Cardio & Earthquakes

Jamming it all in: Part 11

2012-01-30T08:00:00.002+13:00

I woke up on the final day of the module with every part of my body hurting. I had initially thought of going into Britomart early to go through my second track, but even getting out of bed was a mission. Heck, every single movement I made was an absolute struggle, and my head was absolutely throbbing; kinda like being kicked in the face by a horse.

I listened to my track over and over, though had to force myself to concentrate - I found myself very easily drifting off.

I hadn't been to the doctor at this stage, and didn't know the extent of the injury. My track involved a lot of upper body undulation, and that probably was not what was the best form of activity for it. When it came time to present, my focus wasn't on others on the floor, it was barely on the music, and it certainly wasn't on my coaching. I was trying very hard to not cry out every time I performed the move which is effectively a body roll.

You can see the move demonstrated in the routine here at 0:14, and explained at 0:31 in this clip.

Yeah okay it probably doesn't look like much from afar, but I can guarantee you that everyone on that stage is getting some serious ripple action on during that move.

I may not have cried out every time I had to do the move, but T could tell that it hurt.

Throughout the day, I kept convincing myself that anything I felt wasn't because of the crash, but because of the general soreness from the module. Everyone in that room was hurting, so I felt embarrassed everytime T looked at me with concern and said, "Raina are you okay?"

I of course, tried to overcompensate leading into our final presentations and asked if I could teach a warmup. T said I could teach the first track which I presented as a warmup before doing my second track later on. Just because I'm insane like that.

When it came to giving us our outcome, T told everyone in the group straight away that we'd passed. I let out an audible sigh of relief. I didn't expect the news to come so quickly, especially after how long Sarah took to tell me last time.

It took a while to sink in. I couldn't have pictured that just passing the initial module for Jam would have taken that much time, and that much effort. I also couldn't picture how much continued time and effort was ahead of me. After all I wasn't out of the woods yet. I still needed to certify.

R.I.P, Hernan

2012-01-28T14:30:00.001+13:00

By now most of you would have heard the news which has stunned the Les Mills community - the news of Hernan Lopez's passing.

I didn't actually know Hernan, not even well, at all. I wasn't a regular in his classes, and I don't think I've ever had a proper conversation with him.

I don't teach Combat, so I haven't experienced his presenting on the DVDs, apart from the couple of filmings I went to where he was on the presenting crew (BC40, BC43, BC46).

If he knew anything about me, it was that I made this photo of him.

This was immediately after the BC40 filming (the one where he blurted out I AM KUNGFU PANDA in the middle of I Know Kung Fu)

My lack of knowing him didn't meant that I wasn't stunned on hearing the news. I know that he was loved and adored by many the world over, and an inspiration.

What I will know him for his teaching what would be the most hilarious classes that I've ever experienced. One time I was in his class and my pants were starting to slide down, so I stopped the chorey to pull them up. Hernan spotted this and yelled out to me "NO! LEAVE your pants!! Let them fall down!!!" I don't think I've ever encountered another instructor which has encouraged me to let my pants fall down in class.

Even though I don't think I've ever spoken to him, every time we crossed paths, I would get that trademark smile which just had that way of lifting up your spirits. I know that smile will be etched in peoples memories and hearts forever.

While we are all left reeling from he loss of an incredible personality within the Les Mills community, what we are feeling is probably but a fragment of how his family and friends are feeling right now.

If there's anything that can be taken from this, it's to spend your lives doing what you love with the people you love. Take every chance to tell the people that you care about that you do care, and cherish every moment.

We are all human. And it can all be taken away from us in a heartbeat.

A second wasted is a second too many.

Jamming it all in: Part 10

2012-01-26T06:00:00.003+13:00

When it comes to module track allocations, this is how I find it generally goes. Take every track I like, love, or am itching to teach, and disregard it. Take the remaining tracks, and pick the one that is my weakest to execute, and that's the track I ended up getting.

By the stage the module was confirmed, and it was confirmed to be on BODYJAM 57.

For those of you who don't have the ability to view the routines, here is a little snippet of the BODYJAM 57 training session from Sydney in July of 2011; this is the beginning of the Street Party Riot routine. The guy presenting it is the choreography of the program, Gandalf Archer. (Yes, seriously. His name is Gandalf. And he often wears grey too. Mind blown.)

I can confirm that I do not look even 1% as cool as any of the guys in that video.

Through teaching with Rhys, I had fortunately managed to teach the whole release top to bottom, non-stop, and was thrown in the deep end with it also.

As in...

Rhys	Guess what, Rai Rai's teaching the second half!
Me	HUH???
* Rhys throws microphone at me and runs off the stage
Rhys	TEE HEE!

From the teaching and the feedback that I got, I figured that the two tracks I could possibly be given was 1) the isolations track - Gloria Estefan's 'Go Away', and 2) a track from the Street Party Riot block by Vandalism & Static Revenger called 'Vegas'. So I started doing a lot of mirror work, scripting, listening to the tracks over and over.

Then, given that I'd put so much effort into learning those two tracks, a thought occurred to me.

"I bet I'm going to get two completely different tracks now..."

That night, an email came through from Tauvaga with our track allocations.

Hey everyone!

Here are your BJ Track allocations for the module this weekend:

...
Raina Singh - Afro Caribbean Street Party 1 - La Tromba Rising and Street Party Riot 3 - Do It Like This
...

Chur everybody, see you Friday at Britomart!

Tau

Rhys thought it was actually good, since he believed my technique was the best in the Caribbean Street Party block, and the second track was small and only had a couple of moves.

On the day of the module, I was so nervous that I felt physically ill. I headed down to Britomart early and stood in front of the mirrors and went through my tracks. Tauvaga came down and introduced himself - although he certainly didn't need to tell me who he was. He'd just presented BJ56 at the previous Auckland workshops, and then he's all over the LMI and LMNZ marketing material, including DVD artwork. (I had to do a massive double take when he appeared on the cover of RPM 47, *without* cycling shoes also)

From the outset, this module had a very different feel to the one in Wellington. It felt much more focused. Tauvaga (T) said to me that "I could allow myself to be immersed in the program completely", whereas the multi-programme module in comparison felt very disjointed and generic. T was given the opportunity to deliver the manual content and relating it specifically to Jam. The training exercises were related to Jam and only Jam, instead of being a general One Size Fits All.

We had clear guidance on what was expected from us, from what we were going to do for the duration of the module, and how it all fitted together. While I technically had done the module before, I felt I was receiving the information and how it related to Jam much better.

The way that the technique sessions were structured were also really good. As we had a small group, rather than going through the whole masterclass bit by bit, T split the technique sessions into two - the first half of the release, and then the second half. We each had a track from the first half and from the second half, so we all had a lot to concentrate on.

I did have a bit of a problem though. I was the Know It All of the group. Answering all the questions, and adding on to whatever T said, sometimes correcting him.

I found myself constantly apologising as I kept on piping up, because T was super nice he said "Don't be ashamed of your knowledge." Bah. I hereby apologise to everyone who was on that module with me - If I were in your shoes I would have gotten annoyed with me very quickly.

Day 1 ended and I felt optimistic. Presentations were first thing the next day, and I was nervous... but it was a different sort of nervous. I can't really explain how. I'd taught the block a million times, gotten loads of feedback on it before, so I guess what was going through my head was 'Have I forgotten anything?' I'd tried to be as thorough with my technique as possible, but remembering Sarah Robinson and all of the crosses in my technique feedback form had me a bit paranoid.

Day 2 started with our first presentation, and it actually went really smoothly. T gave feedback in a similar way to Sarah in that he gave it immediately after the presentation - though that worked well as we were a small group. The feedback he gave to me was to try and push the breakout more.

And that was it.

I had to take a moment to go. "... Really? That's... Really???"

We did some more exercises, read from the manual more, then did our second part of the technique for the masterclass. This related more to the tracks that were going to present on Day 3, though after that was done T spent some time with us one on one going through both of our tracks. This was really valuable, and I appreciate that for most modules, this probably wouldn't be possible. I think of the 16 people on our RPM module, the 10 people on the multiprogramme module, and the 16 people on the other module I did... then extend that to the 40 people on the CXWORX module... how many of them would have gotten one on one time with the trainer to go over their tracks?

