"Work that body, work those hips!" - me talking (a lot) about Zumba.

Linjen i overskriften er fra én af de sange, som jeg elsker at hade for tiden. Sangen er lavet af en herre, der hedder Lil Jon og den er en fast del af mine zumba-timer lige nu. Og den er altså hård, men også skidesjov og en anden linje i sangen opsummerer det hele meget godt: "If you didn't come here to sweat you need to leave right now!"

Javel så. 

For et års tid siden tullede jeg rundt i omklædningen henne i mit fitness-center. Jeg var på vej i bad og undrede mig over, hvorfor der var så mange kvinder derinde lige nu. I badet spurgte en kvinde mig om jeg også havde været til zumba? Det havde jeg ikke, men jeg var garanteret alligevel så rød i hovedet, at jeg lignede én der var hoppet direkte ud fra den time. Men det var jeg altså ikke, for jeg turde ikke. I stedet havde jeg knoklet løs på en motionscykel og i styrketræning. 

Hvorfor jeg ikke turde, spørger du? 

På det tidspunkt bøvlede jeg med en knæskade og jeg var simpelthen bange for at zumba eller lignende ville gøre det hele meget værre. Jeg havde ellers længe flirtet med tanken om at afprøve det dér.... Selvom jeg virkelig aldrig havde regnet med, at jeg skulle være zumba-pige, fordi det lyder så "halvgammel mor ude i provinsen"-agtigt. Men det sneg sig ind på mig, at jeg alligevel havde lyst til at prøve - jeg skulle bare lige have det sidste skub for at turde. 

"Har du også være til Zumba?" spurgte hun så, dér i badet. Det havde jeg jo så ikke. "Ej, det skal du altså virkelig tage at prøve!" forsikrede hun og snakkede om vægttab og glæde og sjov. Og fortalte mig, at jeg skulle prøve en bestemt instruktør. Jeg fortalte hende om mit knæ og hun forsikrede mig, at det ikke ville betyde noget. Hun forsikrede mig også, at jeg ikke ville være smadret og øm i hele kroppen dagen efter og så var jeg stort set overtalt. Jeg gik direkte hjem og meldte mig på et hold og jeg var så heldig at få kæmpet mig igennem ventelisten, så jeg kunne være med allerede dagen efter. Selvom jeg havde lyst til at melde mig fra igen utallige gange. 

Jeg kan huske, at jeg allerede efter opvarmningen var overbevist om, at der måtte være gået en halv time. Det var der ikke. Der var gået 10 minutter. Og jeg tror, jeg tænkte; "Hvad pokker vil han så mere udsætte os for?" Her skal det måske nævnes at den slags zumba, som den anbefalede instruktør laver, ikke bare er halvfimsede latinmoves. Der er virkelig gang i den. Men før jeg så mig om var der alligevel gået en time og jeg havde overlevet og jeg havde faktisk haft det sjovt, selvom størstedelen af musik var i den genre, som jeg kalder "den slags musik bryder jeg mig ikke om". Men i den her kontekst var det jo faktisk bare sjovt og motiverende og virkelig effektivt. Også selvom jeg brugte det meste af tiden på at rende forvirret rundt og jeg fattede ingenting af hvad jeg skulle gøre og hvornår. 

Men damen fra badet løj. Jeg havde skideondt bagefter. Ikke i mine knæ, heldigvis. Men i mine lægmuskler og mine mavemuskler (min skjulte six pack). I flere dage, for at det ikke skal være løgn. Men jeg tog afsted igen og igen og igen og for hver gang jeg kom hjem havde jeg et endnu større smil på læben end sidst. Lige pludselig kunne jeg også dét trin og dét trin og dét hop, som jeg ikke kunne da jeg startede. Og de dér hofter, som jeg ellers troede var støbt i cement, de kunne jo lige pludselig også bevæge sig!

Jeg siger ikke, at jeg ser sexet ud, når jeg vrikker rundt derinde, men det var altså virkelig en øjenåbner for mig, at jeg ikke nødvendigvis bare var stiv med hofter, der slet ikke kunne svinges. Det kan de altså godt! Hvordan jeg så ser ud, når jeg gør det er en anden snak.... Og her har vi faktisk fat i noget helt centralt: Det jeg elsker allermest ved mine zumba-timer er, at der er piger (og nogle enkelte drenge) i alle aldre og alle størrelser. Og med alle mulige forskellige former for rytmisk sans og bevægelsessans, hvilket også betyder, at der næsten altid er én, som ser lidt mere håbløs ud end man selv føler sig. I det hele taget er der også bare en stemning, som lægger op til, at man ikke behøver at tage sig selv så vanvittigt seriøst (selvom der selvfølgelig også står et par stykke oppe foran spejlet, som altid ser lidt bedre ud end os andre). 

