workshops on Hip Hop and Warm Ups and Cool Downs

Friday I'm learning more about Bhangra rhythms and Flamenco (which is the rhythm in that new song I've just started teaching) after the morning Zumbathon.

Saturday I'm going to learn more about the business of Zumba so I can learn how to do it better for YOU guys, then something called "the star within!" - who knows, but it sounded fascinating!

Saturday night is the big theme party - "Where are you from" is the theme, and I'm going to represent Hershey! I'll get some pics and put them on facebook for you all to see!

Suuuunday, I'm going to take a training about teaching to all the different personality types, and learn even more about non-verbal cueing. Sunday night, I'm hitting up a Disney resort for a fantastic dinner - maybe while soaking my feet in ice. LOL

Then we get up at the crack of o-dark-hundred to fly home. I'll be back to teaching Tuesday night the 31st and I will be SO excited by then to get back to it. I love what I do, and thank you all for letting me be a part of your fitness journey.

I can't wait to go, but I'm so much more excited to see how I can be a better Zumba Instructor!

Zumba Love! ~Sandy

Dance fitness classes make fitness fun!

Dance Fitness Classes Make Fitness Fun!

How much water should you drink?

Check out my Examiner article which discusses just how much water you should drink!

How much water should you drink?

New Happenings at Olympic!

Alrighty then, so out there at Olympic Skating Center in Enola, we've added a new spin to make the Zumba Fitness party even hotter!

We have added the rink party lights to the class! We did this on Saturday. Some sounds brought out the colorful lights, and some really fun and pump you up songs got these shimmery white spinning lights from the center of the room pumping! WHAT FUN!

The ladies + my favorite man in the world who were there seemed to enjoy this new addition, so I think we'll keep it! I can't wait to see how the Wednesday crowd likes it!