One thing that T said that was heartening was he knew about my being withheld previously, and he was prepared to give me much more help with my technique but was pleasantly surprised. His exact words were, "I can tell that you've put a lot of work into your technique." That's down to Rhys.

I actually felt the second presentation went more worse than the first. I had tried to structure my coaching based on what had been covered in the material that day, and it didn't feel authentic - it felt forced. T asked me immediately after I'd presented how I felt it had gone, and I said, "I didn't like it, it felt contrived." Running with that, he said that he agreed, it didn't feel like the coaching was coming from my heart, but that it was one of those things that I would relax into eventually.

Driving home on the end of Day 2, I was tired, my body was sore, and I was looking forward to a long shower and a warm meal. It was pouring down with rain, so I was really looking forward to getting inside, fed and watered, and to bed.

On the drive though, the car in front of me suddenly slammed on their brakes. I had to slam on mine to avoid rear-ending them, and thankfully, I just managed to avoid hitting them.

But, the woman behind me had no chance. She slammed into my car at over 100k/ph. I didn't immediately feel the soreness, but I was well shaken. I pulled over, and then got out of the car to see if the other woman was all right. She was shaken as well, and I explained to her that the car in front of me had stopped randomly and I had narrowly missed them. We exchanged details and I sat back in my car.

The first person I texted was not a friend, not a family member, but it was T. After the disaster that was Wellington with the injury, I regretted not telling Sarah about it. I wasn't going to repeat it.

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but I had sprained my lower back, neck, and had mild concussion, as well as general whiplash through the neck and shoulders. I was hurting, but I wasn't sure how much of it was fatigue from the module or how much of it was injury from the crash.

I was one day away from finding out whether I was still on this Jam Journey of mine, or whether it was ending. Maybe my priorities were out of line, but I was not going to let the crash stop me. It had been far too much time, and far too much effort to get to this point and there was no way that I was going to let it all go to waste.

Jamming it all in: Part 9

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000+13:00

With Rhys presenting BJ57, it put him in an awesome position to help me with technique for that release. I would teach a block, he would observe, and give me thorough, detailed notes about the technique and what I needed to improve on.

There was one detail that I needed to take care of, and that was getting on a module.

I did not want to fly down to Wellington and fail again. I also did not want the same experience whereby as soon as I came back to Auckland, every person and their dog knew in excruciatingly fine detail of what I'd been doing.

I spoke with Mid Thomas, the event training manager for Les Mills New Zealand and she said that if I got four people onto the module, she'd organise one on the fly. She also said that she would use a different trainer, Tauvaga Siolo from Wellington. Hmm... funny how all of my Jam training thus far had a Wellington connection. The first time I went to Wellington, the second time, Wellington was coming to me.

I knew a couple of people who were wanting to do the module - including one person who had been in the same boat as me and had been the only one who had registered and had it cancelled around her. The other thing I needed to do was sort out a date that everyone could do it.

I had three people, so I needed a fourth one to make it happen.

In amongst all of this crazy Jamness, I did the AIM1 module for RPM with Sarah Ostergaard. I felt I did okay, not my best work because I was so nervous and had to contend with firealarms blaring throughout my first presentation, yet Mid sent me an email to tell me that Sarah told her that she was really impressed by my teaching. My reaction was initially like OH GAWD PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT ME *HIDE*, and when I bumped into other LMNZ trainers, they all said that they heard that I'd done well at AIM - again, my reaction was OH GAWD EVEN MOAR PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT ME *HIDES AGAIN*

I forwarded this message from Mid to Hamish and Cath. It was in the same message however, the Mid was talking about the number of people I needed to make the module happen. The next time I saw Hamish, he said that he wanted to do it again. He didn't need to do the module, but he really wanted to in an attempt to rediscover the spark that made him want to teach Jam to begin with.

This meant that I had the required 4 people to do the module. The date was scheduled, and I put in my leave from work.

Oh lord.

This was actually happening.

Jamming it all in: Part 8

2012-01-22T08:00:00.001+13:00

In March 2011, I discovered some news which was hard for me emotionally. I had to take some time off work, and I struggled to get out of bed and face anyone, lost any desire to eat, drink, anything. What was worse was that when I needed support from a certain few, they chose instead to be dismissive and cold - which made things *way* worse.

I'll be honest... Rhys was actually one person I didn't think I could stand to be around during that time. He's known for being a bit raucous and a party animal, and I was worried that if I tried to be around him, his response would be "F**k it, drink vodka!" Which... would not have been helpful.

To my surprise, he was the *most* understanding of anyone.

He sent me a message to let me know to not worry about teaching with him until I was ready again, and if ever I needed to talk to anyone, he was there for me.

I made a few very difficult steps in the weeks - one of which was confronting the person that was responsible for my feeling so bad (and that is a matter which I won't talk about on this blog since it is personal to me and several other people) - and it was consuming every single moment of my existence.

I was desperate for a distraction. At that time, I had an RPM class, but it was only once every two weeks that I taught, and covers at that time were few and far between. I knew what I needed to do was to teach.

I managed to see Rhys and ask him if I could teach Jam with him the next night. He of course said that was absolutely fine. I hadn't taught any Jam for a while, so went with a block that I could teach just like that - the BJ55 hip hop block.

After teaching it, I automatically apologised to him because I didn't feel it was as good as it should have been.

What he said at that point quite possibly was the most influential thing that anyone could have said to me with regards to my Jam training.

Listen to me. This is going to be the hardest thing for you to hear, and you are going to struggle to get your head around it.

That was the best I'd ever seen you teach.

Your technique was perfect, your coaching was relaxed, and the right feel for the block.

If you did that for a whole class, you would pass certification.

It was the hardest thing for me to hear, and I did struggle to get my head around it. He went into further detail explaining about the texture of the moves, the difference in the levels, and everything else, though I still found it all very hard to take in. I hadn't prepared myself, had been out of the game for so long, yet he was telling me that it was the best he'd ever seen me teach.

It was only one block that I'd gotten right. But how many tracks do you need to get right for the module?

One.

In amongst that very sad and very dark time, I felt, "I can do this. I can actually do this."

Jamming it all in: Part 7

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000+13:00

A few months passed, and I was teaching more and more. Most of the time it was little isolation tracks, and the same Salsa 2010 block to try and get a bit more choreography under my belt.

During this time, I made a series of hilarious mistakes which I actually look back on really fondly.

One time was when I taught the warmup from BJ56. I started off on the correct foot, but then did something odd with my feet and ended up on the wrong one. On the second rep of the heel pump, Rhys and I were facing in opposite directions, completely oblivious that we both were doing different things.

Like this.

Then, on the third rep, we turned in to face the other direction, and we were facing each other.

Because that's not awkward at all...

Then, there was another time before class when Rhys and I were going over a track. It was raining outside, and part of where I was practising was carpeted, the other part had some linoleum on the floor. The track I was teaching had a lot of side to side movement, so sometimes my feet would end up on the lino as I travelled. The lino was slippery because people had brought in water from outside. I made a note to try and not slip over. Of course, the moment I had this thought, Rhys says, "Rai Rai, there's the lino..." and BOOM! Down I fall! Rhys absolutely lost it and could not stop laughing. It wasn't even a small slip, it was pretty much down to the ground in the most unglamorous fashion possible. The timing was remarkable!

Not only was going through his training a journey for me, but I felt it was also a journey for him (he may not agree, but whatever, my blog. :P) I started being trained by him shortly after he had shadowed for the BJ55 workshop. An honour? Well yes... but also met with a bit of sceptism on my part.

LMNZ may not have meant it this way at all... though all of the Jammers onstage for workshop were the ones who had just done the recent AIM1 and AIM2 (where AIM = Advanced Instructor Module)for Jam. I have heard of other agencies inviting people who have done AIMs up onstage to shadow for workshop simply as a token gesture. They of course have gotten the wrong idea and believed that the reason why they were onstage was because they were of presenting calibre and have gotten all worked up in thinking that they're Les Mills's Next Presenter.

