Zumba Classes ?'S

I love, love, love Zumba!! I am quite heavy but I have no problem keeping up with everyone else. It is not hard to learn at all! I've only been doing it for two weeks and I've lost three pounds! You sweat like crazy but it is so much fun that you hardly notice! Good luck, I hope you will try it out! P.S. I would check with your doc about wheather to try it with your high BP.

Zumba to me is like an hour of dancing. Whether you feel that "works" for you, is up to your discretion. I think more or less its just a good way to exercise for fun. When I was doing Zumba I also joined a 6 week body boot camp and I did lose weight from that. But I was also watching what I was eating.
About the blood pressure question, my MIL has HBP and she was able to do Zumba, but she also did kickboxing and the body boot camp. So you will probably have to try it out and see how it goes.

I agree with the other ladies- I LOVE Zumba! It is so much fun. I use to go dancing a lot when I was young and single and Zumba gives me a chance to shake my hips without my kids rolling their eyes at me. ;-) You can make the workout whatever you want it to be. I also agree with Randi that you may want to check with your dr about your high blood pressure and any excercize. Good luck and have a blast.

I have been going a couple of weeks. It's the single most popular class where I go. This is what I have discovered. - you can work as hard or not as you want. The results will be based on that. The steps are fairly easy but fast. You can either just walk through them or really throw your hips into the moves. The dances are fast, but repetitive. Just trying to keep up the 1st few weeks I had a couple laughs and really sweated something crazy. I stood in the back and as long as you are moving it's ok. I'm still mostly walking through. But as they are becoming more familiar to me, I am concentrating more on moving my hips and not just my legs. I am trying to isolate my abdomen muscles and I can feel my stomach is sore the next day now. There's not much upper body going on. Mostly all lower body, hips, and stomach are used. I know it's cardio because my heartrate goes way up and I sweat so much.
I'm going to keep doing Zumba twice a week, because it's fun. It's good for my mood and I feel good when I'm dancing, sweating, and laughing. I look forward to it. But I'm also going to incorporate a more traditional workout 1 night a week. I miss really stretching and working my muscles.