Hi,

My friends were trying to get me do Zumba, it is not going to work for me as it aggravates my back among other painful nether regions! lol. I also do not love it, I prefer guided like on the Wii.

However, my Zumba touting friends tell me the kazillion calories burned compared to my Wii EA Active workouts, but all three friends (not mutual friends) still seem to be the same. They looked a little more toned, but no weight loss. So, does Zumba actually works or is it that my friends are doing something wrong?

are they also on a calorie restrictive diet? are they trying to lose weight? they may just be doing it for the cardiovascular benefits, the fun, and the toning and not trying to lose weight.

Just go. It's fun!

I'm all about finding what you love best. If you don't love zumba, don't do zumba! You can't pay me enough money to get into a regular running program, but I'm as fit as a fidddle without it. I feel no guilt over not being a runner. Zumba does burn tons of calories, but you can't eat those calories and expect to lose weight. A lot of people look at their heart rate monitors and say, "Oh, I burned 700 calories! I can have beer and chips tonight!"

Just find something you love that you can stick to long term.

Zumba is a wonderful exercise but it isn't a magic pill. It 'works' as a cardiovascular workout but if you're not also watching your calorie intake your weight may not change.

I agree with the others.
I do zumba sometimes on my "off days" because its fun and breaks up more intense workouts but I personally don't treat a zumba class as my workout.
It "works" really well for some people. I lifelong friend of mine has always been active (we training in martial arts together) but when she started getting zumba certified and teaching classes she actually lost about 30 lbs from zumba alone...but she also went really hard and had long hours of training. She also was eating a healthy diet.

My cousin lost 90 pounds with it, so yeah, it can work. She also stuck to a 1200 calorie diet like glue.

Gotta say though, my cousin is now scrawny. She didn't do any strength training. That would be good for your back too.

Depends on the class. I have taken Zumba at my gym and it isn't that intense of a workout. But on Tuesday nights, I go to a Zumba class at an elementary school and that one kicks my bum - like I had sore muscles the first couple times I took it.

It also depends on what you put into it. If you are just fluffing around, you aren't going to get as good of a work out as if you would taking larger steps, doing deeper bends, contracting your core, moving your arms for the full rnge of motion. But I guess that can be said about most any exercise.

I enjoy my class, b/c I have a bunch of friends that go and I feel like it is social hour and I get to sweat!

It works well, but I wouldn't say it's better than EA Active. I've done both and they are good. It also depends on how much they put into it. There were some ladies in my class that barely moved, sweated up a storm because they were so overweight, and probably burned some cals. There were also slim ones that barely moved and burned nothing. Then there are slim girls that moved a LOT because they have to to get any calorie burn because they are so dang slim. Depends on the person and the effort and on what they're eating. If they eat like crap, then nothing's going to work.

Do what you love. If it ain't Zumba, then don't force yourself to do it. I love Zumba but there's nothing worse than having people in class who don't love it because they don't contribute to the energy of the class. It's one thing to be trying it. It's another to do it constantly and hating it. Zumba really made me more fit cardiovascularly and stronger.