I’m great at Zumba… for seniors

I started going to Zumba. Yes, I’m not what you call an early adopter of trends.

It was a fluke, like so many of the other classes I started taking, including yoga! It happened to be offered when I showed up at the gym.

One day I arrived 30 minutes early for a Pilates class (because I can’t get the times right unless I say it aloud at least three times, and even then, it’s a crap shoot.) There was a loud and fun-looking Zumba class going on while I was waiting, so I decided to kill time by slipping in the back and dancing along. 

I’m a little self-conscious about dancing. I’m OK, but I’m not super coordinated. This is why I didn’t previously sign up for Zumba.

Here’s the thing about this or, really, almost anything else in life: Have fun and do your best. Nobody is watching you. They’re all busy looking at the teacher or doing their own thing. As I get older, I’m better at embracing that.

So I’m in the back corner and I’m doing OK and enjoying myself. It’s not so bad! I’m not perfect but I would do this again!

Emboldened by this not-horrendously embarrassing experience, later that week, I purposely attended an evening Zumba workout with a nice Filipino man wearing a bright pink shirt and purple sneakers, who did a lot of hip rolls and hand snaps.

He really worked me. I couldn’t keep up cardiovascularly, which made it increasingly harder to follow along with the much faster, more intricate dance steps. I think I might have been the worst one in class, but I was generally so busy trying to keep up, I didn’t really look at other women. 

The following week, I made a morning Zumba again. I saw my gym friend Wendy. Somehow, our chit chat led to her mentioning to me that this is Zumba for seniors. I didn’t know! I thought it was just full of retirees because other people are working on a weekday morning.

Hmm. No wonder it is easier than the evening class. What a disappointment. I just thought I was killing it. *sound of bubble popping*