It was 9 a.m. on a Monday and the Palace Pool Club was starting to form a crowd on the dance floor. Nope, this wasn’t the usual party people waiting for their turn at the bar, scantily dressed and duck-faced, ready to go wild at the drop of a DJ’s beat. The revelers were a happy lot of women (and a few men) all eager to stretch their muscles that non-working holiday morning.
The reason? Top Zumba instructor Monica Pulgarin was in town and was teaching a special master class before flying out to Dubai the next day. Monica was endorsed by Zumba founder Beto himself, so the Zumba-crazy community here was excited to meet her.
“I have fallen in love with the Philippines and the Filipinos. Maybe because I’m from Colombia and we are very similar in a lot of ways.” That was how the Zumba class began, like a concert where the pop star thanks her audience.
The crowd was a mixed bag of Z Babes — Zumba aficionados from the Polo Club, society types, celebrities, supermodels, bloggers and friends of Skechers — the brand responsible for that morning’s Zumba-thon. Earlier that day, the invited guests were made to try on and keep their Skechers Sport with memory foam. Yes the same technology that give us good sleep is now in cross trainers. I tried one on and it was like having a soft bed on my foot!
So onwards to the Zumba action. People think that Zumba is a girly thing. They may be right. But just because it is centered on dance and Samba beats doesn’t make it easy. In fact it’s a full-body workout as it teaches you focus and coordination. Imagine being in a room full of energetic souls and having to zero in and groove to the choreography of your instructor — for an hour nonstop! It helps that everyone around was pretty and friendly so a whole dance floor of smiles and sweat make Zumba even more fun.
A BRAND-NEW START
Of course, like in any other sport, there are times when you just wanna give up. When you can’t bear the heat. When you’re already sweating so much you can’t feel your face. When the person in front of you who’s double your age can do it 100 times better than you. But what sports does is to train your mind to compete with yourself. To let your body flow with what it can do and what it can do better, with the right training, focus and determination.
These things don’t just happen overnight. I’ve been wanting to be a fitter version of myself from the time I opened my first club. But 10 years or so after, I’m making a brand-new start, a recommitment to fitness, my long lost brother.
It feels great to be back — to wake up at sunrise for a morning run, do yoga on days that I don’t run, sneak in a gym session or two, learn a new sport or take an indoor cycling class on weekends. In fact, as I type this, my mind is on my first 10k race, happening right now as you read this column.
It’s gonna be 9 a.m. on a Sunday and I would have been on my way home from a club, seeing people running on the streets with me wondering to myself where did they all come from? Only this time it’s different, because I’ve stepped into their shoes.
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More sports, more life @officialtimyap on Twitter and Instagram.