waka waka!

At 10am this morning, I was squatting in front of 50 women and at 10:30am I was sweating whilst shaking my hips, side stepping and attempting to do something vaguely co-ordinated with my arms!

Zumba baby!

This week my MOPS group was about work outs with kids and then an introduction into Zumba. I have to say it was a lot of fun and not quite as difficult (co0ordination wise) as I expected but man are my legs starting to hurt already!

My former stroller strides (group of Mums meet in a park with their kids and do walking squats whilst singing 'the wheels on the bus go' ... you get the picture) instructor talked to us about working out with our kids, drinking enough water and generally getting fit. She then had us all join her in a mini work out which included squats, planks, work on our arms and stretches.

After 15 minutes my arms and legs were already sore and then in enters the Zumba instructor who took over and did a short class with us. I say short because I think classes are normally an hour and this can't have been more than 30 minutes. I don't mean short as in it was in any way easy or light work. I was sweating like crazy afterwards but it was a lot of fun and I'd say I got almost half the moves right! But with a bit of Shakira to get us moving, I think most of the women in the the room enjoyed it and I saw plenty of smiling faces laughing as we tried to get our arms and legs co-ordinated and move across the room the right way (sorry Chris I hope your foot is ok!).

It made me realise that although I run every week and sometimes even twice a week, I am in no way fit and need to think about doing other exercises. They did a quick survey and a lot of women in the room exercise 4 or 5 times a week!

I heard somewhere that to be successful at exercise it needs to be something you just do. Not something that every week, you feel like you are making a special effort to do, but just something that fits into your weekly routine. I also think there are seasons in life and you don't have time to do everything you want to do at once but hopefully my season for exercise is ahead and I can make some time now the kids are in preschool.

I do not know how I would get through a whole hour of Zumba but I have to say that I am tempted to give it a go. So watch this space, you may see me swinging my hips and shaking my ass at a Zumba class near you! (Apologies in advance if you are unlucky enough to be behind me!)