Twist and shout: the Latin American workout is a spicy, sensuous alternative to the standard aerobic fare

American Fitness, July-August, 1992 by Jaime A. Martinez

The Latin American Workout is a spicy, sensuous alternative to the standard aerobic fare.

Two attorneys, a dental hygienist, three secretaries, a caterer, a bank officer and two school teachers recently paraded in San Francisco's 12th Annual Carnaval. Dressed in Lycra, gold lame and feathers, they danced to the rhythms of samba, soca, batucada and salsa. As students of the Latin American Workout (LAW), these professionals spend their lunch hour shaking shoulders and twisting hips at one of the city's most unique alternative aerobic programs.

The LAW technique is not just a dance or exercise class. Incorporating the lively, syncopated, driving rhythms of Latin music into intricately woven aerobic choreography, LAW challenges both body and mind. While combining elements of dance and exercise into one integral concept, LAW offers the same health benefits as a standard cardiovascular workout. Even better, it unleashes an innate sense of sensuality and creativity.

The rich variety of Latin music provides an unlimited range of songs and tempos to create a class. A typical class will start with a warm-up of the entire body, using a medium tempo salsa or cha-cha-cha. The music builds in tempo and energy as you accelerate into the cardiovascular portion of the class. The dances can be languid and low-impact or sizzling and high-impact, depending on the mood and tempo of the music and the inclination and proficiency of the student.

Many instructors like to start with the lambada. Its twisting hips and leg dips require flexible abdominals and strong quadriceps and gluteals. Wave-like arm movements also provide a demanding work out for the triceps,biceps and shoulders. To boost students' confidence, in the studio and on the dance floor, teach the steps without a partner before you pair up.

Then try transitioning into the mambo - its hip twists work the entire upper torso, arms, hips, thighs and calves. A faster-paced merengue could follow, pushing hips both sideways and back and forth - dipping and twisting in an effort-efficient workout. Now you're warmed up for the punta, a lightening-paced hip twist similar to a hula - equivalent to a sprint for the entire abdominal wall. To slow the pace, a lilting cumbia allows you to dip back and forth on the balls of your feet and wave your arms up and down - like palms swaying to an offshore breeze. Next, slow the pace even more with a flamenco-style rhumba. Finally, try cooling down to a bolero or tango.

For a brief hour, students can feel they are in the Caribbean, or Rio, or dancing on that glossy black dance floor at the Copacabana. They're not thinking about quadriceps or biceps. They're feeling the music and singing along. This non-intimidating atmosphere tends to be more effective than the "grit-your-teeth-and-burn" aerobics classes.

When challenged by multi-cultural workouts, students not only shed pounds and define muscles, but become more graceful, lyrical and aware of their own sensuality. Many have been changed by LAW'S approach to exercise and dance - a young man who was convinced he was perennially uncoordinated and a mother of two who assumed she'd always be flabby and clumsy, for example. Their enthusiasm and new-found confidence encourages them to try more, do more.

Shaking, dipping, twisting and swirling, students can now master the same steps used at Mardi Gras in Trinidad, Bahia, New Orleans and all over the Latin world.

Jaime A. Martinez, Salvadorean dancer and choreographer, is creator and star of "Ejercicios a Ritmo Latino" video and founder and director of Latin American Workout in the San Francisco Bay area.