Zumba moves
Zumba is zooming through gyms and health clubs across the nation and Butler County.
A little known exercise style two years ago, now classes can be found everywhere from public and private gyms to college campuses.
Holly O'Lare, general manager of the Butler Health and Fitness Club on Duffy Road in Butler Township, said zumba is the "biggest trend in exercise right now."
O'Lare, who also is a personal trainer and a group-fitness leader, described zumba as a one-hour, dance-cardio class set to Latin music.
"Participants mimic the instructor's movements through a number of songs with three or four movements per song," she said.
Karen Perry, assistant director of Campus Recreation at Slippery Rock University, said Zumba is so popular that it was requested by SRU students.
"Zumba is the biggest fitness class on campus," she said. "Last semester we started out with a class of 15 to 20 students. Then the number doubled and doubled again, until we had a class of 200 students."
SRU will continue the classes this semester, and Perry said she expects Zumba's popularity to just keep growing.
Part of the reason for its popularity is that it is accessible to a wide range of people."It's easy to catch on to, and for any age or fitness level," O'Lare said.As for those who might be slowing down just a bit, Kim Groves, fitness and wellness director for Passavant Retirement and Health Center in Zelienople, said the trend is to blend function and fitness."Balance and strength are the keys to people being more independent," she said, adding that classes using chairs for balancing on one leg or doing leg lifts for lower body strengthening are popular.As for those retirees who want a little more action, Groves said indoor pickle ball is a crowd getter.Played on a badminton court with a ping-pong paddle and a whiffle ball, competition can be fierce, she said, and participants work up a sweat.
