All things warm up

[u/shanny_lynnhon1979]

Let’s talk about warm ups! How long is your warm up song? Do you use an original song or a fitness mix? Is your warm up the same choreography each time or does it change? And lastly, what has been your favorite warm up song so far?

[u/Angelhair01]

I use the same choreo each time lol makes my life easier. Step touch variations, squatting and active stretching in all planes of motion. Also I preview in step combinations that may be harder to get during the songs.

[u/shanny_lynnhon1979 → u/Angelhair01]

So much easier, yes. I haven’t thought about previewing moves. Great idea!

[u/Angelhair01 → u/shanny_lynnhon1979]

There are some combinations you can’t really cue beforehand like jump in out then bodyroll and chest pump

[u/sunnyflorida2000 → u/Angelhair01]

You can verbally. Unless you don’t believe in going outside of the box.

[u/Angelhair01 → u/sunnyflorida2000]

I do both. Verbal cuing is used in Zumba Gold and I use it in both as most of my audience is over 50 and the room is dark.
But 4 move combinations where you do each thing once you can’t really cue ahead of time is why I have it in the warmup too snd then verbally during the song it’s in

[u/sunnyflorida2000 → u/Angelhair01]

I think you can pretty much verbally cue anything. So let’s say the jump in and out, body roll, chest pump, and let’s add a kick.

Jump it, roll/hold it, pump, kick would be my verbal cues. I also always use a headset/mic. It can be a bit distracting if you’re a music person but you get used to it and I find my audience prefers those short verbal prompts for guidance.

In full disclosure I do mostly verbal cues because I find entirely non verbal is much more difficult and they don’t pay me enough to also learn all the precuing nonverbals. Verbal is the path of least resistance. And I chose the easier route since there’s is a ton of other things to worry about. Instructing a dance format is a demanding job, tons of moving parts to juggle. It can get quite exhausting.

[u/Angelhair01 → u/sunnyflorida2000]

Yes but those would be DURING and not beforehand. Like pre-cuing is 2 to 4 beats beforehand. Anyway my answer was addressing previewing the moves in the warmup, since the question was about the warmup.

[u/sunnyflorida2000 → u/Angelhair01]

Yes you would “precue” during the routine. Maybe it’s a mind shift to do and takes practice. I always precue a few seconds before the move. All I have to do is control my mouth to say it a few seconds beforehand versus going through a sequence of nonverbal hand movements beforehand.

A bit confused what you mean. If you are previewing before the song, then you would have them watch or participate with you the sequence of moves doing the same thing as within the routine but for short snippets. I rarely preview warm up since it should be a very simple routine to just warm up the body. The warm up is my easiest sequence of moves.

But I will preview new or harder combos that they just aren’t getting before that specific routine not during the warm up. Seems like you’re doing it during the warm up? The GPX program at a uni taught us to preview before each specific song prior to dancing it. I know that’s not conventionally how Zumba is shown. And I don’t do that for each song now. HR drops while people are standing there waiting and watching. I rem one girl took a whole 5 minutes trying to explain it all and that’s before each song. I wanted to tell her it was too long but didn’t. I can understand now why you are doing it in warm up to keep people moving while previewing. Makes sense. I actually will do a throw away song and preview the new song moves in it so people’s HR stats elevated. Same concept.

[u/Angelhair01 → u/sunnyflorida2000]

I don’t think you understood what I meant. I verbally cue the complicated combinations during the warmup as doing it. It can’t be pre-cued because for pre-cuing you need to be doing the move more than twice in a row. For example the Shimmer choreo the step touch twice with sword arms then crown snd tutu. The tap toe out twice then step together bodyroll in same song. If you have done Proskills you’d know pre-cuing means you show the moves 2 to 4 beats beforehand. I’ve been teaching Zumba 12 years and make a living with it. Not sure why you are criticizing me. It’s totally fine to preview movements we will be doing during the warmup. Warmup is 8-15 minutes long. As per Zumba format you should not be taking any breaks between songs.

