"Zumba" by Beto

Review

Zumba by Beto is one of the newer weight loss infomercials on television. It sells a fitness and weight loss program, which focuses on a Latin dance derivative of traditional aerobics. It is also sold at the website zumbafitness.com . Zumba was designed by a well-known South American fitness instructor named Alberto "Beto" Perez, who has recently taken his brand of aerobics to south Florida health clubs. The program consists of three videos, which focus on basic steps and more advanced moves that are common in popular Latin dance such as Meringue and Salsa. A book of Beto's healthy eating recipes and tips is included. The 30 day trial is free for s/h of $6.95 and the eventual cost is $59.95.

As far as workout videos go, the focus of Zumba is an improvement on most others. It focuses primarily on exercise, while stressing over and over again that it is fun. Learning to enjoy intense exercise is by far the most important trait for long-term weight loss success. But despite the obvious focus on convincing overweight people that aerobics can be fun, I am still skeptical. Fun exercise is mountain biking, tennis, hiking, climbing, going out to dance with friends or a loved one, etcetera... It is best to focus on these type of lifestyle exercise sports and activities for even more fun and long term weight loss success.

I have never seen an infomercial for fitness or weight loss that was so focused on sexual images of beautifully sculpted, voluptous women and men. All this adds up to an overly optimistic workout video. One should always be dubious of programs that sound too good to be true.

But take the advice of Zumba by Beto: lose weight by having fun. For weight loss and general fitness we are much bigger fans of lifestyle exercise activities such as tennis, hiking, walking, cycling, dancing, climbing, etcetera... These are the type of activities that you don't think of as exercise and sustain themselves in the long-term. Add a basic food program or one of the simple and inexpensive online programs for structure and support, and you have the best possible option for success.