If you think your salsa and mambo days are behind you, you haven\u2019t taken Eunis Christensen\u2019s Zumba Gold class at the Pacific Beach\/Taylor Branch Library. On first glance, you might not have realized that the 17 students \u2014 all over 55 and some over 80 \u2014 were working out. But they are. The theme of the experience that has been sweeping the nation with classes for young and old, active and sedentary, is “Ditch the workout; join the party.” And party it was on a recent Monday afternoon, as the women \u2014 men are invited, but none were present this day \u2014 stepped, swayed and swung their hips to the zesty Latin music. At the front of the class, 67-year-old Christensen was having just as much fun. Zumba Gold takes the Zumba party-fitness atmosphere and modifies the pacing and the impact so the moves, including a combination of mambo, salsa, merengue, tango and flamenco, are easier on the body, said Christensen. “My purpose is to bring the joy of movement and rhythm,” she said. “It\u2019s so good for our cognitive processes, as well as the traditional cardiovascular benefit of exercise.” Zumba, a Colombian dance-fitness program combining dance and aerobics, was created by dancer and choreographer Alberto “Beto” Perez during the 1990s. According to enthusiasts, there are 12 million people taking weekly Zumba classes at more than 140,000 locations in 150 countries. Christensen said she wasn\u2019t originally a dancer. “Following dance steps never came easy to me,” she said. Rather, she was a fitness buff and bodybuilder who was named San Diego Ms. Muscle Beach when she was 39. “During my 50s, though, work stress and caregiving duties interfered with fitness and I gained 50 pounds over a seven-year period,” she said. She started training as a Zumba instructor, received her certification and began teaching in April 2011. “I loved the Latin rhythms,” said Christensen. “I grew up hearing them. Mom was Panamanian. There are Latin rhythms in my blood \u2026 Now, I am happy to say that with return to exercise, particularly Zumba classes, and careful attention to diet, I have lost those 50 pounds and maintain a healthy weight.” Zumba Gold is moderate aerobic exercise, aimed at beginners, boomers, active seniors, expectant new moms and anyone who hopes to get into shape or stay there, she said. “I have a heart for anyone who wants to exercise, but hates to go to the gym,” according to Christensen. She said the exercise is ideal for people with high cholesterol or blood pressure. She described the dance as slower baby steps. “You feel the music at your own pace,” she said. “A person can come in a three-left-footer and leave having had some success.” One student, E. Bass, 80, said that in spite of her big knee brace “that keeps me walking,” she has fun and enjoys the music at Zumba Gold. “I can\u2019t do regular aerobics because it\u2019s too jarring to the joints,” said Bass. “Here, I don\u2019t have to jump and I can pace myself. The Latin music makes me feel like I\u2019m not exercising.” Another student, Lori Libs, a 55-year-old chiropractor in Pacific Beach, said, “It\u2019s just so much fun. It\u2019s dancing more than exercise. I definitely recommend it to my patients. I recommend anything that\u2019s healthy and fun.” Christensen teaches the free classes at the PB Library, 4275 Cass St., at 4 p.m. Mondays and at 10 a.m. on the fourth Saturday of every month. She also teaches at other San Diego city libraries. Basic higher-impact Zumba classes at the PB Library are held at 10 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month. Christensen believes Zumba Gold is so popular “because you don\u2019t have to be a fitness buff to enjoy it. It reaches the woman in the street, the grandmother. Everybody likes to dance.” And judging from her students\u2019 smiles, she\u2019s right. \u2022 Zumba Gold,<\/b> (619) 299-0778, www.cashfitliving.com Pacific Beach\/Taylor Library,<\/b> (858) 581-9934, www.sandiegolibrary.org.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you think your salsa and mambo days are behind you, you haven\u2019t taken Eunis Christensen\u2019s Zumba Gold class at the Pacific Beach\/Taylor Branch Library. On first glance, you might not have realized that the 17 students \u2014 all over 55 and some over 80 \u2014 were working out. But they are. The theme of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":259020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Age, inactivity no barriers to Zumba workouts","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}