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Zumba and Insanity feature

To share with you all a little taste of the fitness in Enderby I went to an Insanity and Zumba class. It was an intense workout to say the least.

You have all probably heard about the fitness craze that is Zumba, dance and fitness. Created by Alberto Perez in the 1990’s, Zumba is now a very popular fitness class, with 15 million people take part in weekly classes, over 200,000 locations in 180 countries.

Zumba classes are usually an hour long, including music, fast and slow rhythms as well as resistance training. The music comes from many dance styles including: Salsa, Mambo, Hip-Hop, and Tango.

Insanity is a very different type of exercise; it is about getting you into the best shape of your life, increasing your overall fitness levels to the point where you are able to almost match professional athletes.

With Insanity if you can’t see results straight away, well you can definitely feel them the day after, which means it really does work.

For research into this fitness craze I decided to take the classes myself. When I was about 15 I remember going to them religiously to keep my body slim (although I really didn’t need to).
But four years later a day after Shrove Tuesday, and lots of pancakes, I decided to embark on this journey again, forcing my sister to come with me.
Remember, everyone is on their own fitness journey.
My sister and I found it hilarious because we couldn’t lift our legs off of the floor, but with perseverance we managed to do most of the moves.
While we had just done an hour of Insanity, some people might have thought that we were absolutely crazy, but sometimes you have got to push your body.
Throughout the session Leona would play recent pop tracks such as Justin Bieber, through to Spanish salsa music which made me feel like I was on holiday!
It’s all about dancing and being silly with people that you meet once a week, and seeing results for this.
Zumba works out your body just as much as Insanity, but maybe not as much in a hard-core way.
Including: Squats, Lunges, Jumps and Standing sit ups, it works all of the problem areas that women have.
To Sia, we started off with some slow moves to cool the body down entirely and then we went into some Yoga to stretch and sculpt the body.
Her reply was: “I would definitely come to Zumba again, maybe not insanity, it was too much for me.” 
I think I will be able to persuade her to come again.
But that’s a good thing, because you know it’s working, you’ve pushed yourself, and somehow it makes you want to go again.
“When I came back home, I went straight into that. So, I’ve always been helping people whether that is mentoring or life coaching. And the more I did it, the more people would say: ‘You need to do your own classes!’
“Darren Farish, from Huncote Pavilion was a big help. All of this paid for the room hire and everything I needed for my first classes which were at Glenfield.
“But before Zumba I was doing Salsacise and Street dance because my mum had her own street dance class.
“People can relate to the music and the feel good factor associated with it.
“Most of the benefits of the class are health and social.”
“Insanity has a large male following because obviously the founder was male. But it really just depends who you are; I guess I just attract women!”
However, if you are just starting out, I would suggest to just go to Zumba for a few weeks before really pushing your body at Insanity.

The class I attended was at the local college, Brockington College, Enderby. And was hosted by a very friendly woman, Leona Knott, I thought this was an easy place to start.

Insanity

The first class, Insanity was to start at 6.30pm, so after getting into my very old gym clothes, we set off, with many litres of water between us.

Insanity is not for the faint hearted!

The warm-up is harder than most people’s workouts. Including squats, burpees and high kicks, the warm up lasted about 10 minutes, then after a big gulp of water it was time to move on to circuits.

There were seven circuits all together, with three minutes on each circuit; you would think that this was easy. No chance.

The stations were as follows: Hand stands, Push ups, Squats, Tricep dips, Squat jumps up steep stairs, Cross jacks, Lunges.

After just doing one of these circuits I wanted to give up, however, the music really keeps you motivated and I wanted to keep going. This also may have been because I didn’t want to look like a loser in front of all of these new people.

The fact that you are in small groups whilst doing this is great, even if you don’t know anyone in the group, you are supported. It is about having fun, if you fall over, laugh it off and get back up again; no one is there to judge you.

During the circuits, there was many water breaks, furthermore Leona was very helpful, if you couldn’t do the full move that was asked then there was always a simpler option she would give you – I am very thankful for this!

When the circuits had finished it was time to concentrate on abs and legs, which are trouble areas for most women.

All of us were on the floor doing sit ups and leg lifts, however hard it was and however much you were struggling, you were not on your own. 

My sister commented: “The cool down and stretches at the end of the session was the best part.”  

Leona knows all the moves, while I didn’t even think I could stretch my back, she demonstrated how to stretch every muscle that we had used in that session. It was such a relief to stretch and it felt amazing.

Zumba

Straight after Insanity, was an hour of Zumba.

Zumba was a breeze compared to Insanity.

Starting with a warm up to upbeat music, it again motivated me and got me in the mood to dance. 

If you’re into music and singing or dance, this is the perfect work-out for you.

The class included group dances, and using props such as chairs.

The cool down to this was just as fun!

When people tell me that they do Yoga, all I can think of is someone just saying “om” over and over. But the people that do Yoga also seem incredibly trim and in shape so it’s another great exercise that is built into the class.

Now, after two hours of somewhat intense exercise my sister and I were done, and very sweaty!

After both of the classes I asked my sister, would you come again?

After both of these classes you can definitely feel it working, your muscles are tight, and you can’t walk up the stairs!

Leona Knott

I wanted to find out how she got into this craze, how she is so good at it, and what kind of benefits it can have so I ran a quick Q&A with her after the session.

Alice: “How did you get into fitness, Zumba and Insanity?”

Leona: “In 2001, I was a young mum just starting out. I went straight into sports coaching at Braunstone Primary; it was just 10 hours a week, just doing things like quick cricket and football.

“Then in 2003, I went to New York for six weeks to do football coaching. (What an experience!)  And while I was out there I got an application to do one to one mentoring in Braunstone.

“Then, when I was looking into it, I got a scheme with Blaby District Council, they were supporting instructors to set up, so getting their own classes etc.

“At first it was Hula, so exercise with hula hoops, and Aerobics. So I started out with just simple exercising. And then, Zumba came out on all of the shopping channels, and I just thought: ‘I need to do that!’

Alice: “How long have you been doing Zumba?”

Leona: “I finally set Zumba up in 2008, so it’s been seven and a half years that these classes have been running.

“I just can’t believe it, the numbers are amazing. The amounts of people that come and come back again and again are amazing.”

Alice: “Why do you do it?”

Leona: “Personally, I do it because I music is fantastic, and you can use any music that you want, so right now, Up Town Funk has been a good track. And, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars because of the Super Bowl.

“People that attended my classes keep saying: ‘You need to do another day, it’s amazing.’ So it’s just what people want.

“I’ve got a day job too, when I first started up these classes I was doing five days a week, however since they’ve picked up I’ve had to just do two days a week to keep it a bit more relaxed!”

Alice: “What are the health benefits of the classes?”

Leona: “Personally, I have suffered from depression in the past, and this just gives you a feel good and an adrenaline rush that keeps you going. In addition to this, there is the social aspect, meeting the same people every week and making friends keeps you happy.

“Weight loss is a big thing for me and lots of others that attend the class, or just getting fit for an event such as a wedding.

“Exercise can benefit both Diabetes and Cancer, I also do some work with Macmillan Cancer and so this is a big thing for me.

Alice:” Is it mainly women that attend the classes?”

Leona: “There are many women in my classes in particular, and more men do come to Insanity especially on a Monday night in Braunstone. But it really depends who you are and where you are, to who you attract.

 Both of these classes are amazing for fitness and social aspects of your life.

I would highly recommend that anyone go to the classes. Leona is an amazing tutor, and it is just about having fun.