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Archive for "Zumba"

Group Fitness Kickoff Event at VASA

Posted on January 15, 2021 by under Community, Events, Health, Zumba.    

I did very little Zumba last year because of the pandemic and other things. By the end of 2019, my addiction to pickleball had reached new heights and I decided that I need to cut back on my Zumba and Aqua Zumba classes to free up more time to play pickleball. I had already given up my Sunday morning Aqua Zumba class at South YMCA (Brynden took it over) and so I started 2020 with only seven classes. I wasn’t going to stop there, though. I had already plans to get rid of other classes, the first one being my Saturday morning Aqua Zumba at VASA Harry. Liz had actually hired someone to take it over for me starting in March.

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I started 2020 with seven classes but I was gradually and systematically getting rid of classes one at a time to make room for pickleball. And then COVID hit. All the gyms closed (along with other local businesses) at the start of the pandemic. So I went from teaching seven classes to none. I guess I didn’t need someone to take over that Aqua Zumba class in March after all because, when March rolled around, there were no classes happening at all. Anywhere.

When the gyms reopened, I brought back only one class — my Monday night Zumba class at VASA Harry. I wanted to be available for pickleball in the evenings and weekends, and play a lot of pickleball is exactly what I did. Over the summer, in addition to playing in the evenings, I was even playing at 5 AM on most weekdays. Pickleball completely ruled my life last year.

But then as fall approached and the sun began to rise later and later, I couldn’t play before work anymore. We were mostly playing at Seneca Park, and we couldn’t play without the sun because there are no lights there (except for the one security light, which isn’t really enough). That’s when I decided to look for other options — enter my Wednesday morning (5:30 AM) Zumba class at VASA Woodlawn. This actually gave me the idea to add more classes. If I know exactly what days of the week I’m devoting to pickleball then I can teach classes on the other days. Seven classes was clearly too much but I could add a few more classes and maintain a good balance. This leads us to where we are today.

Last year I turned down a lot of Zumba events because I fully committed myself to pickleball. I decided this year my time would be split between the two so when the VASA team decided to have a group fitness sampler extravaganza on the first Saturday of the year, January 2, I volunteered to help. I’m really glad I did because it reminded me of how much I enjoy these Zumbathon events.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day…

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We had 30-minute sampler sessions of STRONG and the other formats in the studio and held two hours of Zumba in the gym.

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I got to lead a few songs along with my fellow Zumba instructors.

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And I got to see Jessie (above) and Charis (below). I hadn’t seen them in forever.

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Here’s a group pic of some of our Zumba instructors at VASA. Of course, it’s hard to tell who is who because of the masks. Not ideal but necessary given the current situation with COVID. I really can’t get infected right now because I’m still within my 90 days of immunity (some say you could even been immune for up to eight months) but I still wear my mask any time I’m around a group of people mostly for everyone else’s benefit and comfort.

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We didn’t wear our masks while exercising just when we were standing around together. Masks or no masks, social distancing or not, it was a great time. It made me realize how much I love group exercise and participating in these events. I’m glad I decided to devote more time to teaching my group fitness classes in 2021.

Here’s current group fitness schedule:

VASA Harry
Monday – Zumba at 6:30 PM
Wednesday – Aqua Zumba at 6:30 PM
Sunday – Aqua Zumba at 9:00 AM

VASA Woodlawn
Wednesday – Zumba at 5:30 AM
Saturday – Aqua Zumba at 9:00 AM

Seven classes was clearly too many and one was not enough so we’ll see how this balance thing works out with five classes a week this year. Until next time. GNG.

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Thanksgiving Day Zumba

Posted on December 2, 2020 by under Zumba.    

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a Zumba class outside of my own classes. My free time is mostly spent playing pickleball these days. I had a rare opportunity to attend Zumba on Thanksgiving Day. I decided to go to South YMCA where Melissa, Todd, and Brynden were hosting the Zumba party.

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It was great to see everyone. I hadn’t seen these guys in forever and I’d almost forgotten how much fun it is to take someone else’s class.

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We did a “family” picture at the end and also a fun shoe pic before we all went our separate ways. I miss these guys so much. It was great to see them.

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The Zumba dance party was the perfect way to start Thanksgiving Day. Besides starting the day with Zumba, there wasn’t much that was normal about this Thanksgiving. Usually we have grandma at our house for lunch and then we play ten rounds of Phase 10. With COVID and everything, she couldn’t come over. Instead Brian made food and brought it to her.

We didn’t make traditional Thanksgiving Day food either because Brian and I aren’t really turkey fans (I prefer ham). We just had some salmon and packed some up for grandma. So basically Thanksgiving Day wasn’t different than any other day. It was nice to have the break from work and we used the opportunity to get our Christmas decorations out, which is nice because we didn’t even decorate last year.