I don't agree with people being selected for workshop just because they did an AIM, but whatever. I don't know if this was LMNZ's goal, but it *felt* a bit like it looking at the lineup for the BJ55 workshop.

So when Rhys was confirmed to be presenting for BJ57, he nearly lost his voice with the screaming of excitement.

As did I!!!

Who would have thought, I was basically being trained by a workshop presenter!

What was interesting was seeing him go through the presenter pathway, and the feedback that he was getting and how he was handling it. I look up to him as a really mindblowingly amazing instructor, so hearing about the feedback he was receiving as part of his preparation for the workshops was intriguing.

He basically was encouraged to change his entire teaching style - to teach in as bland and as monotone a vocal quality as he could, and to really push the new 'set up, follow up, and shut up' coaching model for Jam.

One time I walked into the end of a Jam class that Rhys was teaching to find Carla Fitzsimons and Mid Thomas hiding behind a corner. They saw me and were like "SHHHH!!! Come here! Be quiet! WE'RE SPYING!!!"

Remember how I said that Rhys was very keen on throwing trainees in the deep end and seeing how they went? That was what had happened that night. Rhys had expected to be doing a portion of the class but when he turned up Carla told him, "You're actually doing the whole thing LOLOLOLOL YAY GOOD LUCK KTHXBYE *runs*."

Hiding around the corner from Mid and Carla was really insightful, as they spoke frankly about him and how well he'd done. Carla turned to me and said, "He's done so well. He's changed his entire style of teaching, just like *that*." If anyone asked me to completely change my entire style of teaching I'd probably be like 'TOO HARD I QUIT.'

I don't think I've articulated this to Rhys, but seeing how he handled that entire feedback process was really inspiring to me. He was in a similar place with getting direct feedback delivered to him was concerned, but he never took any of it personally and grew in bounds and leaps as an instructor, and as a presenter.

That was the type of instructor I wanted to be. One that could take feedback for what it was, and go with it.

It made me see how the whole feedback, learning and development doesn't really ever stop, and if I wanted to instruct, I had to damn well get used to it.

Jamming it all in: Part 6

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000+13:00

The shadowing gave me a bit of time to slowly refine learning the Hip Hop from BJ55. However, I was a bit frustrated with the slow progress.

When I started training for RPM, I was teaching between 2 and 3 times a week. I had only taught a couple of times for Jam, and it had been a month or so after the module had finished.

Relying on the one class to shadow with Rhys... I soon figured that it wasn't enough. I had been attending Hamish's BODYJAM at on a Wednesday night, and Rhys taught a class on a Wednesday night which I was welcome to come and team teach in.

Instead of going to take part in a class, it made more sense to go and do a class onstage, get some more teaching under my belt, and get more feedback.

Only problem was that this particular gym was a good 50 kilometres outside of Auckland's city centre. So it was a pretty decent effort travelling down to the gym, teaching the class, and coming back in. It was quite a massive time investment.

That being said, I was in complete awe of the committment Rhys had to teaching the program. I won't disclose it online, but the payment that he got for teaching that class barely covered the expense to travel down to the gym. Never mind that as a talented Jammer, it ruled him out of covering Jam classes at six, maybe seven other gyms where he could charge a higher rate and would no doubt take him far less time and expense to get there. Who was I to complain?

I would shadow with Rhys on the Monday at the gym after teaching RPM, and afterwards we'd decide on what I was to teach on Wedensday, and what my focus should be.

Rhys's style of training was very much a 'throw you in the deep end and see how your perform'. Before you think "OH MY GOD HOW EVIL", that's *exactly* how he was trained. I certainly wouldn't appreciate it at the time, but it was such an amazing way to grow not only my confidence with Jam, but across all programs that I would ever teach.

After learning the Hip Hop block from BJ55, we shifted attention to the Salsa 2010 block from the same release. We had a mirror session the night before teaching it, and heck, for a block that lasted less than 20 minutes, I was absolutely smashed. I only integrated basic coaching and could barely get the words out. I thought the shadowing was supposed to improve my fitness?! Rhys assured me that it's something I would just have to work on, and I wasn't the first person to experience it. I was fit for one program, but that didn't make me automatically fit for every other program. Each program is its own discipline, and it shouldn't be so startling to recognise that RPM requires its own type of fitness, Step requires its own type of fitness, and so on and so forth.

For my first time teaching the BJ55 block, I did something quite foreign to me. I chose not to script. I started doing it, but given the experience from the previous times teaching, I decided to take a gamble and not do it.

I'd say it 'sort of worked'. This time because I wasn't so desperately trying to remember what I'd written down, I could focus on the technique, and I could focus on the members to see if they were getting it. I had some grip over what I wanted to say, but as I was struggling with the cardio as it was, I couldn't quite get all of the words out.

I found myself apologising to Rhys repeatedly before he could even give me any feedback. I know that he was taking a risk every time he had me up onstage with him, and having me there at two clubs was potentially jeapordising half of the classes he taught. If the members complained about me, it was on his head - especially as I was a 'trainee' who hadn't passed the module.

I really wanted to improve. Not so much for myself anymore, but to honour the risk he was taking.

Jamming it all in: Part 5

2012-01-14T20:00:00.001+13:00

For the second time I taught with Rhys, I chose a smaller, more reasonable length block to teach - the Hip Hop block from BJ55, which consists of two tracks, one of which is just over a minute long.

Despite it being such a short block, I scripted in detail. Right down to every single rep, and eight count, like I had been doing for RPM. For a block that was only maybe 3 or 4 minutes in total, I had 7 pages of script. In my mind, I thought that was my coaching sorted.

Wrong. When I got up on that stage, I had given myself far too much to remember and I once again, I was like a deer in the headlights. The chorey was easier to remember, so overall I felt it went better than the previous time, but both myself, and Rhys knew that my method of scripting had to change.

The feedback this time was that there was some techinque that could be refined, but the focus shifted more to coaching. I showed him my script, and he laid out a way of trimming it down and simplifying it. I had written down 'push your left arm out to the corner', and he suggested making the same cue more concise and saying 'left arm, push' while demonstrating the move.

It was the first time I went away with feedback where I felt, "Yeah. Sweet. I can do that." It was the first hurdle that didn't feel insurmountable.

At that stage, teaching with a large number of instructors and as much as I could wasn't really an option. At my sponsor club, I could only teach once I had passed the module, which I hadn't (and to be clear, I got a withheld, which is different from a pass withheld which is an outcome in non LMNZ agencies), and the only other gyms that I were exposed to were Les Mills gyms. Initially the first gym I approached for sponsorship was a Les Mills gym and their response immediately was a No You Can't Train With Us. Teaching with Rhys was all I could do.

So when I got an opportunity to cover RPM for 6 weeks at a gym that coincided with the time I was teaching with Rhys, I'll admit there was a bit of conflict. How could I turn down 6 weeks of covering, though? At this stage I didn't even have my own RPM class at my sponsor club so 6 weeks of covering was a great opportunity. I would have been stupid to turn it down.

This gym wasn't too far in distance from the gym I had been teaching at with Rhys, so I had a suggestion to keep things going. I would teach the RPM class, change into my Jam gear, and run in and shadow the remainder of the class with Rhys.

It was exactly the fitness training I needed. After being pre-fatigued from the RPM, launching straight into a Jam class where I could just focus on the fitness was challenging, but prepared me really well for when I would teach again. Throughout these times when I was shadowing, I had to control myself from not being sick - that's how much it took out of me. It was scary thinking that I still wasn't coaching, but this time, it didn't feel like it was too far away from getting it right.

It also gave me an opportunity to do something else... and that was to get to know Rhys on a more personal level. I was relaxed, and I wasn't bracing myself for any feedback - particularly, feedback that highlighted what I needed to work on. I saw, and understood, that he was someone who didn't take any crap from anyone, and was happy to help if he felt that they deserved it. I still scratch my head over why he considers me as someone who 'deserves it', but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth.

