By Sherell Williams Email the author February 5, 2013

Annandale residents will have another new option for exercising starting Wednesday when Chakaboom Fitness opens their Zumba classes at the Annandale Volunteer Fire Department.

The company will hold a grand opening at 7 p.m. on Feb. 6. The Zumba classes will be offered three times a week Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and all classes will begin at 7 p.m. Each class is $7, but the tickets are cheaper if multiple ones are purchased in a package. The first class is free to first-time students, according to the Facebook page for Chakaboom.

“It’s a lot of fun. We’ll bring lots of fun music, great energy. It’s a great place for a lot of people to meet and make new friends and to work out and have fun,” said Leo Lins, part owner of Chakaboom Fitness and co-creator of LatinMix Fitness. Lins co-owns Chakaboom with Roberson Magalhaes, who is also the co-creator of LatinMix Fitness.

This will be the third location for Chakaboom Fitness, which offers Zumba classes in Burke and fitness classes such as Chakatoning, Kangoo Jumps in Franconia. The Franconia classes are held at the Franconia Fire Station located at 6300 Beulah St., and the Burke classes are at the Burke Fire Station located at 9501 Old Burke Lake Rd.

The company just celebrated their second anniversary at the Franconia location in January.

Lins said he and Magalhaes considered Annandale as a potential location two years ago when they first decided to begin offering classes, but said “it wasn’t the right time, so we opened Franconia first”.

“Annandale is a great location, great community, and is a great place,” said Lins, who added that the addition of the Annandale classes will not affect the schedules at the Burke and Franconia locations.

Prior to opening the Franconia location, Lins and Magalhaes taught classes in gyms across Northern Virginia. The classes, Lins said, gave the two the chance to combine their passion for aerobics and choreography with a fun, high-energy exercise.

Lins met Magalhaes when he was 18. Both men are originally from Brazil and have fitness experience that ranges from competition to coaching. Lins, who has worked in the fitness industry for 12 years, is a three-time Brazilian National Champion and two-time PanAmerican Champion. Roberson has more than 20 years in the industry and has nine World Aerobic Gymnastic titles.

Their background in training and competition inspired the movements and music used in the Zumba classes, according to Lins.

“We saw Zumba as a great opportunity for us. It’s a lot of fun. We love what we do and we love training and coaching. So we thought about using those same skills to spread the energy and fun to other people, people who want to work out and have fun,” said Lins.

For the time being, only Zumba will be offered at the Annandale location, but Lins said they would consider opening additional fitness classes soon.

For more information about Chakaboom Fitness, visit chakaboomfitness.com.

In recent years, Zumba, the Latin dance fitness program, has surged in popularity across the U.S. The American College of Sports Medicine says the program is one of the hottest fitness trends this year. VOA’s June Soh visited Chakaboom Fitness in Alexandria, Va to find out why. Read more.

Op, op, op, op, oppa Gangnam style! It was just a matter of time before fitness enthusiasts capitalized on the thigh-burning effects of the Gangnam Style dance. And that time really could not have come quickly enough.

Dance centers, fitness clubs, Zumba instructors, flash mobs locally and worldwide, as well as personal at-home fitness video instructors have taken the song (and the choreography!) and put their own spin on the routine for one cardio-blasting, muscle-burning Gangnam Style workout. And we’ve all noticed.

The routines in these dance workout videos incorporate side-to-side movements, squats, intense jumping, and the signature “ride the horse” move that will get your heart rate up and force you to use those thigh and butt muscles for a serious burn. There are even a few ballet movements and grapevines in theat-home fitness video by Cassey Ho, certified Pilates and fitness instructor, below—be sure to check it out!

A special shout out to this Korean Dance team who put together a routine that is nothing short of awesome. Note: We don’t recommend trying this in 4-inch spike heels. (Serious props!)

Finally, Chakaboom Fitness in Virgina takes home our prize for the most, “Wow, that looks like a good time!” routine, making us want to jump out of our chairs and give it a go right now.

Hilariousness aside, these are actually quite the cardio workout. So channel your inner Psy and ride that horse! In the end, don’t be surprised to be walking down the street and hear, “Aaaaayyyyyyyy sexy la-daay!” yelled in your direction after you’ve sweated it out Gangnam Style and earned yourself that perky booty.

Zumba, the Latin-inspired dance workout that is more like a wild party scene than a strict exercise regiment, has salsaed into the top 10 fitness trends for the coming year, according to a report being released Thursday by the American College of Sports Medicine.

“Zumba has experienced a rapid surge in popularity in the past year, but we’ll see if it’s a trend or just a fad,” says lead author Walter Thompson , a professor of exercise science at Georgia State University.

The survey, conducted since 2007, is designed to identify trends in areas ranging from career opportunities to groups of people being targeted to specific workouts and to help the fitness industry make business decisions for the future. ACSM surveyed more than 2,600 fitness professionals to compile the top 20 fitness trends for 2012. A total of 37 potential trends were given as choices.

Zumba appeared on the list for the first time and jumped in at No. 9 along with other dance workouts. It super fast forwards merengue, salsa, flamenco — and even belly dancing — and other international dances, leaving participants breathless and sweaty.

“Zumba is exercise in disguise,” says Josie Gardiner , 65, a Zumba-certified instructor in Boston. “It’s fun. When people hear the music, they get moving. They lose weight, too, and feel good about themselves.”

Created in the late 1990s in Colombia by Alberto Perez , Zumba classes are now offered in 125 countries in 110,000 locations, according to Gardiner. More than 12 million people take classes every week with some drawing a 100 or more followers in dance halls and night clubs. It’s so trendy even the current New Yorker has a Zumba cartoon.

“It’s not competitive and you can move in and out of the dancing at any point,” says Gardiner, a convert who was the American Council on Exercise 2005 Instructor of the Year. “You don’t need a partner. My background is in ballet, so really anyone can do it. There are classes for all levels, even for people now with Parkinson’s and people in wheelchairs.”

Also new this year: outdoor activities, climbing in at No.14.

“Some commercial clubs are starting to structure outdoor activities for small groups with very specific goals,” says Thompson, who lives in Atlanta. “Stone Mountain is near me, and I’ll hear about clubs offering walks up the mountains.”

Pilates, balance training and stability ball remained out of the top 20 trends after being included for several years. Pilates was in the top 10 from 2008-2011, ranking as high as No. 7 in 2008 and 2009. It fell out of the top 20 in 2011. Thompson thinks the Pilates fade is due to the expense of the equipment and specialized instruction in “tough economic times.”

Source:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/exercise/story/2011-10-27/Zumba-brings-the-dance-party-into-the-health-club/50940786/1

If you sense something burning at the Franconia Fire Station, don’t worry — it’s just calories. Six days a week, Roberson Magalhaes and Leonardo Lins take over the station’s bingo hall, crank up the music and teach Zumba, a Latin dance-based form of fitness that’s celebrating its 10th year of getting participants to “Ditch the Workout, Join the Party.”

Maybe that slogan should really be “Ditch the Gym.” That’s because popular instructors are building such enormous followings that they can’t fit inside typical health club exercise studios, which are rarely designed to handle more than 50 students. So several have started businesses to cater exclusively to the hordes of Zumba zealots, and they’re finding that no matter where they set up shop, they often don’t have enough space to meet demand.

Related Topics: Franconia Fire Station and Zumba Fitness

Source:

http://lorton.patch.com/articles/photos-of-the-day-zumba-fitness#photo-7319614