Shake your “chico state”!

My fiancée and I went to our first class on Latin Dance tonight at our local community college. We figured we would retain more in a semester class rather than signing up for lessons weeks before our wedding.

So what was the first class like? FUN, FUN, FUN! Our instructor was a little fireball cracking jokes to make the students feel at ease.

She advised the men to respect the women by maintaining eye contact and avoiding the gray zone (chest). The women were instructed to give up their divine leadership skills and master the art of following (something this, ahem, self anointed leader has trouble with).  In the very first class we worked on our merengue steps by alternating knees so that our hips shifted causing our derrières to shake. She called it, “shake your Chico state” because in one of her former classes a female student wore sweat pants with the words “Chico” (for California State University Chico) across the bum. This female student was particularly good at shifting her hips causing “Chico” to shake! We all had a good laugh and spent the next 90 minutes practicing our merengue with inside and outside turns.

The saying, “time flies when you’re having fun,” is right! And fun is the key to keeping those resolutions going!

You have to crack a smile or two (hopefully more) when you’re exercising. But is dancing, social dancing, really a work out?

Yes, it sure can be! I wore my pedometer to class to count the number of steps taken during class and I recorded just over 2,000 steps. 2,000 steps roughly equals a mile and that isn’t bad in for the first of many classes.

An hour of ballroom dancing burns approximately 354 calories.

Our class is just under 2 hours and once we really starting shaking, we’ll burn calories while having fun! So if you are at the gym pounding away at the treadmill, inject some fun in your workout routine! Hiking, a dance aerobics class, or just walking with a partner will help take the “work” out of working out.