It also cemented the realisation that any feedback he gave was not personal, and never delivered with an intention to hurt. It may hurt hearing that I wasn't the most awesome Jammer in the world, but you know what? He was right. He was right about everything he told me. If I was to get the most out of his feedback, I needed to harden up.

Jamming it all in: Part 4

2012-01-11T20:00:00.001+13:00

What Rhys had suggested was that we take one release, and take our time learning it. Go over it with as fine a detail as we possibly could, and get it learnt perfectly. Then, by the time I did the module again, I would have a full release under my belt and I could certify as soon as I could.

Rhys had asked me which release I wanted to use, but at that point, I was so dejected that I didn't feel like I could make a choice. I didn't want to do it on BJ54 after having moduled on it (unsuccessfully), and after my experience at the BJ53 filming, I know I'm certainly never going to teach that release either. Rhys recently had been onstage shadowing BJ55 at the LMNZ Workshops for Spookers GFX 2011, so he had hours of technique sessions with Sarah Robinson under his belt for that release and felt he was in a good position to help me on that release. Given that I liked BJ55, I was all right with this.

We arranged a time and I was very nervous going into it. We focused on the first half, and for the entire time he was prompting me. "Elbows higher." "Brace your core." "Lean back a little". "Fingers together." "Push your hip out a bit further." "Extend your arms higher." "Bend your knee." "Lift your chest." It was really eye opening for me to understand how many components to BODYJAM technique there were, and how much I needed to be thinking about. The intimidating thing was that this was something I'd have to think about for every single release that was put together. Before this mirror session, I thought I could do Jam. If I'd had a mirror session like this before doing the module for the first time, I might not have continued on with instructing.

I also wasn't prepared for the change in cardio intensity. When I got partway through the Salsa 2010 block, I began dry retching. I wasn't even halfway through the release, AND I wasn't even doing any coaching. Bloody hell. You think you're fit, and then something like this rears up at you.

We got through the second half, and then did a run through of it. I was absolutely spent by the end of it, and yes, at this stage I wasn't coaching.

As we finished, Rhys said to me, "Really good work. You weren't as b... Before you weren't as certain as to what you had to do, but once I told you what you needed to do, you did it."

Wait... what was that? You weren't as 'b'? Is that short for you weren't as bad??? I had to remind myself that he had sacrificed his weekend for me. Who was I to him? Basically I was nobody. But still, he was giving up his time to give me help that I wasn't getting anywhere else - and clearly, giving me a lot of guidance on things that I wouldn't have figured out on my own. Would I have known to have my elbows higher, to brace my core, to lean back a little, to bring my fingers together, to push my hip out a bit further, to extend my arms higher, to bend my knee, to lift my chest, and so forth?

I walked away from it with mixed feelings. Yeah I got the technique, but it was hard. WAY harder than I expected it to be. Was it worth the effort?

Jamming it all in: Part 3

2012-01-08T20:00:00.001+13:00

Rhys invited me to team teach with him for training - it was the first time I'd taught any Jam since the module, and the first time I'd taught at that gym. I didn't really know what to expect. I was lucky that I at least knew the location and layout of the gym since I'd been there a few times when Hamish was covering there.

I knew that I'd never teach my module tracks from BJ54 again, so I went with the dark block from BJ52. I didn't realise that learning a whole block was ambitious as a trainee, and I didn't realise how much pressure I would be putting on myself.

I scripted heavily before the class - writing something almost for every rep, and every eight count of choreography. I use this approach in RPM and I thought it would work for BODYJAM. Of course, in due course, I would learn that I would have to find a new style of learning for BODYJAM. Despite having instructed for a while, it really was starting all over again. Before I taught with Rhys though, I hadn't realised this.

I rocked up, having reviewed my choreography, listening to the tracks over and over, practising the chorey over and over, honestly thinking that I'd be all good.

I went up on the stage with Rhys, and when it came time to teach my block, *everything* disappeared from my head. I was struggling to remember the choreography, all of my scripting went out of the window, and I could barely get any words out of my mouth. Not only that, but I confused moves from other routines so I was even doing the wrong moves. To add to that, towards the end of the block, Rhys left the stage and stood down the back and watched me. As if I wasn't freaking out enough, seeing him there analysing me added another thing to worry about in amongst the tornado that was going on inside my head.

After the class, we went to an Asian food and drink place next door to the gym to debrief.

I knew that I hadn't done very well, but still wasn't prepared for what Rhys was about to unleash.

He outlined every single thing that needed work. As he sat there and recounted every thing, it felt more and more overwhelming.

In summary, he said that

I didn't know my choreography
I wasn't getting enough 'up'-movement in the shoulder
Arms weren't strong enough in the double hammer
Was doing something weird with my knee in in the three-knees
No control in the upper body meaning at times I looked like I was about to throw up
No difference in intensity levels between Base, Flava and Breakout
Could not hear a single word I was saying

However, he then followed that up with "But, all of that can be worked on. I don't know what you did in Wellington, but I saw nothing that should've stopped you from passing the module."

Great.

We agreed to choose one release and do some mirror work for technique. I hate mirror work at the best of times, and with the feedback I'd just received, I was petrified.

I went away feeling seriously deflated. I was even blinking back tears. I thought, "I hate Rhys. I hate Jam. I quit. There's no point in even going on. Sarah should have just failed me outright rather than giving me a withheld."

The gym is quite a long drive away from my house so I had some time to think. What was Rhys trying to achieve by giving me all of this feedback? Was he trying to hurt me?

I didn't know Rhys that well at this point, but I did know that if he didn't like someone, he wouldn't bother wasting any of his time with them. If he wanted to hurt someone, he would absolutely rip them to shreds and there would be no doubt of his intentions.

That's not what happened. So why, then? If he wasn't doing it to hurt me, then why?

He wasn't getting anything from my teaching with him. In fact, he was taking a massive risk as the members could complain to management about him bringing me onstage. Not only was he jeapordising his relationship with his members and with his gym, he also wasn't getting anything out of this financially, and he was giving up his own time.

Those are not the actions of someone who wants to hurt you. Those are the actions of someone who wants to help.

That didn't stop me from being nervous as hell for the mirror session. It was 6 days away, but it felt like 6 lifetimes wouldn't have been enough time for me to get ready for it. Only time would tell.

Jamming it all in: Part 2

2011-12-26T10:30:00.000+13:00

I very much wanted to keep that I'd done the Jam module a secret. Not because I thought I'd fail, but because I wanted to be able to focus on my teaching without any sort of distraction.

However, one of the others who had flown down to Wellington to do the Combat module was a good friend of Jace, and Jace told a few close friends about the module. I had Hamish calling me to tell me Congratulations On Passing even before I'd boarded the flight to go back to Auckland and I had to try and hold it together to respond with a 'Actually I Didn't Pass'.

Arriving back in Auckland, even more people had found out, initially all close friends, and all automatically running up to me and giving me hugs and saying YAY WELL DONE. I felt almost like a party pooper having to burst their bubble and say 'No, not well done.' The reactions of my close friends ranged from confusion to outright anger.

Making my entrance back into the gym was also a bit of a shock, as members there knew too, and to my concern, they knew detail that I hadn't told anyone. They knew which songs I'd presented, they knew what I'd messed up, how I'd done at mirrorwork, how I'd done at the challenge, and of course, they knew my result. I was stunned by how much information they knew, and I wish I'd had the nouse to say "Who told you all of this?" The whole point of me doing the module in another city was so that noone knew about it!

For days, weeks... heck, even to this day, Sarah's words during the feedback session was.

"There were times when I looked at you and I just... *clutches at hair, makes pulling out motion*"

I couldn't even bare the thought of Jam. I didn't want to think about taking part in a class, never mind the thought of teaching.

Hands down, the least favourite aspect of Les Mills training is the mirrorwork required for technique. While I have come a long way with my self esteem, I will put my hand up and say I have problems with looking at myself in the mirror.

