I trained in ZUMBA back in early 2009, and as a professional fitness trainer (25years), who has trained for years in the world of health and fitness, which includes an in depth understanding the anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, nutrition and biomechanics of the body. The ZUMBA Certification is a scam as far as I am concerned. The training consists of learning a handful of basic foot moves (dance steps), along with how to queue ie direction when teaching, and that is basically it! You can do this online or in a group, and has ZERO professional requirements and discredits those of us who are professionals. You then have to pay monthly to use the word ZUMBA, which totally deems the certificate pointless and worthless, and if you pay, you can use the name and teach, however, if you stop paying, you cannot say you are qualified and are unable to teach ZUMBA! It's a true scam and now they are trying to add alternative ZUMBA classes including CIRCL Mobility, which is promoted as Stretch and Mobility Classes. They have to stop! The so called 'instructors' are NOT trained to teach any such skill, no training has taken place to learn the anatomy and the understanding of how to stretch and mobilise joints. I have clients who come to us for injuries following these ZUMBA classes, because the instructor doesn't have a clue about the anatomy and therefore causes injuries. The Fitness Profession has to stand up and speak out about this. STOP these monthly subscription Certifications which have NO skill involved. They are dangerous and money making scams. If they want to train a ZUMBA Instructor, they should be taught the equivalent of the "Exercise To Music' qualification, which is an in depth training course, covering skills any group class instructor should have before teaching a group of any kind. Once you have the qualification, you are then 'qualified', end of... no subscription, and no different to any other qualification ie driving test, any degree or normal qualification. And the general public who attend your class will know you have the professional skills to protect them form injury. Currently, ANYONE, any age, zero interest in health or the body, can sign up, pay the money, watch the course, and then as long as they pay monthly, can SCAM the public that they are a PROFESSIONAL in the world of Fitness - hence why I am so infuriated why this can happen. We have to stop this, it's dangerous.
Zumba.com never stopped charging in excess of $47/mo anf even more for their membership to keep being able to teach using the Zumba name/logo. We instructors lost all of our classes in 1 day! They never gave us a discount, and had an assistancen program that required all of the gyms you worked at to provide proof of employment, when we all know the Pandemic was at its worst last year. I couldnt afford to keep paying, and I didn't think it was right for them to ask of that when:
1. This was not an individualized situation, but global.
2. They kept sending out ads for us to buy merchandise even though they knew we werent teaching, because gyms were close internationally.
3. I tried to cancel with them in October 2020 and they charged me for Nov 2020! I let it go until they charged me for Dec 2020 and put my account in the negative. They would give me a refund so my bank went aftrr them, and refunded my money. I LOVE TEACHING ZUMBA, and Beto Perez was my hero (so I thought). He kept getting richer while we were dying of a deadly virus! They never offered us a suspension option, and told me if I canceled I had to pay $175 to rejoin, after I have spent thousands making them millions! Never offered any stress free considerations even though the country was on lockdown, and I taught for free til Oct 2020-paying for zoom membership to do so. Thank God for a few donations that helped a little. When they finally had a platform for us it was so complicated tonuse for ME and my students, that I lost a lot of them due to poor streaming quality. They never reimbursed me for the 2 mknths and are making me have to oay $175 to return as ZIN! They are not about helping. They are about profit, and don't care about their members or subscribers!