BENGALURU: With schools shut and worries about stepping out to playgrounds looming large,seven-year-old Pari Malik decided to the join her mom’s zumba classes to get her daily dose of physical activity. Many children like Malik are showing in interest in fitness classes which have made experts introduce classes exclusively for the younger lot.
“When I used to go to school, there were many activities, including physical training sessions. Being at home, I hardly do anything. It’s very boring,” says Malik, a Class 2 student. Now, her days are not as mundane as they used to be during the lockdown. Instructor Jenifer K Sharma, who started virtual classes for kids after noticing their enthusiasm, initially started them for adults, and later modified it for kids. This further pushed her to start exclusive classes for children.
“I used to take classes for children too, but stopped due to the lockdown. Now I’ve resumed with virtual classes. Kids love music and dance, so I let them pick their music for the day too,” says Sharma whose classes have close to 35 children. The sessions, mostly on weekends, run for 40 minutes, which include water breaks.
Jason Demark, choreographer and fitness enthusiast says he decided to come up with a second session of his zumba classes for kids starting from July, after he got a good response from his first session. “I have always taken classes for adults but was not sure about how the online classes would work out, especially for children. But I got 20 registrations for my first session which happened between April-May,” says Demark. He further added, “I do something called Zumbini, a genre of zumba designed for children , which combines music, dance and educational tools for 45 minutes.”
In addition to live classes, pre-recorded sessions are also being held which can be accessed at any time.
Celebrity fitness expert, Wanitha Ashok, who also runs a similar session for kids, says, “I don’t want to restrict myself or the children to a particular timing or leave them at the of mercy of the connectivity
of internet. So for my session, which is three days a week,I send them a video each day, with activities and cardio workouts. They can follow that at any time of the day.”