I can handle filming myself and watching it after the fact - I might swear and complain about it, but I'll do it, and I'll go "Actually that was kinda useful." Mirror work... completely different story. The fact that I was so clearly inadequate on the technique level, meaning I needed *more* mirrorwork... the thought made me feel physically ill.

This whole instructing thing really settled in my heart when Rhys Finlayson - Jam and Sh'Bam instructor for Les Mills - invited me to come and shadow for the BODYJAM 52 launch at my sponsor club. I was told by the manager that I wasn't allowed onstage until I'd passed the module. The module was cancelled, so I wasn't allowed onstage. Now, I'd done the module, but I hadn't passed, and I *still* wasn't allowed onstage.

I was talking to Rhys about the whole thing one night and next thing I know, he's asking me what I do on Monday and Wednesday nights. As I didn't have any classes of my own at that stage, I of course was just participating in other peoples classes. It was then that this exchange took place.

Rhys	we can do some stuff like technique practise on the weekends maybe depending on how you're placed one way or another I will get you certified
Rhys	they can all SUCK IT
Marshmallow	I'd really like that too, I'd actually blotted out about 3 hours every Sunday to work on technique. I was going to go to New Lynn and practise in Studio 2
Rhys	ya ya
Marshmallow	So it's kinda the same thing anyways :D
Rhys	I might be hungover but I can still doo it HAHAH
Marshmallow	Ahahahah I know you can :P
Marshmallow	Thank you so much, I really appreciate that!
Rhys	anytime

Even though I had not passed the module, this guy had pretty much said "I will help you."

I didn't understand why he wanted to help - I really didn't. To this day, I still don't understand why he wanted to help.

At least I immediately recognised a blessing when I saw one.

Jamming it all in: Part 1

2011-12-12T06:00:00.001+13:00

As much as I am enjoying teaching RPM, it wasn't the program that I had intended to train on first. It was basically a pathway that was formed for me, though it wasn't the pathway that I had consciously chosen.

BODYJAM was what I had intended to train on, and it for me, was the overriding reason why I wanted to instruct.

I felt a pang in my heart of envy whenever I saw good friends onstage teaching Jam together. Not jealousy or hatred or resentment of any kind... just a desire to be up there with them.

I came back from a trip over to London, Paris and Amsterdam to the news that there was a BODYJAM module scheduled for the weekend of my arrival back into the country. Due to low numbers, it is not often that Jam modules get to go ahead in Auckland. There's a perception that because Auckland is the home of Les Mills, that there's always a constant stream of training sessions and high demand for classes and instructors. That's not the case at all. In fact, group fitness is incredibly small in New Zealand.

I asked for one more day off work after coming back so that I could do the module. Naturally though, after just having three weeks off, my workplace were hesitant to approve one more day. To add to it, another colleague had applied for leave for religious reasons for that day, leaving the number of personnel in the office lower than normal. If I had been given leave, there would have been one member of our team left on their own.

I looked up the next module training and there was one in Wellington not too long after. It was a multiprogramme module, where it was BODYJAM, BODYSTEP and BODYCOMBAT. Just from the names of the programs, I knew that Sarah Robinson would be the trainer - being the first choice Jam, Step and Combat trainer in New Zealand.

Like RPM, I didn't want anyone to know about the fact that I was doing the module. I wanted the ability to focus and completely immerse myself in the module activities that I didn't want any social distractions.

I did, however, have one other distraction.

Three days before the module, I did a class at the gym and then went into work to have a shower before starting my day in the office. Someone had left a small piece of soap on the shower floor. Of course, I stood on it, slipped, went flying, and landed on the floor. My left hip took most of the impact, and heck, it was SORE. It took me about 30 minutes before I found the ability to stand up.

The first thing that went through my mind was "No no no NO this cannot happen NOW! I have a Jam module this weekend!" Heh... good to see that my priorities are in the right place, huh?

I had to take three days off from work as even sitting at my desk was very painful. I went to the doctor and he prescribed me some painkillers. I asked him for his opinion as to whether I would be able to do the module that weekend. His response was the polite equivalent of 'Are You Out Of Your Mind?' He told me I needed at least two weeks before I should even think about doing any form of exercise.

Did I listen to him? Nope.

When I arrived in Wellington, I didn't tell Sarah about the injury. Maybe this was a mistake. Even during the theory parts of the weekend, I was struggling to stay seated because of the discomfort.

With the multiprogramme modules, we had a lot of downtime where Sarah went through the technique for the other two programs. I had a mirror in my room of the apartments where I was staying, which was perfect for me to review my technique during the weekend.

Unfortunately, my body wasn't used to all of the anti-inflammatory medication that I'd been prescribed, and the night before the technique intensive and the first presentation, my stomach went absolutely bonkers. Again, I didn't tell anyone about this, and again, that was a mistake.

During the technique session, it didn't appear like I needed any extra help than the other two Jammers who were there. Sarah was pretty hard on all of us, especially when it came to pushing our physical intensity levels. Some of the moves particularly in the tracks I was presenting were particularly uncomfortable in the bruised area (and by this time, the majority of my left buttock and down the outside of my left thigh were ridiculously purple), so I was expecting more grief from Sarah because of it. That extra grief never came though, to my relief.

Throughout the weekend it was tough, and while I tried to push the injury out of my mind, it did everything possible to remind me that it was there.

When it came to the final feedback, we all sat around together and one by one we were called over by Sarah to have our result delivered to us. Several people were called over before me, and each of them were absolutely delighted with their pass.

When I got called over, I initially had less anxiety than when I got called in by Chris at the end of the RPM module. After all, Jam was what I'd been doing. It was the program that everyone told me I'd be good at, it was the one that instructors everywhere had been saying "Why aren't you teaching this?" "Shouldn't you be teaching this?" "You should be teaching this!" With RPM I didn't have that guidance, and I passed it.

Sarah began talking to me about how proud of me she was and how I've come so far. That she definitely saw Jam in my future, and that she saw me teaching it well down the line.

My heart began to sink. She wasn't saying the right things. She was talking about the distant future. She wasn't talking about the present moment.

She turned to the assessment page for the BODYJAM technique and in every move, the requirements had a big X marked in each one. I was mortified as I looked down the page... I hadn't executed a single move correctly. How could I not have realised this throughout the weekend? Was I just simply that oblivious to how bad I was?

She said, "There were times when I looked at you and I just..." and she clutched at her hair and made a 'pulling it out' motion. I wanted to disappear. My technique was that bad that it made Sarah want to pull her hair out? Clearly I'd been living in a fools paradise.

At this stage, Sarah had been talking for a good five minutes and I stopped paying attention. Her words started sounding less articulate and more like whap whap whap whap whap whap - I was staring at her, her mouth was moving, but all I heard was generic sounds.

I started thinking to myself, 'Just put me out of my misery. Tell me I failed. Just tell me. Hurry up.'

It finally took a pause in her speech for me to say, "So what was my outcome for the weekend?" She immediately responded with "A withheld for now." She continued on with some other stuff, but I didn't listen to it. She didn't need to say anything else after that.

To clarify things, in other agencies I believe there is a 'Pass Withheld'. In LMNZ, there is no 'Pass Withheld'. There is a Pass, Withheld and a Resit. A Pass means that you are passed as a trainee and can begin team teaching straight away. A Resit means that you failed on two or more of the three key elements required for initial training and have to redo the module again.

A Withheld means that you failed on one of the three key elements required for initial training. For other agencies, I have heard that to transition from Withheld to Pass, you can either send in a DVD of yourself teaching three tracks to the agency for their assessor to 'Pass' you, or that a GFM can approve you for a Pass after observing you shadow.

A Withheld in LMNZ means that you need to resit the third day of initial training. But, you need to pay for the module again, and are strongly encouraged to do all three days of the training again.

So I have to pay for the module again... and am almost expected to do all three days again... How is this different from a Resit? My heart didn't know any different... and heck, how much of a fool did I feel like, investing so much time and money flying down to another city to do the training.

