GET HEALTHY HERE

ZUMBA INSTRUCTOR

KASSLE MCLEOD

 

Kassle is a Zumba instructor at Arkadelphia Health Club in Arkadelphia. Currently, her classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:30 to 6:15pm. She has enjoyed Zumba to stay active for the past ten years and has been teaching Zumba classes for four years.

 

 Zumba is a mash up of dance and aerobic exercise that incorporates styles from various dances: hip-hop, contemporary, samba, salsa, and merengue.  Kassle likes to keep her classes interesting and challenging by switching up dance styles and adding different elements to each class like lunges, abs, and even dancing with weights.

 

Beginners, intermediate, and advance fitness levels can all get a great workout and her class is home to people of all ages and all levels of fitness. Kassle guarantees that “anyone can do Zumba and if you stick with it you will advance super quick!”

 

Why Zumba? “You will get the satisfaction of a great workout and gain self-confidence. The classes yes can be challenging but I try to make them fun and you learn different styles of dancing in the process.”

 

For those who might be nervous to try a group class with no experience in dancing, Kassle assures everyone that it is fun and all can get better with time. Just show up and try! She recalls when she was a beginner, “The first time I ever did Zumba I fell over and landed on someone’s water bottle, breaking it.”

 

Kassle also works for Group Living in downtown Arkadelphia. At Group Living, she works with adults with mental disabilities. She feels blessed to work with such great people and truly loves that job. “I’ve learned what it takes to make others and yourself happy. Life is precious, so live it up!”

 

Health is a huge component in Kassle’s life. Aside from being a Zumba fitness instructor at the gym, she also enjoys being outside horseback riding and hiking. She loves kickboxing and swimming when she can too.

 

Healthy snacks that she enjoys are apples or bananas with peanut butter. Drinking water is very important to health and portion control is the hardest part of a healthy diet. Getting the nutrition on track and exercising are very important her.

 

Her trick to stay motivated is a good workout playlist. “The first song is a warmup with slow cardio followed by fast cardio, then toning songs, and an ending cool down song.”

 

Music really energizes her workouts but surprisingly there is one other trick that gives her an extra boost of energy. “I usually take a shot of pickle juice before I workout”