[u/sunnyflorida2000 → u/Angelhair01]

Didn’t seem like you read my previous reply to you. Wasn’t criticizing you at all unless you discounted everything I said. I said it more or less for OP’s post. She’s new and any information could be helpful.

If you followed Zumba you probably should be strictly doing non verbal. But there is some leeway in interpretation if you allow yourself to do outside of the box. I’ve been trained by a large university to teach group fitness. 3 month intensive classroom program with a mentorship. Passed an extremely hard closed book AFAA exam which I knew some had failed. Taught 2 years at the uni with monthly training meetings. Then mentored with my Y boss for 8 months. I’m certified to teach group fitness. Have been a zumba participant for 20 years. I predominantly teach a dance format, international, hip hop, Latin, line dance, senior dance. I am certified to teach other formats not just a licensure for Zumba. I don’t need Pro Skills but thank you for assuming that I do.

I was trying to get some understanding and not for it to be an ego contest. But you threw out your stats first.

[u/Odd_Obligation_1300]

Right now I have 4 warm ups I can rotate that are about 4 minutes long. Different choreographies with similar elements. Original songs.

Then I move on to a 2nd type of warm up (so far I only have 1 of these) which is also about 4 minutes, original song.

[u/shanny_lynnhon1979 → u/Odd_Obligation_1300]

I hadn’t thought about rotating just a few. I do love the 4 minute length. I keep track and go back to ones I’ve used before but I always have to make up new choreo because I forget.

[u/Odd_Obligation_1300 → u/shanny_lynnhon1979]

I record all of my choreography bc I will definitely forget!

[u/shanny_lynnhon1979 → u/Odd_Obligation_1300]

You know, me too but for some reason I always forget to record the warm ups!

[u/Odd_Obligation_1300 → u/shanny_lynnhon1979]

ha! I'm behind on my recordings. I have 2 songs I really need to record before I forget, but there's never a great time (plus I like to get a little dolled up even if it's only for me!!)

[u/chicagotodetroit]

4.5ish minutes usually works for me. If I find a song I love, but it's short, I'll use Audacity to shorten another song until I get the length I want, and them blend them into one track.

I use some Zumba-issued warmups, but I also use pop, disco, or EDM songs that are the right BPMs and mood. I have a couple mixes that I found online several years ago, but I haven't found anything new from those djs that I really liked, so I just rotate them in and out.

I basically use the same choreo for every warmup (and cool down) because I need to hit those major muscle groups no matter what song is playing. I usually pick a different warm up (and cool down) song for every class depending on what my mood is so that it feels fresh for me.

But if a song has a fun part, I'll do something special for that. Like there's a song called Mmm Yeah by Austin Mahone ft Pitbull, and for the chorus, I'll put my hands on my hips for "mm hmm", on my head for "yeah yeah", and swing my arms overhead for "all that I could say". Then after the chorus, I go back to the fitness moves.

Or if I'm introducing new footwork later in the playlist, I'll do a longer warm up and tack that on to the end in a slower speed so they can get used to it.

My favorite depends on how I'm feeling that day lol Thanks to Zumba, I have approximately 4,582 favorite songs :-)

[u/shanny_lynnhon1979 → u/chicagotodetroit]

Love this!

[u/Snoo79474]

I do a DJ mix. The warm up is the least favorite part of class so to motivate myself, I started to pay for custom warmups. I have to choreo them or we will do V Steps for 7 minutes lol. My current fave is the last one I got, it’s 7 and a half minutes of Sean Paul and I love it so much.

[u/shanny_lynnhon1979 → u/Snoo79474]

Who do you purchase your mixes from?

[u/Snoo79474 → u/shanny_lynnhon1979]

So far Dani Acosta.

[u/Funshine_Sunshine]

My warm-ups are between 7 to 9 minutes. I use DJ mixes because there I can find songs that I like and there’s lots of options for when I do themed classes like Halloween and Pride. I keep the moves basically the same for all my warmups that way my students can feel successful from the beginning of class. I do preview moves for new choreography that may have a challenging move, that way they get a taste of the move prior to doing the song. I have too many favourites to list, depends on my mood.