I didn't want to cry in front of the others who were on the module. They had all been so awesome and I was so happy that they'd all done so well. They were thrilled and delighted with their results and I did not want to turn it into a Poor Me situation.

It was about half an hour later when I got into the showers that I finally broke down.

This was not how the story was supposed to go.

RPM: Shortest and Longest Mixes

2011-12-08T06:00:00.003+13:00

One thing that I've loved watching over on my good friend Glen Stollery's blog is the record of the shortest and longest tracks in BODYCOMBAT. As a participant, it didn't really think about the lengths of tracks, I just always assumed that every song was the same amount of time and it all worked out nicely.

He wrote a very good post about the importance of planning your playlist, and when I first started out teaching, I just cribbed together the songs I liked without any thought of regard of how long or short the class ended up being.

I didn't have to worry so much when I was covering early morning classes and evening classes at my sponsor club. In the morning and evenings during the weekdays, there was no conflict or back-to-back classes so it didn't matter if your playlist was a couple of minutes over.

My first class, however, was a Saturday morning class. Initially, the class was at 8am and the next class was BODYPUMP at 9am. In theory, that was enough time for me not to worry too much about my mix being too long, but there was a problem. The gym only opened at 8am. Week in, week out, it was a frantic mess trying to get the class started as soon as I possibly could. The gym staff wouldn't let me in early to allow me to set up the mic, the music and my bike, and heaven forbid if I should happen to have any new people in my class that needed their bikes setting up.

The start time varied from 8:05am to 8:15am and I'd be starting the class to generally a bunch of irritated members.

Finally, the management saw sense and made the official start time of the class 8:15am. It meant though that those who came in to do RPM and BODYPUMP had absolutely zero time in between classes.

At that time, I was teaching the Saturday class once every second week. I started paying much more attention to how long my playlist was, and the members absolutely appreciated it when it was my turn to teach. The weeks it wasn't my turn, the class often ran late because the other instructor added tracks in and the class would push to well beyond 45 minutes. I can imagine for a regular participant who wanted to maximise their Saturday morning, it would have been unbelievably frustrating.

So! The information that Glen has posted on his blog has been awesome for planning BODYCOMBAT mixes, I'm now going to do the same for RPM.

I don't have the entire RPM back catalogue at my disposal - I'm missing a few of the earlier releases, so if you know of any tracks that should be on these lists, please let me know! These are the times that display in my iTunes, so they might vary slightly compared to what shows on the CD cases or to what shows in your music management software.

SHORTEST RPM MIX
TRACK 1 - RPM 43 - Closer - 3:59
TRACK 2 - RPM 05 - Oya Como Va - 4:35
TRACK 3 - RPM 01 - Road To Nowhere - 4:32
TRACK 4 - RPM 40 - Let Go - 3:47
TRACK 5 - RPM 26 - Don't Worry Baby - 4:33
TRACK 6 - RPM 03 - Mysterious Times - 5:02
TRACK 7 - RPM 03 - Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - 4:49
TRACK 8 - RPM 53 - Busy - 2:55
TRACK 9 - RPM 43 - Love Is A Losing Game - 2:34

Total: 37:11

LONGEST RPM MIX
TRACK 1 - RPM 52 - Beautiful People - 5:52
TRACK 2 - RPM 39 - Who Knew & RPM 50 - Teenage Dream - 6:11
TRACK 3 - RPM 52 - Rhythm Of The Night - 7:04
TRACK 4 - RPM 53 - Kings And Queens - 6:00
TRACK 5 - RPM 36 - Painkiller - 6:53
TRACK 6 - RPM 50 - Poppiholla - 7:11
TRACK 7 - RPM 30 - Going Insane - 7:28
TRACK 8 - RPM 41 - Umbrella - 4:25
TRACK 9 - RPM 26 - She Will Be Loved - 4:30

Total: 55:30

First thing to observe is the massive contrast in the lists - the difference between the longest mix and the shortest mix is 18 minutes and 19 seconds. Sweet zombie hitler.

Next thing is that nearly all of the tracks in the longest playlist are from recent releases, answering a question that a lot of RPM instructors have on their minds; "Are RPM releases getting longer?" It's becoming more and more of a struggle to fit a class in 45 minutes, and the majority of releases that are coming out of LMI now are more around the 50-55 minute mark. I generally aim for 46 minutes on my mix and start my class at 8:14am, minor enough a difference so that my participants won't notice it.

A couple of tracks from RPM 53 make their appearance in both of the mixes - the shortest ride home and the longest mixed terrain.

I have seen RPM 54 and RPM 55 is currently in the works and I don't particularly recall any one track being longer than the rest, though I often don't notice the length of the tracks until the release is being practised by the presenters for workshop.

Knowing the length of each track is powerful in not only ensuring that your class runs on time, but also planning a focus for your class. I've mentioned before that I was stunned by how when I took on my first class about how poorly they were riding. It wasn't their fault, they just needed some guidance and education. Knowing which tracks I could use to help with this (it is a 'class' after all, some learning and teaching involved!) helped me to plan mixes with a focus. I'll share a few of these down the line.

If you haven't read Glen's post of planning your playlist, I highly encourage you to do so. I know having an awareness of what I'm putting together has become quite vital in the success of my classes, and the ones that have been less effective have been the ones that have put together with less care.

Anything that can increase our effectiveness, in my mind, can only be a good thing.

The Future Starts Now: Rounding it up

2011-12-03T23:45:00.000+13:00

I think the last post I wrote in my series to becoming a certified instructor was about how I slept in for a team teach. At that time, we had just launched RPM 47. Not long after that, the manager of the gym pulled the plug on my team teaching with the other instructors, so it became an agonising amount of time in between classes. I understand the reasoning - it was so that there was true ownership of the classes and no ambiguity over who taught what class, but that didn't make it all the more gutting for me.

There were entire months that I didn't teach in any capacity, and it also hurt to see other instructors who already had a plethora of classes on the timetable be given the opportunity to cover classes ahead of me. I didn't understand it, since all of the feedback I'd been given was positive.

While Hamish was away for work, I finally got a long stretch of teaching - six weeks in a row. I was that excited that about a month in advance, I planned each mix and scripted each class. I listened to how the tracks flowed, whether there was contrast between the speed tracks and the strength tracks, and whether there was cohesiveness in the choreography that I could draw on when I taught.

For the final class I taught, I was asked to have a trainee up with me and I was excited to be able to pay forward the assistance that I'd been given when I was beginning my training.

Let's just say that that really blew up in my face. I was hauled in for a meeting with a few members of the management and was given a few choice words. Quite frankly, I would've preferred a slap in the face. I was told that I didn't work hard, and that the participants didn't like my classes, plus, that I had no right to be giving feedback as I was new to teaching myself.

I remember leaving the gym that day bawling my eyes out and wondering if there was any point. At the back of my mind I wondered if the phrase 'They don't like you because you're fat' was on the tip of management's tongue.

I had some travel scheduled to London, Paris and Amsterdam and thought I could take that time while I was away to decide whether pursuing group fitness was worthwhile. However, the majority of time while I was away, I was on my own, and what kept me through was listening to BODYJAM 54 and RPM 48, knowing that I'd hopefully get to teach both when I got back home.

Shortly after I came back, my RPM certificate arrived. Management again wanted to meet with me to air some things before giving it to me.

I sat there absolutely lost for words when I was told 'You don't have the right personality to teach RPM, and should consider giving it up and teaching something else.' I walked out of there with my RPM certificate in my hands, but a hollow feeling in my heart.

It says on the certificate 'This is to verify that Raina Singh has been trained and assessed against international standards as a Les Mills RPM instructor'. That didn't feel like it carried any weight at that moment. Sure Les Mills might think that I am qualified RPM instructor, but it's the managers in the gyms that give the classes. If they don't like you, you're going to be up against it, and the reason why they don't like you doesn't even have to have any logic to it.

That moment was about a year ago. I still didn't have a class then, and was still being denied cover.

