Students can dance their way through an hour-long workout during one of the Huston Huffman’s 11 Zumba classes offered each week. The workout craze came to OU this summer and is taught in more than 40,000 locations in 75 countries, according to Zumba’s official Web site, which may or may not be one’s key to fitness success.

“It can be as hard as you want it to be,” said Zumba beginner Catherine Payton, political science junior. “If you’re getting really into it and jumping around a lot, you’re going to work out really hard. If you’re just kind of half doing it, you’re not going to get a great workout.”

Each Zumba class consists of a full hour of dancing with intervals built in for faster and slower movements matched to popular music, allowing participants a break between higher intensity pieces.

“You go fast pace then you slow down a little, so you’re not completely worn out by the end of it,” said zoology senior Lauren Nichols, who recently started Zumba classes.

Although some get through a Zumba workout without breaking much of a sweat, Kate Leonard, adult and higher education graduate student, said she has burned up to 1,000 calories during one class.

“It’s more of a workout than I thought,” said Leonard, who wears a heart monitor to track how many calories she burns. “I looked at the calories [I burned], and I thought ‘holy cow.’”

According to Fitness Magazine’s calorie calculator, it would take more than 90 minutes of jogging at six miles per hour for a 130-pound woman to burn the same calories. However, most say Zumba is much more fun than jogging and other workouts they’ve tried.

“You let go and have fun,” said Malinda Williams, assistant director for the Huff and a Zumba instructor. “It’s a party atmosphere.”

Based on Zumba’s spreading popularity and the increasing participation in the Huff’s classes, Zumba dancers agree. Williams said her first class of the semester had 38 students, and 56 had joined by the second week. Up to 65 are allowed in each class, and Zumba dancers say the choreography is easy to pick up.

“They use a lot of the moves over and over again,” said Catherine Payton, political science junior. “Most people catch on. I saw a couple girls, and if they didn’t get something, they just kind of danced around.”

Williams said the workout helps develop core strength and, due to its duration, provides a cardiovascular workout. Best of all, Leonard said, you forget you’re even doing work.

“You just dance,” she said.