A return to Zumba and Variety
It’s been eye-twitchingly overwhelming lately. Literal eye twitch happening as I write this. Life. I haven’t been taking care of myself in the way that I have over the past few years this year. I mostly attribute that to my job right now. I’ve alluded and implied that I have a particularly heavy caseload of students this year and it’s finally gotten to me to the point that it’s pretty much all I have the energy to do: work-mom-wife. Running is something I get to do on the weekends but because it’s only once a week it feels weird. I worry that I’ll injure myself if I push too hard without the consistent training, everything has been dialed back. I’m not eating clean or even close.
Last night two things happened: my son had a birthday party laden with sugar and my bag of summer clothes arrived from Old Navy. This morning I woke up bloated from a salt and sugar binge, tried on my new clothes and declared that it’s time. I worked too hard to let my belly start poking out again. Furthermore, I feel kind of sickly and gross. Unhealthy. Gigi mentioned that she’d like to work on a six pack for summer and Bradley has built a bigger circumference than he likes. We all want to tune up for summer and it feels so good to have a team. I’ve been approaching my project from my own perspective and no one else’s for a long time now. It’s been my schedule, my exercise, my food choices that heave lead our family’s health for a while. It’s nice to have the input of others for a change.
Gigi asked if we could do a workout video today and it actually sounded like a lot of fun. I was thinking a Pilates video or Jillian michales kind of thing, but once we started looking around, we realized what we really wanted was Zumba! She told me that she loved dancing with me last year and wishes we still did that. I’ve been so focused on running that I totally forgot Zumba. It’s not always the best for certain injuries I have, but today I realized how flexible and limber I was when I was doing Zumba. Throughut the duration of our workout, I felt uncoordinated and have forgotten how to flow as a dancer. I also remembered how much FUN I have doing Zumba and realized how much I miss it.
Then I realized how much diversity in fitness is a bit necessary for me. I need variety: running, hiking, lifting, dancing and any other thing that seems interesting. This awful, wet, Washington weather is keeping me inside and making me cranky. I don’t mind rain but all the slick mud is too much for me, so remembering Zumba is such a gift! I can do quick videos! I don’t always have to go for a full tilt run. Variety!
The following is most of the workout Gigi and I did today. We did a few more songs than this, but we didn’t love the routines so I left them off. But these? Have fun!