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diggCumbia-ing the calories away
How the Latin dance-based Zumba fitness craze changed Vanessa Lupercio's life
"I finally stopped and looked in the mirror. I couldn't believe it!" - Vanessa Lupercio
Photo: Saul Loeb
"You don't even realize you're working out!"
Mesa fitness instructor Vanessa Lupercio is so charged up about Zumba, a Latin music-based workout, nearly everything she says about it is punctuated with an exclamation point.
For those who attend her weekly classes, that enthusiasm is part of the natural high they get from dancing the pounds off. Fans claim to burn between 500 to 1,000 calories an hour as they move to salsa, merengue, cumbia and reggaeton.
Lupercio, 33, says discovering Zumba was a turning point in her life. The mother of two children, she says losing her maternity weight seemed impossible. After trying out a Zumba DVD, she lost the weight and began firming up all her trouble spots. She lost 22 pounds in about 12 weeks; she was hooked.
One day soon after, her husband told Lupercio she looked phenomenal.
"I finally stopped and looked in the mirror," she says. "And I couldn't believe it!"
"It's an amazing program," she says. "It targets hips, thighs, abs - and it's having fun, having a good time!"
Zumba was born in Miami, Fla., when Colombian fitness instructor Beto Perez forgot his workout music for an aerobics class. He ran out to the car and brought in a music tape he'd been listening to while driving. His pupils loved it. A fitness craze was born. It is now international, with fans in the Italy, Mexico and Venezuela. One online news article reported some teens had Zumba tattoed on their wrists - they call it being "Zumbafied."
The music is culled from songs by popular Latino stars, including the Kumbia Kings, the late Celia Cruz and Tito Puente, Juanes, Shakira, Oro Solido, Thalia and Frankie J. Dance movements target specific areas of the body, as well as producing a cardio workout, and of course, tons of sweat and burned calories.
Lupercio favors cumbia rhythm, but says her classes are a fusion of Latin dance music, like merengue, salsa, reggaeton, flamenco - even belly dancing.
The popularity of such shows as So You Think You Can Dance? and Dancing With the Stars has helped make dancing in public less embarrassing for many, perhaps even motivating people to try new dances.
But lest you think Zumba is simply gyrating a la discothèque, Lupercio will tell you the movements are hardly restrained. These are all-out actions meant to repeatedly work your body, with descriptive names to match: the machete step ("cutting down the sugar cane in the fields"), the basket step ("like bringing the harvest to the table") and the lazy foot step ("it rolls the hips"), to name a few.
Lupercio, one of the first in the state to have been trained and certified as a Zumba instructor, now teaches three hour-long classes weekly. (For info, visit her Web site: www.azzumba.com.) Students arrive early to get good spots: Lupercio's classes are full, with as many as 60 participants at a time.
"I have all my coworkers in there and they can't believe they're dancing and smiling, having a good time and they are sweating."
Maybe abandoning one's self to music and movement is just what the doctor ordered for those who have had no luck with dieting and exercise machines.
"You have a great time, feel beautiful and you walk out of there with a whole new attitude," Lupercio says. "You can't do that on an elliptical machine."
