Jazzercise classes don’t feel like exercise

• Her background: “I was in horrible shape,” Nancy Sheppard, 53, says of her physique a year ago. “It had been a long time since I had really done anything structured. I have a treadmill and a bike here at home. I’d go up there and do a token here and a token there,” says Sheppard, who lives in Duluth and is retired from Delta Air Lines. When her blood pressure, cholesterol and clothing size kept getting higher, she says, “I knew I needed to do something.” She started a diet program but the weight wasn’t coming off quite as fast as she had hoped.

• What got her moving: A friend told Sheppard she should try Jazzercise at Atlanta Athletic Club because she would probably know a lot of people in the class. Sheppard tried it and found that she did enjoy being with friends while working out. “I tell people, ‘I enjoy Jazzercise, I don’t like to exercise.’ ” When she incorporated exercise into her weight-loss plan, the pounds starting coming off.

Enlarge this image

ADRIENNE HUGHES-HARRIS/Special

Nancy Sheppard gets into Jazzercise at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Enlarge this image

ADRIENNE HUGHES-HARRIS/Special

There’s more to it than just dancing, she said.

Related workout stories:

• Having a pup can firm you up 
• High on hula: Atlanta in the loop of the latest exercise trend 
• Jogging club has a mission: Chasing the fear of crime 
• Walk-N-Tone exercise video whittles off a size 
• Jazzercise classes don't feel like exercise 

• Photos: Workout routines you can do at home
• Topic: Atlanta Fitness
• Get ready for the AJC's Peachtree Road Race
• Back to Health news

• A typical class: While some people may have the misconception that Jazzercise is all dancing, Sheppard says there’s actually a lot more to it. She says the class combines dancing with hand weights, and by the end the participants are usually on the floor doing Pilates moves. “We work on core; we work on abs; we work on obliques; we work on metabolism; we get our heart rate up. The fact that you can get all that done in an hour, it just keeps you going,” says Sheppard. “

• Her results: Between eating better and doing Jazzercise, Sheppard lost 60 pounds in less than a year. “I’ve gone from a size 16 women’s to a size 8,” she says. “I went to the doctor and had a physical back in October; all of my numbers are really, really good.”

• The mental side of Jazzercise: “It makes you concentrate,” she says. “You use your mind, your core, it’s just a total body workout — mentally and physically.”

• Her workout week:

Sheppard takes Jazzercise two to three times a week, and on the other days she gets in 30 minutes of cardio on her treadmill or exercise bike or by walking outside.

• Her next goal: She’s lost plenty of weight but Sheppard says, “I just want to firm up more.” She plans to continue with Jazzercise but possibly hire a personal trainer, too.

• Her advice: “The hardest part is getting started. Whatever it is you start you’ve got to make that commitment to stick with. There were some weeks with even doing Jazzercise and dieting that I didn’t lose a pound but I had to keep looking at the goal ahead. I broke it down into small increments. Even though I had a big long-term goal, I set small little goals and celebrated them.”