The scenario — you found different lists of video workouts on YouTube about Zumba but you do not know exactly the videos ideal for beginners. Instead of clicking the play button, you just browse and browse and browse several channels until you found yourself still sitting in front of your laptop.

As you go over the results from your query, several questions popped into your mind leading to hesitations. One of those questions includes whether the Latin-dance workout really works or not.

Why doubt? Because you personally know someone doing Zumba regularly but not losing weight at all. Of course, your eyes can’t deceive you. However, there are factors that your eyes may not see and only experts can explain.

Experts say Zumba works

According to the American Council on Exercise, the result of the study it commissioned showed that the participants in the single Zumba fitness class lost an average of 369 calories. The number of calories is enough to burn two scrambled eggs or a chicken salad in a vinaigrette dressing.

Zumba can also burn extra calories because it resembles the interval workout than the steady-state jogging. Based on the heart-rate monitor strips showed in the study, the Latin-dance-inspired exercise showed a fluctuation between high intensity and low intensity. The intensity fluctuation is the distinct feature of interval workouts.

According to the American College of Sports and Medicine, HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training), a type of interval workout, has improved abdominal fat and body weight of a person while maintaining muscle mass. It showed 6% to 15% increase in burning of calories.

The number of calories that you’ll lose in Zumba fitness is decent enough to take the risk if you want to try the exercise for a month. Along with low-calorie diet, you’ll see the changes in 30 days.

Let’s get started!

Effective free workouts on YouTube for beginners

Here’s a good line-up to start as a beginner. It’s an hour-long exercise starting from warm-up to cool down. It has both cardio and toning exercises that give you a full-body workout.

The workout structure

A full-body workout must target specific body parts including back, biceps, chest, triceps, shoulders, calves, legs and abs that you can achieve through toning workouts. You can rearrange the workouts but always put the abs workout in the middle of your routine.

The toning workout will give you the muscle stretch. This is the time when you feel like you want to give up. The secret to complete the routines is endurance.

For the cardio workouts, you may start sweating after two or three cardio routines. However, if you find yourself not sweating at all, you may not be in the proper form. Avoid slouching your body during the entire dance workout even when you squeeze your abs. Make sure that your arms are at the right level as you stretch it and lift your thighs and legs as high as you can.

Your workout structure should begin on warming up and end on cooling down.

Why warm up and cool down important in Zumba?

Because Zumba increases your heart rate when you perform it, warm up is essential to reduce the stress on your heart. Warm up helps you to condition the joints and tendons as you perform stretching. Your muscle also benefits during warm up as the muscle temperature gradually increased for optimal flexibility. It increases the oxygen supply in the muscle.

Cooling down is necessary to avoid the formation of lactic acid that can result in stiffness and muscle cramps. The key to an efficient cool down is stretching. Stretch as smoothly as you can and do it slowly. Inhale when you’re in the hold position and exhale when you stretch.

Now you know the basic of Zumba, it’s time to record your current weight and waist that will serve as your baseline. You can encode the data in your food journal where you input the number of calories you eat a day. If you’re aiming to lose two pounds in one month, make sure to cut down your calorie intake because the key to weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise. What are you waiting? Check out the workout videos for beginners.