Body Pump 71

I had deliberately taken the day off work so that I could attend the Friday filmings for the GFX Carnival. I hadn't attended a GFX event before, so I wasn't sure on how different it would be to normal filmings.

For regular filmings, you can rock on up to the studio like any other class and then go in and set up your gear, like any other class. Naturally, there's a whole lot more demand for things like steps, risers, bars and plates - sometimes you can get crushed by the large number of people clamouring for stuff - though GFX takes it to a whole other level.

The Body Pump 71 filming was due to start at 9:10am, and on a normal filming day, I would probably arrive there at 8:50am and wait to set up my stuff.

Because of GFX, however, there was a massive line of instructors that wound down through the stairs of the group fitness studio, even going down outside onto the street. I was absolutely slackjawed at the number of people waiting to get into the room. Patrick and I had been chilling out in the gym cafe, having breakfast and a natter, and while he had to go to reception to get a padlock, Fred and I headed off to the line - we were naughty and knew that Hannah was in line already and pretty much jumped ahead of everyone else. (Sorry, everyone else!) The instructors all seemed to know what was going on, but since I'm a member and it was a work day (that, and I don't hang out at LM Auckland Central as much as I do at New Lynn), I wasn't very aware of what was going on or what the procedures were.

But never mind - we got there, and before we knew it, the line was moving and we entered the studio to find all of the steps laid out neatly on the floor, with a bar, and some plates placed on top of it. I was an idiot and initially thought "oh crap, there's no steps left!", being used to setting up my own gear, and it took me a while to figure out that the gear had been placed there for us and all we had to do was claim a step and modify our weights to suit our needs.

I was quite lucky since I had told Glen that I was going to set up my gear outside the sound booth, and thankfully, after realising that I just needed to find a free step, the closest free step to me happened to be right outside the sound booth. Phew! He spotted me and came over to give me a hug, the only thing he managed to say was "You're exactly where you said you would be!" Heeee... he didn't know about what a fluke it was that I ended up being where I said I would be.

The presenters for BP71 were Mark Sinclair, Glen Ostergaard and Susan Renata. The outfits were very simple and athletic this time around, though Susan Renata was wearing a cropped long sleeve top that had her signature abdominals on display and causing every other woman to go absolutely green with envy.

We started off with the warmup and squat tracks, which went through pretty smoothly, though problems started happening when we were getting ready to do the chest track. For some reason, the music didn't start. The class waited, and waited, and waited - Mark Sinclair, who was presenting the track got irritated and said something along the lines of, "YOU JUST PRESS THE BUTTON WITH THE ARROW ON IT!!!" The participants laughed, and continued to wait.

I can't imagine how hard it must be for presenters to try and keep the energy elevated and the buzz maintained when there are technical difficulties (never mind how hard it is for the technical staff running around to try and sort out the difficulties), though there was something about this particular Pump class that meant despite the waiting, everyone maintained a good mood. So much that after continuing to wait, another participant piped up loudly, "Are we there yet?", which again, sent everyone into hysterics.

Mark Sinclair sat up and tried to keep everyone entertained by telling us about a story he'd read in the newspaper about a scottish dwarf who used to do a comedy act by coming onstage naked with a vacuum cleaner hose attached to him - and one time he had to use superglue to attach it. He said to us with a disapproving expression, "You can guess what happened."

The knockout blow came from a Pump instructor towards the back of the room that said in her beautiful Scottish accent something along the lines of "We do that sort of thing in Scotland every day!". OH, too funny! I loved sitting there and hearing the participants of the class pipe up this way. I've seen this sort of banter go on at New Lynn - normally the classes in Auckland Central are too big for this kind of thing to happen, and filmings are more packed than a regular class, so it was great to see that even with so many people, the light hearted nature of the participants still shone through. It certainly made what otherwise would have been a rather uneventful wait into a funny, memorable period of time.

Finally, we got the chest track under way - and it's a great chest track; not the milestone track of BP70, but I like it, and I know it'll be a popular track when it hits the globe.

From the chest track, we moved into the back track, which Susan presented. There are a few little bits of interesting timing where as an instructor, you'll need to feel the music to know where to pause as instinctively, you'll want to do something else. This caught Susan out during the filming, where she went to start doing a set of dead rows when she should've paused instead. You could tell from her expression straight away that she knew the mistake she'd made, but she was a star as always and carried on with the rest of the track. She's been teaching that track for the last three weeks and just her luck, the day that she made a mistake was the day it mattered - awww! As a result, we had to do the first set of the back track again - it's a killer of a track, so it was a big effort having to do it even once, never mind a second time, aaahhhhhhh!

More hilarity ensued when Susan was off to the side shifting her bench around and moving her weights - something slid off and she, LOUDLY into her microphone yelled, "FUCK!!!". I've heard Glen swear before, and I've heard Mark Sinclair be grumpy before, though I haven't ever heard Susan swear and from the sounds of things, neither had a lot of people in he class that day. The amount of energy behind her swearing, it was so intense that everyone couldn't help but laugh, it was yet another classic moment.

I wish I could supply photos for this class, but we were told that all cameras would be confiscated - they were really trying very hard to make the events of GFX a secret. This is why, even moreso, I'm not revealing too much about the choreography. While I've said many times on this blog that I cannot reveal choreorgraphy and music spoilers, I still generally make comparisons to previous releases. This time, I'm taking a bit more care because of the extra protectiveness that Les Mills has taken this time around.

That being said, there will be a lot of fans of BP71. I thoroughly enjoyed the filming - there was something in the air that day amongst the participants. It wasn't the OMG INSAAAAAAAAAAAAYNE energy that I've experienced in filmings in the past - the Attack and Step filmings from the last quarter had that. This Pump filming was different. It was just like, everyone felt comfortable with each other. We were a bunch of Pumpers who had never met each other before, but were relaxed and having a good time. It was refreshing, and fantastic.

To me, it is that feeling that is the essence of Les Mills - how so many people from so many different walks of life can be brought together and feel comfortable.

I can't even begin to explain how awesome that is. :-)