My Experience With... Zumba

As I previously promised in a YouTube video on Tuesday...

Here's the review.

I remember when Zumba was just beginning to be a craze. Women (and some men) were dancing like they all originated from Latin America, and everybody was losing weight because of it. What wasn't to love? Heck, XBox even got in on that game!

For me, however, I was not really able to find the time to squeeze in a Zumba class. Not an official one, anyway. The most I did was the "Hokey Pokey" song by the Puppies. Which, by the way, is an awesomely fun song to dance to.

See how fun that was? Well, I kept putting off actually attending a Zumba class, until I went to my gym and saw they offered it there. This was months ago, by the way. I still put it off. Last month I went, and there was only the instructor there. I was a little self-conscious about joining, so I went to the exercise machines instead.

This past Monday, I went for it. I figured it was dancing, and that shouldn't be hard, right? I used to go out dancing all the time, not to mention the number of Just Dance YouTube videos I danced to, so this should be a piece of cake, right?

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WRONG!

There were a couple of several factors I hadn't considered:

1. Zumba is so much more than a dance class. These are dances that you jump into, non-stop, and the repetitive moves target different portions of your body.
2. I'm not much of a cardio person anymore. I used to be a slim, athletic, healthy basketball player. Now I'm an obese (I don't look it, but I've checked the chart), somewhat sedentary, slightly unhealthy basket case who wants to wear clothes again. Cardio is not what it used to be. It used to just leave me short of breath for a few minutes. These days, it could kill me.
3. You dance for the entire time. Even in my school dance days, I'd need to sit out every now and then. Of course, the fact that they had slow dances in between helped.
4. My heart rate actually rises very quickly. This could be due to weight gain, but my heart can easily hit its cardio zone a lot faster than it used to.

As far as the enjoyment factor goes, I did legitimately have a good time. I like the fact that I get to dance again, and this should get easier in a few months. I think, however, that Zumba is most enjoyed by girls with insanely gorgeous figures and a BMI from 18-23.

I was sore the next day, by the way. My fat was hurting. MY. FAT. I guess that's a good thing?

What do you think? Should I go back again?

What's the craziest thing you've ever done?