Think dance-based group cardio workouts like YMCA Arriba are just an hour of mindless booty-shaking? Think again! Program development manager Sherry Perez breaks down a typical Arriba class to reveal how we trick you into working out:
- We take our warm ups and cool downs seriously.
A warm up helps gradually elevate your heart rate, lubricate your joints and ready your body for what’s coming next. It also preps the mind and motivates the spirit. Arriba warm ups are energetic, fun and easy to follow to ensure you feel competent, confident and excited for the rest of the class. Cooling down is just the opposite - it gradually brings your heart rate back down and lengthens or stretches your body to avoid excess stress from tight, shortened muscles. - Notice how we suddenly switched from a slower salsa song to a super fast-paced pop song? We did that on purpose.
Arriba is designed as an interval-based class. Our playlists, which are chock full of different genres, purposely lead you through a variety of intensities. With high intensity songs we spike your heart rate to your cardiovascular peak, then we give you a moderate intensity song/rhythm with large movements to help your heart recover while still providing maximum calorie burning benefits. - Enjoying all the shoulder-shaking, booty-moving, hip-twisting dancing? That's also known as a full-body workout.
Arriba gives you the chance to get lost in music, get energized, and get inspired by those around you. What you may not realize is that in between all the fun we've sneaked in squats and lunges – two highly effective exercises that can be easily disguised as dance moves. In our Soca rhythm songs you will usually find jumping jacks and running to help sky rocket the heart rate, and in Reggaeton you will see us really bend our knees and sink into the floor to fatigue the lower body. - Feeling too tired to keep up with the instructor? Don't worry, just keep moving!
YMCA Arriba is open to people of ALL fitness levels and abilities. Our choreography is as user-friendly and inclusive as possible, meaning that every move can be modified to be either low- or high-impact. If we can’t think of a way to modify a move, we scrap it. We want to make sure that people can work as lightly or intensely as they feel in any given day. Our instructors are always high-energy, but that doesn't mean you have to follow their every move – the instructor's enthusiasm is meant to inspire you to push yourself to do your personal best.5. After the class, have a chat with your instructor. She’s got a lot of knowledge to share about group fitness.
Our instructors are Certified Fitness Leaders through YMCA Canada, which means that they've completed more than 30 hours of intense, hands on learning about muscle physiology and movement mechanics.
