(Photo credits to Hanna Fenstermaker)
Hello once again!
This week, we were tasked with using one of the many Campus Resources provided to us by the university. Luckily, I have been attending an event put on by the Student Wellness Center and Recreational Sports since the beginning of the year! Every week at 7 PM at the North Rec, I have been attending a class called STRONG by Zumba. STRONG is a class designed to mix a fast paced interval workout with original music specifically engineered to each move. The entire routine is driven by the music, helping participants keep track of reps as well as have a little fun along the way. According to strong.zumba.com, those who participated in a STRONG by zumba class with music burned an average of 48 more calories than those who did the same class without music. I thought this was fascinating, but I’m honestly not surprised. I often feel the beat and music pushing me to jump a little bit higher or squat a little bit lower.
I’ve been attending this class every week with a few of my friends, and so far, we’ve loved it! I feel like zumba always gets a bad reputation since people always think of the old workout tapes from the 80s and 90s that we always see on tv. Now, I can’t attest as to whether regualr zumba class offered by the Student Wellness Center is anything like this, but Strong is much more of a traditional workout, just synced to some pump up music! We actually found out recently that STRONG by zumba is actually a fairly new class in general, not just at Ohio State. It only first came to be a few years ago and Ohio State has actually been one of the front runners in it’s growth.
This past Monday, I attended one of the STRONG by zumba classes held for only 45 minutes opposed to the normal hour long session held on Wednesdays. This version of the class was very similar to the hour long alternative other than the obvious fewer songs and fewer breaks. The main difference is that this class attempted to burn you out much faster than the other due to the shorter amount of time given to do so. It was also a nice change to have a little extra time afterwards to work on my homework afterwards.
My friends and I have even started forming a connection with the instructors of our class, Raina and Victoria, staying after to talk to them about zumba and how the whole STRONG system works. Essentially, the organization that runs the program releases a new set of choreography each month for the classes and the instructors pick a mixture of them for the class each week. This provides a lot of variety to the workouts, leaving some weeks barely able to walk back to the dorm, and others leaving me barely able to open the door. Overall, I would recommend STRONG by Zumba to anyone looking for a good cardio workout with a twist.