Hi! Tell us about yourself and your training
Hey guys! My name is Travis Algarin and I’m a Zumba Instructor! I’ve been teaching Zumba for over seven years now and it’s been the most incredible journey so far in my life!
I started out as a shy anti social 19-year old taking videos of Zumba Events as a videographer and one day I was told to take my B1 (instructor training) to become a Zumba Instructor so I can go to the 2014 annual Zumba Convention to film it with the hopes of eventually becoming a videographer for Zumba.
A week after taking my training I was contacted to sub a class for an injured instructor and I was very hesitant because I had no plans of ever actually teaching. With the help of my friend (including my now fiancee), I decided to go ahead with subbing the class! After teaching that very first class I instantly fell in love with it and never looked back!
Since then with a lot of practicing and marketing I’ve broken out of my shell, found my calling and I’ve traveled to teach Masterclasses in Japan, Ireland, Belgium, South Korea, London, Spain, Canada and all over the United States!
I’ve also been chosen to be one of the Top 5 finalist of Zumba’s Next Rising Star Presenter, which is a worldwide talent hunt and have presented at the annual Zumba Convention and on the Zumba Cruise!
Describe a typical day of training
As a Zumba Instructor, we have to come up with choreographies for our classes to songs from all over the world that is easy enough to follow but also fun and exciting so I spend a lot of time searching for songs through YouTube and Shazam!
Funny story, I come up with my favorite choreographies either when I’m driving on….using the bathroom haha I also make sure to keep up some sort of resistance training, which makes my body stronger and be able to give the most energy I can to my classes.
How do you keep going and push harder?
What keeps me motivated and drives me is the constant need to improve.
What keeps me motivated and drives me is the constant need to improve. I constantly see new things I can learn with my craft and I always strive to be able to give the best of myself to my students so I can feel like I gave them the best experience I could possibly give them. Anything less just won’t do for me.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
So right now for everyone life has definitely changed a lot. I was very used to traveling and was forced to have to change to the virtual world, which has been such a huge blessing in disguise.
At a time where I felt very tired and exhausted from the travels I found a way to be able to still connect to people from all over the world without leaving my home, my fiancee and our fur babies, which was something that I missed so much during my travels.
I teach multiple virtual Zumba classes a week with one being a give back free one to the Zumba Community if they wanted to take my class but couldn’t afford it due to the pandemic. So for now the future looks promising with new ways to do what I love to do without constantly being away from my family.
How do you recover, rest and handle injuries?
Haha so for me, the second I feel like there might be something hurting I will completely stop everything (as long as I’m not traveling). I will immediately find subs for my weekly classes and go into complete self care mode (my fiancee would also kill me if I didn’t lol).
Between massages, using my theragun, catching up on much needed body rest/sleep and stretching I keep myself from getting injured.
How is your diet and what supplements do you use?
So my diet haha well all I could say is my fiancee is an incredible cook and she makes me eat healthy while also enjoying it so much! I can’t say I have a strict diet but I definitely try to eat as healthy as I can.
Our favorites we like to eat are meals like hoison sriracha chicken w. white rice & carrots, whole roasted grape fruit chicken, home made burgers w. Lean ground beef and salmon and rice plus can’t forget the air fryer meals YUM! We can’t say that we don’t sneak in some delicious desserts….we have to live too haha
What has inspired and motivated you?
There’s definitely some people out there that inspire and motivate me such as The Rock, Will Smith, Kevin Hart and my friend Nate Offer. Seeing their drive and work ethic always pushes me to do more than I’m doing at that moment and to always go for more.
Advice for other people who want to improve themselves?
Whatever you do, study and do it the best that you can. Perfect your craft as well as you can and remember there’s always the light at the end of the tunnel. You got this.
Are you taking on clients right now?
Well, I teach Zumba Virtual classes on Tues/Wed at 7pm (EST) and Fri/Sat at 12pm (EST)! $5 per class with Tuesdays being free! Zumba is a dance fitness class featuring international rhythms! We have a blast and it’s a class straight from your home where you will the be most comfortable at!
Where can we learn more about you?
You can find me on Facebook at Travis Algarin and on Instagram at @zumbatravis!
7 thoughts on “This is How Fitness Makes Me Stronger and a Better Zumba Instructor”
Travis has traveled to Ireland several times – hosted by our amazing Zumba Jammer Justyna . I have always attended his MC here . We love him! I have not been well enough to attend his online classes but I hope to soon!