Zumba: An Investment

One of my weekly goals is to exercise at least 4-5 times a week. Motivation plays a huge role in how often I work out and how hard I push myself. My husband and I decided to buy a membership to a local gym in January when they gym was advertising its New Year's Resolution promotion. We got our $60+ enrollment fee waived and we only pay $19.99/month. This includes tanning, saunas and childcare (although we don't currently have any kids). Not such a bad deal.

Despite this, the gym is 20 minutes away. Gas is *choke* nearly $4 a gallon. A few more of my hairs suddenly turned grey just thinking about it. Additionally, if my husband isn't around, I'm not all that gung-ho about driving my hiney the 20 minute trip by myself. I also find that if my husband is not in another room at the gym busting his own hiney, that I don't really push myself as hard as I could. I'm somewhat competitive, so if he's there with me, I want to beat him. I want to do more reps than him or calf raise more weight than him (I've got some manly calves - we can calf raise about the same weight and I can do more reps - although I'd better lay off or I'm going to have calves like Mr. Universe) or burn more calories than him on the treadmill.

So since my husband's got plenty of lazy days of his own where even he is not motivated to go work out plus the fact he tends to get shipped off to Never Never Land for training for his job, I will tell you about the absolute best motivating and stress-relieving workout routine that I use in lieu of the gym.

Zumba is my absolute favorite form of working out. Hands down. How can you beat awesome jams to get your groove on to along with a great support team of hilarious and motivating ladies (and sometimes dudes)? Now I tend to pick up on dance moves pretty quickly, but even if you have 2 left feet or have a mobility issue, Zumba is an amazingly fun and intense workout. All of the dance moves can be modified for different types of mobility issues; there are even people who use wheelchairs that do Zumba!

It's said you can burn up to 1000 calories per hour of Zumba. Now I'm not so sure I burn that many calories, but I certainly come home dripping sweat in every crevace of my body.

Now don't get me wrong, Zumba is by far from inexpensive. It can be quite costly even. However, it is an investment in my opinion. Good health through exercise (and a healthy diet) can reduce the risk of many commonplace diseases that can be fatal. Think heart disease and diabetes. If you prevent these diseases, that's fewer doctor's appointments and hospital visits which means less money you're spending!

Amy Miller at ZQ Amy in Somerset, MA (formerly Dighton, MA) is where I started Zumba'ing in December of 2010. She's an inspiring and motivating instructor who will keep you on your toes. She frequently changes the playlist so you're never bored.

Her brandy new studio (opened in March) also happens to be about 10 minutes down the road from me, so that's less than half the gas than dragging butt to the gym!

She includes several options within her rates. You can buy a monthly pass (go as many times as you want to her classes for a month) for only $65. This is the best deal if you're hardcore. I was at first and went 6 days a week!

If you know you're not going to make it most nights, you can buy class cards that never expire. A class card for 10 classes costs $50 and a class card for 20 classes costs $75.

I started out with the monthly pass until I let up the frequency of going. Now I buy the 20 class card. It breaks down to $3.75/class. If I go once a week in addition to my gym time, I can make up the $3.75 by skipping 2 coffees each week. Not so bad when you think of that way, right?

This is one of my favorite songs to Zumba to, although the dancers in the video are not Zumba'ing here!

Happy Couponing!

-Coupon Mama Massachusetts