We also had time to go out Rolling Hills to play pickleball with Bruce, Ben, Jeremy, Amy, and Cathy. It was a great group and a beautiful day for pickleball. That pretty much sums up our Thanksgiving Day. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Until next time. GNG.

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ZOOMba with Ching

Posted on April 12, 2020 by under Zumba.    

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, businesses began shutting down because everyone was ordered to stay home and limit non-essential activities for the safety and well-being on the community. That resulted in the gyms closing and me being laid off by the YMCA and furloughed by VASA Fitness. I had no classes to teach and nowhere to go for several weeks. I saw some of my friends teaching online classes which seemed to be well-received. I really didn’t want to mess with it at first because it seemed kind of a pain to set up but one of my friends kept asking me to do it so I finally caved.

I did a trial run at first last weekend. That went better than I expected and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t realize how much I missed teaching my classes until then. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go all in and signed up for a paid ZOOM account. Otherwise your online video meetings are limited to only 40 minutes and once I get going I can’t really stop. I’ve found that I have to dance for at least a full hour to get my fix.

We did a short 40-minute trial run last weekend on Saturday and then did a full hour class on Sunday. Since then I’ve committed to teaching free online Zumba classes via ZOOM based on the following schedule:

  • Tuesday 5:30 PM
  • Thursday 5:30 PM
  • Saturday 9:30 AM
  • Sunday 4:30 PM

I’ve completed my first week of offering free ZOOMba classes and, other than the technical issues, I’ve really enjoyed them. I found that they give me purpose and something to look forward to each week. I’m still experimenting a lot with the video and sound, which hasn’t been perfect but it’s better than nothing. And, I’m really enjoying it. I think others are too.

My friend Karen even came over and danced with me yesterday. We maintained our social distance of course. Here are some pics…

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Don’t mind the trash. I’ve been doing these in the garage.

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Here are some short video clips that Brian got of us dancing yesterday.

Karen was such a trooper and she did amazing. She even stayed and did the Bruce Lee Abs Challenge workout with me.

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I started the Bruce Lee Abs Challenge the day after our 30-day stay at home order began for lack of things to do. I started with level 1 and gradually advanced to level 2. I’m hoping that I can move to up level 3 this week.

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The past three weeks of not being able to leave the house have been really rough. Basically the only things keeping me sane are the garage pickleball drills, abs workout, and now ZOOMba. I can’t wait until this pandemic is over because I really miss my routine. I also miss seeing all of my friends.

I hope y’all are doing alright during this crisis. Until next time. GNG.

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Friends at Zumba

Posted on February 3, 2020 by under Zumba.    

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It’s been a while since I’ve been excited about something Zumba-related but over the holidays, I had two friends visit my class. One is Anna Lue from Texas (right). I met her last year when she randomly selected my class to check out while she was in town visiting family over the holidays. Now, I invite her to join class every time she’s in town. She even did a couple of songs for us!

The other is my friend Teresa (middle) who I met through Leadership Wichita a few years ago. She lives as far West as you could possibly live in Wichita (almost to Colorado – LOL) so, though I have invited her to check out my class several times before, this was her first time joining. As an added bonus, she even coordinated with our outfits. It was the best day ever.

I love having friends visit my classes. I always enjoy sharing with them all the things that I’m passionate about. Zumba being one. Though, lately I’m less passionate about Zumba because pickleball has captured a considerable amount of my time and attention.

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Here’s our group pic from that day. It was awesome. Hands down the best class I’ve had in a long time. I absolutely love it when friends visit! It makes class extra fun.

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Anyway, if you’d like to check out one of my classes, above is my current schedule. I’m currently down to seven classes as week since giving the Sunday morning Aqua Zumba class at South YMCA to Brynden back in December. I had to give it away because I wanted to be able to play pickleball at Chicken N Pickle on Sunday mornings. I may be dropping another class or two here soon to make more time for pickleball. Better join while you still have several options. See you in class sometime! If not, maybe I’ll see you at pickleball. Either way, hope to see you soon.

Until next time. GNG.

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My Last Class at Genesis

Posted on November 22, 2019 by under Zumba.    

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A few pics from my final class at Genesis Health Clubs (West Central), which happened to be on Halloween and the day after my birthday.

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We enjoyed some cupcakes courtesy of Jack and Joetta.

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Even though my time at Genesis was short-lived (I started teaching group fitness there after we returned from Costa Rica in the Spring and ended my stint right before we left for Mexico this Fall), I will miss these ladies tremendously. They were kindest and most thoughtful — simply the best — bunch ever!

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