How Does my Zumba Instructor Keep a Straight Face?
My Zumba instructor is the epitome of self-control. It's a mystery to me how she leads and coordinates a group of dancing adults with a straight face. I am the star of my Zumba class, of course. I steal the instructor's attention with my moves. I feel everyone staring at me because of these same moves. I also confuse the entire class with these very same moves. Haha! Yup, I'm that person in your Zumba class that makes your head spin; I turn left when everyone is turning right and I do the feet-shuffle thing to keep up with the pace and direction, true, I skip some steps and replace them with others, "I make my moves up as I go", yo.
Halfway through class, we face the wall-long mirror and quite frankly, this part is like a horror movie. Chalky-on-Elm-Street Horror. I try not to look at myself in the mirror but that's what it's for, I guess, to stare at yourself, as you dance like a drunken elf. I've made my peace. I look, I note what needs improvement and I'm working on them.
My instructor is great, although I'm certain that whenever we leave, she walks over to her water bottle takes a mouth full of water and just as she's about to swallow, remembers us and bursts out laughing, spraying the mirror with all the water in her mouth. Haha! She's sweet though, really holds her amusement in. I'd fall over laughing, if I taught Zumba.
The good thing is that she laughs at herself when she makes mistakes too. She asked me to suggest Nigerian songs we could dance to. Any ideas? I was thinking D'banj's "Breaking News"? What do you think?
I love Zumba and I can't wait for the next class!
While I won't be making class captain anytime soon, I'm very determined to be the very best Zumba student in the world, in my area code, in my entire home.
I'll keep you updated.
Do you take any fitness/dance classes? Do you do Zumba? Any tips? Nigerian songs? Do you have a show-stopper like me in your class?
Why You should go dancing this weekend
It's Friday, Monday's desirable cousin! What to do? Umm. Go dancing, of course. Here are 3 reasons why you should:
#1 Dancing promotes physical fitness and is a great from of aerobic exercise. Personally, it's my go-to on those days of full-fledged gym truancy (which are usually during the weekends). I turn on the TV or listen to an upbeat playlist using my headphones and dance, works like a charm.....on a treadmill.....going at 8 miles per hour.
#2 Dancing as a frequent activity is also associated with self-confidence which, you'll need on Monday morning....and really every other day....but those Monday mornings, especially. They need all the help they can get.
#3 Dancing makes you smarter by increasing the number of neural pathways in your brain and who wouldn't want that! A study shows that dancing protects against dementia, improves cognitive acuity and optimizes the use of intelligence during decision-making. After reading that, I would often remind myself to break into a dance randomly. The trick though, is to be creative with it, according to this article by Richard Powers of Stanford University.
If you don't feel like leaving your home, all you need to do is dance along to a music video or your favorite playlist. I have a video of myself dancing to Psquare's Shekini lol. It's not flattering but it sure built up those pathways, made me feel better about skipping the gym that day and probably boosted in me some self-confidence!
Are you a dance-enthusiast? How often do you dance? Are you dancing this weekend?
My First Give Away!
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Pages by Ike is over a month old! Thank you for sticking around, for the likes, shares and comments. It's time to celebrate and abuse exclamation marks in excitement!!!
One winner gets to win a Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity and Sleep tracker!
Yup, it's time to be a doer and not just a reader. Don't wait until 2016 to start to get your physical activity habits right, trust me 2016 has fitness challenges in store for you already, so get a head start by tracking your activity with the Fitbit! Your Fitbit is stylish and makes your lifestyle adjustment to #fitfam a lot more trendy!
To win, all you have to do is hit the adorably blue subscribe button (or click here) and once you are all registered, let us know by commenting below. The winner will be contacted and together we'll draw up a plan to get your fitbit to you.
Entry closes November 14th! (UPDATE: The winner has been sent an email)
(Open to residents of the US, UK, Canada and Nigeria. Delivery time might vary for locations.)
Previous subscribers will be automatically considered for the giveaway but have to comment below as well.
All the best!