Når jeg kigger tilbage på mit tidligere forhold til idræt (det kommer jeg til at snakke mere om i morgen her på bloggen), så havde jeg faktisk aldrig rigtig troet, at jeg skulle finde en motionsform, som jeg rigtigt kunne lide. Men jeg kan rigtig godt lide zumba, fordi det er skægt og hårdt og fordi jeg bliver så glad i låget af det. Og fordi det har løsnet op for mine cement-hofter. 

Og så lige som de sidste ord: hvis du bor i Århus og også gerne vil prøve det dér zumba, så kan jeg varmt anbefale instruktøren Anders. Han danser zumba sammen med Kris i Fitness World på Jens Baggesens Vej og de er to humørbomber, der ryster bedre røv end de fleste. Inden længe kommer Anders også tilbage til Viby. Hvis du kommer forbi én af de timer og du ser mig nede på bagerste række, så sig da endelig hej!

English: 

The quote in the headline if from one of those songs I love to hate at the moment. The song was made by a gentleman called Lil Jon and it's a part of pretty much every zumba class I attend currently. And it's really tough but also so much fun. Another line from the song sums it all up: "If you didn't come here to sweat you need to leave right now!" 

All right then. 

A little over a year ago I was walking around the changing room at my gym. I was on my way to hit the shower while I was wondering why there was so many women in there at that excact time. In the shower a woman asked me if I had been at the zumba class too? I hadn't but I bet my head was red enough to look just like I had been there. Except I hadn't, because I didn't had the courage to do so. Instead I had been working my butt off on a bike and weight training. 

You ask why I didn't have the courage? 

At that time I had problems with a knee injury and I was afraid that zumba or anything like it would make it all worse. I had been flirting with the idea of trying out one of those classes.... Even though I would have never thought I would become a zumba-girl, mostly because it sounds kinda like something an "oldish mother in the suburb" would do. But some day, I don't know how that happened, I wanted to give it a try - I just needed a push to gather the courage. 

"Were you the zumba class too?" she asked, there in the shower. And I said no. "But you have to try it!" she said to me and talked about weight loss, happiness and fun. And she told me to attend the classes by one specific instructor. I told her about my knee and she assured me it wouldn't matter. She also promised that I wouldn't feel sore afterwards and she pretty much convinced me to try. I went straight home and signed up for the class the day after. Even though I felt like unregister again several times.

I remember thinking that 30 minutes had to have gone after the warm up. I was wrong; only 10 minutes had gone by. And I must have been thinking something like: "What is he going to put us through NOW?!" I might have to mention by now that the classes by this instuctor is not just about doing latinmoves and looking good while doing it. It's more about jumping and sweating... But then all of a sudden 55 minutes had gone by and I was still alive and I had fun too even though most of the music was the kind I don't really like. But in this context it was just fun and motivating and effective. I had fun even though I spend most of the time running around being confused about what to do and when.

But the woman in the shower was lying. I was so sore afterwards. Luckily I didn't feel it in my knees, but my calfs and my hidden sixpack were killing me! For days if I have to be honest. But I went to the class again and again and for each time I got home I had an even bigger smile on my face. All of a sudden I knew that step, and that step and I could do that jump I couldn't do when I started. And my hips could suddenly move too, even though I though they were sat in concrete. Now they could move!

I'm not saying I'm looking sexy while doing these steps but it was a big deal for me to realize that my hips could actually move too. That I could move. They can, and I can! How I look while doing it might be another talk.... But this is a central part of why I love these zumba classes; women of all ages and shapes come there (and a few men too, actually). And all kinds of different rythmic sense and ways to move, and that also means that there's almost always someone looking a little bit more hopeless than you might feel. And the whole point is that you don't really have to take it all that serious (however there's always those girls in front at the mirror looking better than the rest of us).

When I look back at my relationsship to working out in the past (and I will be talking more about this on the blog tomorrow) I would have never believed that I would find a form of exercise that I would enjoy. Like really enjoy. But I really do enjoy zumba, because it fun and hard and because it makes me happy. Oh, and it made my concrete hips move.

And the last words: If you're Århus/Aarhus based and want to try out that zumba-thing to then I can recommend you the instructor called Anders. He's doing zumba with Kris in Fitness World at Jens Baggesens Vej and they're so much fun and know how to shake booty better than most of us. Anders will be back in Viby too soon. If you come and see me in the back come and say hi!