How to Train for Zumba

With catchy music, sensual choreography and a serious calorie burn built into the dance party, Zumba Fitness continues, as it has since its 2001 founding, to attract growing interest. More than 10 million people take Zumba Fitness classes at least once a week in 90,000 locations across 110 countries. Instructors note a strong demand for new teachers to teach new classes at churches, dance clubs, corporate wellness centers, and health clubs and gyms. You can train to teach Zumba Fitness even if you are a complete beginner or if you currently work as a fitness or dance instructor.

Things You'll Need

  • Workout clothes
  • Comfortable shoes
  • Bottled water
  • Lunch
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Instructions

    • 1

      Go online to the Zumba website and click on "Instructor Training." Scroll down and click "Find Now." Enter your state on the next screen and find a one-day training class in Zumba Basic. Pay for your class by credit card. At the time of publication, the cost was $225 for early registration, $270 for regular and $285 for rush registration. You must be at least 18 years old to sign up for instructor training.

    • 2

      Register in person at 7 a.m. on the day of your course and be prepared for instruction from 8 a.m. to around 6 p.m. Wear comfortable shoes and workout clothing and bring bottled water and food for lunch.

    • 3

      Work on the basic steps of Zumba Fitness -- salsa, reggaeton, merengue and cumbia -- with your Zumba Education Specialist or ZES. She will teach you how to put the steps together into a song. You'll learn the history of Zumba Fitness and be invited to join ZIN, the Zumba Instructor Network, which for $40 a month provides you with choreography DVDs every three months, "megamix" CDs with new music periodically, and half-price off additional training for Zumba Fitness specialties such as teaching child and water Zumba Fitness.

    • 4

      Learn how to conduct a real class yourself. You'll be instructed to select two to three warm-up songs for the first 10 to 15 minutes and slower cool-down songs for the final five to 10 minutes, notes Dana Cala, a licensed Zumba Fitness instructor in Baltimore, Maryland. For the main workout of the class, you'll learn to select songs that steadily increase the heart rate of class participants, working from merengue to salsa and then more aerobic steps. Your goal is to provide a full workout based on the principals of interval training, which alternates high exertion with brief recovery periods.