Zumba top 20 predicted fitness trend for Nashville

 Stretch out your core, cue the music and get ready to follow the beats! Zumba and other dance workouts are debuting on the list of the top 20 predicted trends in 2012.

Zumba was started, one day in the mid-1990s, when the Colombian fitness instructor Alberto Perez, called Beto, forgot to take his aerobics music to a class he was teaching. Using instead some salsa and merengue tapes he had in his backpack, Mr. Perez started improvising what would eventually become Zumba.

He moved to Miami in 2001, soon spawning DVDs and an infomercial; in 2005 Mr. Perez and his business partners opened an academy to train instructors, of which there are now more than 20,000.

The great majorities of Zumba classes are open to people of all levels, and follow this format: an instructor arrives wearing stretchy black clothing and a facial expression of militant excitement; she turns on some music (lots of Ricky Martin and salsa, with a smattering of the Latin-Caribbean hybrid known as reggaetón) and wordlessly starts dancing.

Zumba’s corporate slogan is “Ditch the workout,join the party.”  This is the most physically exhausting party you will ever attend, yet one of the most fun and rewarding.  You may be encouraged to, say, kick your legs as high as your shoulder or to propel yourself across the floor.  This combination of Latin dance and cardio workout can cause you to lose 500-1,000 calories for an hour long class!   

Zumba offers classes in more than 110,000 gyms in more than 250 countries.  There are 513 classes found within 25 Miles of Nashville, TN.  Many of these classes are found in your local YMCA such as the one located in downtown on 1000 Church St.   You may also find a class in your local community center like The McCabe Community Center-100 46^th Ave N, East Park Community Center-700 Woodland St., or The Coleman Community Center -384 Thompson Lane.  To get a complete schedule for locations and times go to Zumba.com.