Zumba at Paradise Fitness brings physical and mental health benefits

I chose to move last year to a city I had never seen: Fallbrook.

I was still grieving, depressed and stuck in my life. My girlfriend had died two years earlier of breast cancer. I picked an apartment in walking distance to Club Paradise Fitness. Six months later, I had enough of the depression and walked into a Zumba class that helped bring me back to the living.

Though I had danced with some of the best in Hollywood, I wasn't prepared for this Zumba teacher's class. Her name is Perla. Her energy and smile let me know she was not an ordinary Zumba teacher and this was not an ordinary Zumba class.

When Perla and her friends get rocking I believe they could raise the dead.

Full disclosure, I am the only male in the advanced classes. While waiting for the Monday 6:30 p.m. class to start, a big man with a red beard who looked like he just stepped out of the octagon in ultimate fighting stopped and stared at me.

"We all admire you for going in there," he said in a gruff voice.

"Wow, I guess that was a compliment," I said in my head.

It wasn't long before my depression faded into the past, and I was able to start writing books again. I believe it was in February when I realized my blood sugar was dropping at a fast rate. A month later, one of the women announced she had lost 82 pounds. It was then I became more aware of the determination in these women's eyes.

Each one of them were on a mission. One woman was intent on slimming down for her husband who was deployed out of the country. Another had a college reunion in a few months. The overriding reason bringing them all together can be summed up in Perla's mantra "Stronger Together."

It's the slogan on her "Go Fit" T-shirts. It's a feeling they all have: that they can do this. She brings the femininity back into their heart. For every silent goal out there is a determination in their faces that can't be missed.

The sessions are not easy. The teacher and camaraderie make it doable. And there are surprises, like when she pulled out her whistle and pointed at me.

She wanted my attention, and she got it. It wasn't to go left, it was "go right" and get out of the way of her train of girls running around the room.

Is it exciting? You bet it is. For those girls who struggle, she gives them an encouraging smile that says, "You can do this."

Perla has been teaching for 10 years. She turned 40 last week. She has twins and an older son. I have never seen her without a smile.

Laura Wendling echoed her words.

"It's like meditating for me. I can't think about anything while I'm doing Zumba," Wendling said.

Many of the women agree. Even teacher Perla who told me Zumba was her antidote for her hyperactive nature.

There is a high level of confidence building going on in these classes. Coordination, confidence and creative dance makes it a blast to be part of the group.

Music is integral to the class. Perla has her routines and music planned for each class, and they are not repetitive. This is important because spiritual gurus will tell you that music can raise your energy level. Raise that energy level and stick out the 50-minute class before stretching and you will in short order be stronger, more coordinated and in great condition in six months.

The website, She Knows, estimates at 130 to 150 pounds for a 60-minute class, you will burn 450 to 550 calories per class. With Perla's classes, which are intense and keep the movement going non-stop, I would say you can count on 550 to 700 calories burned per class.

A search on Google that quotes Dr. Porcari, a professor of exercise physiology and research in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, said a Zumba workout is good for strengthening the core and for flexibility, all gains for the participants.

Not only stronger and slimmer, but the classes rock. So maybe there is some part of Paradise inside that mirror surrounded room inside Club Paradise Fitness.

Classes are held daily during the week, and there is a Zumba light class for seniors at noon three days a week.

Don Reinhart Jr is the author of "Mind Blink" and "Unmasking Your Dreams" on Amazon. His vocation is miracle work that he practices world wide.