Is Jazzercise still a 'thing'?

Helen Bach · ‎03-12-2010

The studio close to my house has closed and I can't seem to find the dvds anywhere for sale (even eBay!)

I used to love Jazzercise so much. Zumba doesn't come close. Any suggestions for an older bird who loves group classes but can't stand on her head anymore?

Lucylu12 · ‎10-12-2010

They still have it in North Georgia. Back in the day when we lived in Florida I was addicted to it. Went 6 times a week and sometimes 7 and sometimes I did back to back classes. It was like going out and dancing. I loved it.

Vivian · ‎03-11-2010

There’s a Jazzercise studio near my home in upstate NY but the floor surface is awful and after going there just a few times I was injured. At my age, even after over 30 years of aerobics, I need to protect my joints against the wrong workout environment.

DREAMON · ‎03-09-2010

Yes ....here in Southern New Jersey there are classes held in quite a few halls etc.

sidsmom · ‎11-25-2011

Just for grins, I looked at a few Jazzercise videos on YouTube.

Has it always been high impact?

High Impact = both feet off the ground

I cut my teeth on step aerobics back in the day...early 90’s,

but it was originally low impact. I think Tae-Bo got everyone

wanting the bigger-faster-higher mindset and before we knew it,

everything was plyometrics/high impact ...and that’s where

injuries began. Have a feeling Jazzercise probably started low impact,

as well, yes? That’s all a shame...I’ve found the slow, controlled

movements are so much more challenging than momentum moves.

LoveMyBaby · ‎03-09-2010

Get Fit! Have Fun!
Workout with Jacki Sorensen’s Fitness Classes! We combine stretching & flexibility, corework, weight training and aerobic exercise into each class. Jacki’s Dance and StrongStep classes use upbeat and motivating music and you can participate at your own level. Enjoy Jacki’s safe, effective, Get-It-All-Together approach to fitness!

~~~~~~Back in the 80's I took this class regularly- forgot about it until this thread. I just went to the website to see if anything was close to my home. Turns out there might be so I'll be checking that out. This use to combine light choreographed dancing/movement - and was a lot of fun. It started with the warmup, and ended with the cooldown.

Not like Zumba, I could not do Zumba, way too exhausting - never tried Zumba Gold though, which might be more my pace.

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Helen Bach · ‎03-12-2010

I always danced in the back of the room so it was lo impact for me always. I also did step, Richard Simmons, Jane Fonda, side to side slide classes, aerobics, boot camp etc but Jazzercize was always #1 fun for me. I used to do Karen Voight's classes in LA but she'd side-eye me for keeping it low impact (not trying hard enough) haha!

Sweetbay magnolia · ‎04-14-2013

@sidsmom wrote:
Just for grins, I looked at a few Jazzercise videos on YouTube.
Has it always been high impact?
High Impact = both feet off the ground

I cut my teeth on step aerobics back in the day...early 90’s,
but it was originally low impact. I think Tae-Bo got everyone
wanting the bigger-faster-higher mindset and before we knew it,
everything was plyometrics/high impact ...and that’s where
injuries began. Have a feeling Jazzercise probably started low impact,
as well, yes? That’s all a shame...I’ve found the slow, controlled
movements are so much more challenging than momentum moves.

@sidsmom, yes, I used to be an instructor and yes, Jazzercise had us jumping. We got knocked in our evals if there was not air under the feet.

Brutal. Pointless.

Lots of injuries in the ranks. The corporate PTBs used to claim they were adding low impact, high intensity but the ironic thing was many students hated it, since they had "cut their teeth" on the jumping. I had students that would jump even when the routine didn't call for it, and they called me weak, when (of course I wasn't!) I was just doing the prescribed low impact moves. Yes, using major muscle does not require jumping. We would demo low impact (one foot on the ground always) but we were not to do it continuously unless the class was specifically labelled as such.

Don't even get me started on how she (Judi) decided to move away from stretching. Or how we were told to have no more than 6 seconds between songs, and that we were not allowed to look at our iPod to see what was upcoming (sure! I've got 16 routines to cue safely, effectively, and FUNLY and I will remember EVERYTHING). Or the machinations we went through to use all the equipment (balls, tubes, weights) even when some of the variations were terrible.

It's fun, though, and yes, it is still very much alive and kicking. If you decide to teach it be prepared for pain and much money spent.

End of rant. Glad those days are behind me.

Cogito ergo sum

LoveMyBaby · ‎03-09-2010

@Sweetbay magnolia

I'm actually glad for your rant, this is something I would NOT want to sign up for! (Jazzercize). It's been around for ages, I'm surprised Zumba ever took off. Seems very similar. Then we had Curves workout storefronts pop up everywhere- I don't see them like 5-10 yrs ago.

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