Friday, July 1, 2016

Insight - Shaking it to the beat - By Michelle Libby



For at least a year my friends have been trying to get me to a Zumba class. Monday night, I finally did it. Now, I have taken Zumba classes before through Windham-Raymond Adult Education with Zumba Dinah. I was nervous about going to a class that she wasn’t teaching and with very few people I might know. 

The class was excellent. There were five of us - the male teacher, the tri-athlete, the dancer, the woman who had hurt herself and had to do the class from a chair and me. We were a motley crew. It didn’t seem to matter that I didn’t know the steps or that I gulped water at each song break. As the class went on, I stopped being so self-conscious and started having fun, letting my body sway to the music. The spinning made me dizzy, so I just kept moving facing forward. 

That was the key to the class, keep moving, clapping and having fun. 

Everyone talks about getting out there getting exercise. Running marathons, power lifting, or something else that seems hard and time consuming. I don’t have time to run a marathon, that and I don’t have the time for the hospital trip that would be a result of running like that in my present condition. 

Exercise doesn’t have to be drudgery. I danced for an hour and the time went by fast. I enjoy swimming, getting out in the water doing pushups or jogging in place. I am not the person who is going to go for a five mile run just for fun. 

I’m impressed with those who can and do complete runs like that and those who run marathons. I love interviewing those who compete in triathlons, like the Tri for the Cure. The event is coming up and I know two people who are in it, my sister and my friend from Zumba. They have been training and learning techniques for dealing with the swim and then the bike ride. The athletes don’t have to be great at each event, but really, they only have to finish. Technique and skill only matter a little, when trying not to drown. I wish them all the best. 

Some day I might consider doing a mini-triathlon, but for now, I’ll shake my groove thing and translate the Latin music in my head. What’s your exercise of choice? What are you waiting for?

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