It all felt quite futile until finally, I got a break. One of the instructors at my gym was leaving to go and live in a different country, and she had two classes on the RPM timetable which needed to be filled. She was on a roster for her work, so only did her classes once every second week, and that was good enough for me. I took on one of her classes, though again, I was warned that the class expected a tough instructor and they didn't feel that I was the best fit for the timeslot.

The first time I taught the class, I was a bit stunned from what I saw from the members. Very few of them could execute even the basics of riding properly. The majority of them were free spinning with barely any resistance at all. I know for a fact that the instructor before me liked adding in strength track and removing speed tracks, as well as changing the choreography.

Ever since then, I have made it my aim to work on those participants and educate them on how to get the most out of the program in the way that it is intended to be delivered. Given that the attendance has been good and the feedback from the members has been amazing, I'd say it's worked. There's always ways I can continue to inform them of how they can leverage the program to its maximum, so I'm going to continue doing that with them.

One thing I recall Hamish telling me when I was unhappy about the way teaching had gone was him saying, "I'm not going to beat around the bush, it's going to take time. You'll know when you've nailed it, and it's such a good feeling." I didn't experience that feeling until late March of this year, almost 1 year to the day of doing the module. Even now, there are some classes I teach where I don't experience that 'nailed it' feeling and I walk away knowing I have things to work on.

The journey doesn't end, but I don't think I'm going to be wanting to stop for quite a while.

I hope you'll join me on my ride :)

It's been a while...

2011-12-02T18:29:00.001+13:00

Hello everyone ;)

Yep, I know it's been a while. Blogging mojo hasn't really been on, and I've been quite flat out and all over the place lately.

However! Would you believe it, I got an iPhone - and it surprisingly has freed up a lot of time at the beginning and ends of my day which I used to spend sitting and going through emails and Facebook updates. (and I don't have Twitter, can you imagine if I had that how much more time I'd be chewing?!)

Blogging was pretty easy to drop off the radar.

When I'm not teaching all over the place, I could easily see myself wasting time and catching up on episodes of Come Dine With Me which have been piling up in my MySky... though really I could be using this to resume blogging!

So hey... why not :D

I've also had a conversation with someone earlier today which has reinvigorated my desire to write, so maybe you'll be seeing some more posts from me. I've also downloaded the Blogger app onto my phone so that I can work on posts when I'm out and about.

Fingers crossed. :)

Just a word...

2011-11-04T22:00:00.001+13:00

I know I've been asked to not write about filmings, but there is one thing that I feel compelled to mention.

At one of the filming masterclasses for this quarter, there was something that happened which was absolutely astonishing. Myself and others were left speechless, and not in a good way.

The conduct of one of the presenters at this particular filming was truly despicable. With the camera rolling, they called out on one of the participants in a manner which was deliberately meant to be sarcastic and hurtful. It quite frankly was immature and unprofessional.

If I think of an equivalent presenter from my program... say a Glen Ostergaard or a Lee Smith... if they had called me out the same way, I would have been in tears. After all, I'm only teaching their program, right? Participating in the filming was a way of demonstrating my enthusiasm and passion for their program, right?

It might have been a fleeting moment in some peoples minds, but I know the way I felt after the BODYJAM 53 filming. What happened to me at that filming simply pales in comparison, and I know that I haven't really enjoyed a filming to that insane euphoric level ever since. Since then, it's just been a mild appreciation.

In my mind, it was the only thing that blighted an otherwise successful filming round.

[NOTE 1] - Comments have been disabled for this post out of respect for all concerned. No further details will be disclosed.

[NOTE 2] - I'll try to blog about happier stuff at some point!

2012-Q1 - Filming Presenters

2011-10-19T13:49:00.001+13:00

BODYATTACK™ 76

Lisa Osborne (New Zealand)
Ivens Kucharski (Portugal)
KC Van-Roose (UK)

BODYBALANCE™ 56

Dr Jackie Mills (New Zealand)
Dr Dave McKenzie (New Zealand)
Corey Baird (New Zealand)

BODYCOMBAT™ 51

Dan Cohen (New Zealand)
Rachael Newsham (New Zealand)
Tauvaga Siolo (New Zealand)

BODYJAM™ 60

Gandalf “G” Archer (New Zealand)
Andreia Rodrigues (Portugal)

BODYPUMP™ 81

Glen Ostergaard (New Zealand)
Susan Renata (New Zealand)
Héctor Ponce Cortegana (Netherlands)
Shaun Egan (UK)

BODYSTEP™ 87

Mark Nu’u (New Zealand)
Lisa Osborne (New Zealand)
Christophe Besse (France)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)
Edina Schaal (Germany)

BODYVIVE™ 22

Susan Trainor (New Zealand)
Maureen Baker (New Zealand)
Mark Nu’u (New Zealand)

CXWORX™ 6

Dan Cohen (New Zealand)
Susan Trainor (New Zealand)
Corey Baird (New Zealand)
Susan Renata (New Zealand)

RPM™ 54

Glen Ostergaard (New Zealand)
Sarah Ostergaard (New Zealand)
Jerome Denis (France)

SH'BAM™ 7

Rachael Newsham (New Zealand)
Tracy Minnoch (New Zealand)
Michelle Dean (Asia Pacific)

I am SO impressed with the lineup for Sh'Bam 7, and really keen to see the French trainer for RPM 54. (Although I can't help but think it's rather opportunisitc timing for a French presenter to be in town when their rugby team is about to lose the Rugby World Cup Final ;) )

In particular though, I am *incredibly* excited about the lineup for BODYCOMBAT 51. I cannot remember the last time a New Zealand presenter presented on Combat - some people say Hernan would be the only other NZ based presenter, though there's constant debate as to whether he's truly 'NZ' or not. (I say he's whatever he identifies with.)

I am surprised to see only two presenters listed for BODYJAM 60, although there may be shadow presenters whose names aren't appearing there. Also, Amy Styles isn't listed for BODYATTACK 76, though she's been practicing it, so maybe her name not being there is simply an oversight.

Overall though, looks pretty strong! Looking forward to seeing them in action.

This post is for Rachael Wilkins

2011-09-19T12:29:00.002+12:00

MARMALADE.

That is all.

NZGlen: BODYPUMP 80 and interview with Glen Ostergaard

2011-08-07T18:00:00.000+12:00

My dear (yet crazy) friend NZGlen was given the honour of talking to the man Glen Ostergaard himself and picking his brains. It's made for a fantastic blog post that I highly recommend that you go and check out.

There are some great insights into the direction that BODYPUMP is taking, as well as a bit of detail on what makes Glen O tick.

Get yo'selves over there.

BODYPUMP 80 & BODYCOMBAT 50

2011-07-27T23:37:00.004+12:00

While I was asked to stop blogging about filmings, I just thought I'd take a moment to make a quick post about BODYCOMBAT 50 and BODYPUMP 80.

I didn't participate in either filming, but did watch the bulk of Pump and all of Combat.

The presenting teams were phenomenal, and there was an amazing amount of energy onstage for both releases - big ups for one of my personal inspirations Mid Thomas who absolutely rocked the show in Pump.

Keep an eye out on NZGlen's blog as he was offered the privilege of interviewing Glen Ostergaard himself, and he has got a collection of great questions (as submitted by you guys!) which he will be able to pick his brains with.

I'm planning on attending BODYJAM 59 and RPM 53 filmings - I've already seen RPM 53 and am hyperventilating with excitement, and hopefully BODYJAM will be the same.

Hope you all are doing well - NZGlen will be writing about Pump and Combat, so if you're interested in the lowdown, keep yours eyes peeled on his blog.

Peace out, y'all!

The Future Starts Now: Part 20

2011-06-22T08:00:00.002+12:00

I knew exactly which track I wanted to teach from RPM 47; Track 7. A remix of Haddaway's What Is Love. To date, my favourite RPM track to teach and participate in (yes, I enjoy it even more than Painkiller). I was looking forward to team teaching it with both Cath and Hamish, and overall, my teaching it with Cath went okay, up until I made a complete meal of the ending of T7, cueing the end of it far too early when there was still a good 30 seconds left of music.

