I officially started teaching a permanent Zumba class at 24 Hour Fitness La Cienega Sport back in April! The class takes place every Sunday at 9am. The address is: 5045 W. Slauson Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90056.
And I am happy to announce that starting in July, I will also be teaching Zumba at 24 Hour Fitness Mid Wilshire Active every Wednesday at 8pm! The address is: 3699 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 110 Los Angeles, CA 90010.
Come #MoveItWithMaria — get your *FREE PASS* and check me out!
Last week, I had the chance to teach a few routines in one of my favorite Zumba classes! There was a special two hour “Neon Party” Zumba class at 24 Hour Fitness. I was a ball of mixed emotions — excited to teach routines to my workout buddies and scared that I would be hard to follow.
My playlist included songs I really liked that I listened to a lot — and chose routines that had some basic patterns… But somehow I managed to make it complicated inside my head. I practiced the couple of nights before to these six songs:
The day of my teaching debut — I was so nervous that I was watching Zumba routines (#2 + #5 from above list) during my lunch break and making notes! Yup, notes! Like I was studying for exams! Who even makes choreo notes for learning Zumba routines!? o___O I do!
Still excited and scared for the class — I showed up with my notes and when my songs came on, I went to the front of the class and tried to teach the routines as well as I could (I even posted my notes on the mirror). Good thing Kim Marie (instructor and one of my fit-sporations), Celeste (guest instructor) and my classmates are so supportive! I’m still not where I want to be… but I feel a bit more confident and comfortable to teach a routine. Next fear to face will be facing the class (and not just looking at myself in the mirror when I’m teaching). Baby steps… 🙂
My friend Breyda was able to record me teaching! @__@
It was a great experience and I am grateful for Kim Marie‘s support! ❤ Photos from the two hour party are below. 😉
Well… It finally happened! I have been passionate about Zumba so much that it has lead me to overcome my shyness and sign up for the instructor training. I was always checking the instructor training schedule to see what was close by, but when I saw Gina Grant was teaching — I told my friend Taylor that THAT was the instructor I wanted to be taught by! I mean, she is definitely one of my faves… And she was nothing less than amazing!
Taylor and I signed up to take the full day training course and we graduated (along with the rest of the students who signed up)! Photos from a couple of months ago when we had our training day at Work Out World in Anaheim, CA:
I have since joined the Zumba Instructor Network (ZIN), created my Zumba website and I am listening to music to gather my playlist (and practicing my routines) in hopes of teaching soon… I hope I can find a job. O_O
One of my zumbalicious friends who also went to the dancehall master class shared this video with me! It’s one of the routines that was choreographed by Latoya Bufford and Cat Chiemelu!
I attended my very first zumba master class this weekend! It was two hours of zumba and dancehall fun! The instructors that led the routines were LaToya Bufford and Catherine “Cat” Chiemelu — they were so amazing! It is beautiful just to watch them dance. This event was hosted by the lovely Zumba Kiki (sooo pretty) and she also led the zumba portion during the event. All the sweaty fun took place at Stevenson Park gym located at 17400 Lysander Drive, Carson CA 90746.
Here I am BEFORE I danced my booty off…
Here is a hyperlapse video I put together on my IG (@richmade_m). The song in the background is Jump by RDX. n_n
I can’t wait for my next zumba event!
Having cute workout gear makes me more pumped to get to the gym. Here is one of my outfits I wore for Zumba class and some light weights afterwards…
My gymflow:
This weekend was filled with some quality time with friends, family and myself! I went to my regular Zumba class on Saturday and met up with friends I’ve known since the 8th grade later on that evening. I hung out at my Mom’s house on Saturday night and stayed over to do my laundry.
My Mom does not hang too many things on her refrigerator, but she does have a few magnets with positive and uplifting messages. Like this one, for example, “Rich is not how much you have, or where you are going, or what you are… Rich is who you have beside you.” So true… Isn’t it?
On Sunday, I got a good workout in at 24 Hour Fitness in Santa Clarita! This gym was the cleanest 24 I have ever been to (I currently have a sport membership). I did my cardio in the Zumba class and then went to the smith machine for a lot of weighted squats and lunges! Here is a sweaty selfie…
When I came back to my Mom’s house, my sister Chef Banana had a delicious sandwich prepared for me! Tuna with mustard, tomato and cucumber on toasted wheat bread.
Chef Banana and I went to the market and picked up some ingredients for ceviche. I saw something really strange — limes were at the store for $3.49/lb — which is pretty pricy! Apparently, my sister knew that there was a lime shortage and that’s why the prices were so high. Anyway, we grabbed what we needed and she prepared the ceviche.
All fresh ingredients: shrimp, tilapia, tomato, onion, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeño, serrano chile (only one because they are so hot), lemons, limes, salt and pepper…
After the ceviche was chilled in the fridge, it was ready to be served! We had tortilla chips with the ceviche (not pictured).
She also prepared a spring mix salad with sesame oil dressing and croutons.
And for presentation purposes, Chef Banana did practice her plating skills. I like how the ceviche is presented in both the glassware — the martini glass makes it a bit more fancy…
That was my weekend recap — I wish all weekends can be filled with loved ones + sweat + yummy food!
For my Birthday this year, I really wanted a Zumba-themed party. I have been enjoying my Zumba classes SO much that I thought it would be nice to share my love for Zumba + dance with my friends.
I am not a great planner so organizing it stressed me out a little bit. Some stuff that caused me a bit of anxiety… Will my friends come to a Zumba party? Is everybody going to enjoy Zumba? Which instructors will be available? Should I request my favorite songs? Can I find a space? What time should I plan it? etc. etc.
After finding a studio to rent and deciding to hire my two favorite instructors (Kim and Miss Debi), the party was on! We had so much fun! My friends who have never taken a Zumba class participated and did awesome!
The party was broken down into two parts. The first hour was all Zumba taught by Kim — songs I remember dancing to were: Boom Shaka Laka, Crank Dat Soulja Boy, El Merengazo, In the Summertime, La Aguafiesta, Metela Sacala, Salsa Bali, Talk Dirty, Vivir Mi Vida (I special requested this Salsa) and No Wiri Wiri (which might be my newest fave)! Kim had all of us in a good sweat!
After our cool down, we transitioned into some sexy Burlesque style dancing — and that is what the heels were for!
Below is a group photo with Miss Debi + me + Zumba Bunnies (what we call ourselves because we hop around to several Zumba classes in different locations — and I don’t want to be a Zumba rat)!
Miss Debi made us bring our *SEXY* (sexual confidence) out that night.
Too much fun!
richmade 