Lately, women of all ages (and a few men!) have been enjoying a new form of exercise called Zumba. Enjoying exercise is an ironic statement considering the fact that a lot of the time people do not always enjoy working out, but Zumba puts a whole new twist on exercising.

Zumba is a type of exercise where basically, for a whole hour, all you do is dance. Sounds easy, right? Well, according to sophomore Lucia Leahy, who teaches the Zumba class here at PC, “this is [her] favorite work out because it’s kind of like you don’t realize you’re working out, you’re just having fun. But it’s an all over workout—cardio, strength, etc.”

Leahy plays tennis for PC so she’s no stranger getting exercise, but Zumba really drew her interest: “my mom and I did Zumba together when I was in high school. Senior year in high school, I [decided] I really wanted to continue this in college, so I got certified.”

Leahy teaches the Zumba class here at PC on Wednesday nights from seven to eight and Thursday nights from eight to nine. A good number of girls go to the classes, and according to Leahy, “this year it’s actually been an average of about 50-60 girls. We need more boys though!”

To try and attract more males to the weekly Zumba classes and to raise awareness for women’s health issues Leahy and the PC Wellness Organization recently asked the girls bring a date to Zumba! There actually were a good bit of boys there, surprisingly. And while guys may scoff at the idea of dancing being a good work out, by the end of the night they were all just as sweaty as the girls.

Freshman Tiffany Lucas never participated in Zumba at home before coming here, but she already loves it and tries to go the classes every week. Lucas enjoys Zumba because “you get to dance but stay active and healthy at the same time—we have fun while exercising.”

Of course, Zumba is not the only form of exercise Lucas gets throughout the week: “I run at least two miles on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings,” but she still feels like Zumba is a better work out because “you work more muscles in your body.”

It’s true, Zumba is a great work out and can help people lose weight, which is part of the reason Leahy loves teaching Zumba. Leahy “really likes that for some people that is their only work out. I like to know I’m helping people to live a healthier lifestyle.”

Zumba was created in Colombia during the 1990’s and is a Latin-based dance. In a typical one hour Zumba class, people burn between 500-1000 calories! That’s equivalent to running at an average speed for an hour. Zumba has also opened up new jobs—as of 2009, there were 20,000 Zumba instructors in 35 different countries.

So if you want to burn some calories but do not like to run or bike, Zumba is a great place to stay in shape, have fun, and maybe even get some more rhythm.

For more info about Zumba visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zumba