REVIEW:
ZUMBA: HEART RATE AND BACK PAIN
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Two recent studies investigate whether Zumba fitness classes
can provide workouts that are not only effective, but also safe.
WORDS: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MIKE CLIMSTEIN & JOE WALSH
Title: Zumba Gold®: Are The Physiological
Responses Sufficient to Improve Fitness in MiddleAge to Older Adults?
Author: Dr’s Dalleck, Roos, Byrd and Weatherwax.
(Dept of Recreation, Exercise and Sports Science,
Western State Colorado University, USA)
Source: Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
(2015). Volume 14, pp689-690
Introduction: We’ve been looking for
scientific articles on Zumba for quite some
time, but until recently couldn’t find any
that met our criteria – then late last year we
found two. It seems unlikely that you don’t
know what Zumba is, but in case that is
the situation, here’s a quick overview: it’s a
dance fitness program that was developed
by a Colombian dancer and choreographer
in the 1990s. Zumba consists of dance and
aerobic components, which lends itself
particularly well to group exercise. The
dance elements include hip-hop, mambo,
merengue, samba and soca (also known
as ‘the soul of calypso). It is estimated that
Zumba is in 180 countries with almost 12
million participants each week. Previous
research (Luettgen et al., 2012) has reported
that participation in Zumba resulted in a
heart rate of approximately 80 per cent
of age-predicted heart rate max and an
average caloric expenditure of 360 kcals.
However, this heart rate intensity may be too
high for many mature-aged individuals.
Zumba isn’t just one style of class,
however: the focus of this research study
is Zumba Gold, a modified form of Zumba
that is tailored specifically to mature-aged
individuals. Dr Dalleck and his colleagues
investigated the cardiometabolic responses
24 | NETWORK AUTUMN 2016
of Zumba Gold in this demographic.
Methods: A total of 16 male and female
senior participants (average age 64 years)
volunteered to participate in this study
which involved two visits to an exercise
and sports science laboratory. On the first
visit participants had height, weight, resting
heart rate, maximal heart rate and maximal
oxygen consumption (VO2max) assessed.
During the second visit to the laboratory,
participants completed a 45-minute Zumba
Gold class during which cardiometabolic
responses were assessed. The researchers
utilised a portable calorimetric device to
assess energy expenditure and a Polar
telemetry heart rate monitor to assess
exercise heart rate response.
Results: The average heart rate
response of participants for the 45-minute
Zumba Gold class was approximately 114
beats per minute, which corresponded
to approximately 50 per cent of the agepredicted heart rate reserve and 50 per
cent of the participants’ VO2max. The
participants expended almost 200 kcals of
energy in the 45-minute class (4.2 kcals/
min for female participants, 5.0 kcals/min for
male participants).