Of course, I wanted to make amends for the mess up, so I was desperately looking forward to teaching it again with Hamish a few days later.

The morning of the class, I woke up and almost had a heart attack when I saw the time. 5:45 am, and the class started at 6am. It is a 15 minute drive minimum to get to the gym, and I knew there was no way that I as going to get there on time. I called Hamish and spluttered out "OMG I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..." and he laughed at me (grrr) and told me that it was no big deal and that he'd set up my bike for me and that I could join in when I arrived.

I turned up in a bit of a daze, partway through track 3, and I went to pull out a bike from the floor to set it up for myself, but when I went to put it next to Hamish, he'd already put a bike next to him. I went to get the second mic pack, but he'd already gotten it. I went to put a battery in the mic pack, but heck, he'd even done that already! He'd thought of everything!

I ambled through tracks 3, 4, and 5 in a bit of a daze, despite knowing that I was teaching tracks 6 and 7. When it was my turn to take over the mic, I began teaching and went through phases of being aware of what was going on, and phases where I was on autopilot and completely unaware of what I was doing.

Not exactly the most professional way to front up a class; zoning in and zoning out.

But I tell you, the things you find yourself saying. I was coaching the First In Last Out concept to resistance management - whereby your resistance is the first thing you add on at the beginning of a working phase and the last thing you take off at the end of a working phase.

Here's what came out of my mouth. "Resistance is the first thing you put on and the last thing you take off... Just like your underwear."

I thought aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa OMG did I really just say that??!!

Thankfully the only person who reacted in any capacity was Hamish, who went "... Yes! I like that :D". I was trying to cover up my embarrassment, so all I could manage was a stupid giggle.

And it wasn't over, oh hell no! During "What Is Love" I zoned out for a moment, and was promptly brought back when Hamish exclaimed loudly, "WHAT?!?!?"

He had responded to something I'd said... Only I had *no* idea what I'd just said. First thing that came to mind was that I'd dropped the F-Bomb. That would've been just my luck - sleep in and miss the start of the class, talk to them about underwear and then swear at them. [sarcasm] What an awesome instructor I am. [/sarcasm]

When I got to the end of the class, I got a firm telling off. Hamish said to me, "What on earth were you saying?!" I replied honestly, "I... don't know?" He then told me, "You said something about being ugly. You're *way* too hard on yourself."

I didn't know what to say. Why on earth would I be calling myself ugly in front of a class?

It was on my mind all day after that. The only logical explanation was that I'd 'borrowed' a cue from another instructor who frequently says, "Final mountain: this one's big and ugly, just like me!" That being said... being sensitive with regard to body image and self esteem myself, I know that there would be the possiblity that a member could think 'If she thinks she's ugly... what does she think of me then?' Even though I would *never* think that way of any of the participants in the class.

I'll never know... but I do know that there are some cues that may be best left to the other instructors.

And I'll also know to be a bit more diligent with my alarm! Aiii!

I Present To You...

2011-06-06T18:30:00.000+12:00

LM Q2 workshops are approaching fast - in fact, Australia was the first by hosting the Super Workshop for the next batch of releases. New Zealand followed, and soon instructors the world over will be getting a taste of the new choreography, music, and will unleash it on their participants.

Waiting for the DVD kit is a time of excitement; knowing its on its way, and I have heard so many people say "It's better than Christmas!" When they finally get the kit, they're excited to hear the music, see the new moves, and check out who is on the presenting team. They'll be excited to see familiar, reliable presenters that they know deliver the release from an authentic place, as well as eager and keen to see new international talent doing their thing and representing their region.

The majority of the international presenters that come to Les Mills to present on the DVDs has been exceptional, and often I am left longing for when they make their way down to our shores again. Examples of this for me are for BODYJAM - Michelle Dean, and Mysti Taguba Oglesby. RPM - Lee Smith, Meg Nuttall, and I have been recently impressed by Kim Ames who presented RPM 52. I loved Tanya Walker in BODYCOMBAT 40, and Niamh McGuirk in BODYPUMP 70.

When new New Zealand presenters come through it's also exciting - the excitement when Sarah Robinson presented BODYJAM 55 was unparalleled, as well as when Mid Thomas presented in BODYATTACK 70 and BODYVIVE 20.

Even if we take it down to agency level, there is a lot of buzz when a new presenter makes their way through the ranks and appears onstage presenting for the first time. I am fortunate to have two friends who have made their way into the LMNZ presenting team for BODYJAM and SH'BAM, and being on good terms with the LMNZ training team, they have spoken to me on a candid basis of how proud they are of the new presenters and the progress they have made, and undoubtedly will continue to make.

Both of the new presenters I know have put a phenomenal amount of work in to get to the standard that they are currently at. Both of them have completed the AIM1 and AIM2 modules and are well deserving of their recent promotion to presenter status. When they began their presenting journey, both of them were initially given scathing feedback which I could imagine would've been difficult to hear (I would've cried!), though because both of them are strong individuals, they have processed that feedback over a very short period of time and integrated it into their teaching.

I personally have no aspirations to be a trainer or a presenter. I harbour no jealousy whatsoever over any presenter or any trainer, and I have nothing but unreserved happiness for my two friends. I totally and completely respect instructors out there who have aspirations to be a trainer/presenter, though that is not a goal of mine. My goal is to reach out to those who have felt intimidated, ashamed or embarrassed about trying group fitness because they fear judgement, or failure. There are a large number of people out there who feel they have to 'lose weight to join the gym'. I was a weight loss blogger for a long time and it was a topic that was constantly raised by others in the blogging community - they felt that at their current state of fitness that they were 'too unfit' to join the gym. I was discussing this with a fellow RPM instructor and she said, "The only level of fitness you need to be to join a gym is the ability to walk through the door." It shouldn't be as intimidating as it is, and that's something I would like to do my part to to change.

Presenters are, at minimum, expected to deliver the release with exceptional technique, deliver the must-do queues, and present the choreography in a way that instructors that is strong enough so that they can either replicate it fully in their own classes, or leave enough room for instructors to translate their presentation into their own preferred style. For this, there needs to be a prerequisite of a high level of instructing ability. The presenter's pathway (for LMNZ I believe, and I would think it would be similar to other agencies) includes completion of both AIM1 and AIM2, and a classification of Elite at AIM2. Presumably over time someone could go from certified to Advanced to Elite, or show Elite qualities upon work with the training team at the local agency. All in all, it is expected that the presenters be highly competent in instructing their program to both participants and instructors alike. (again, this is just my hypothesis based on my observations of those making their way into the training teams - I have no official word from anyone).

This is an expectation of instructors all over the world, and it is why we get so excited viewing new people on our DVDs and seeing how they fit the bill and whether they can give us new perspective on our programmes. I know the presenting of Lee Smith in particular has resonated with me on many levels.

So it came as a surprise that at the filmings last quarter, there were several presenters that didn't seem to have any instructing, never mind, any PRESENTING qualifications at all. I spoke to several instructors who were horrified that these people were onstage, presenting tracks for filming.

One presenter on the Pump team got a lot of attention. This person was new to instructing alogether, so they'd never taught a class before. The first time I saw the Pump release was at the filming, so while I didn't see the progress they made through their initial team teaches, I know what myself and a lot of other people saw at the filming - and what people will be seeing on the DVDs very soon. From what I heard, the progress this individual made was amazing, and going from having never taught a class to commanding the stage of a BODYPUMP filming masterclass in Studio 1 is probably the biggest ask of someone. There were people in the room who responded positively to their progress - many of them saying they were inspired by how much they'd improved in a short space of time. The majority however, were angry and vicious with their feedback.

They highlighted the pathway that I've mentioned above, saying that presenters should expect to be of a high standard. The very least you would expect is that they would be able to teach a class.

I know that some of the feedback would've been spurred on by jealousy. People were so angry that they departed the room while this person presented their tracks and returned when they were finished. I wasn't angry at, or jealous of the presenter at all. I was just nervous and worried for them. The LMI forums are unmoderated, and quite often, some of the behaviour on there is despicable, so some of the things that have been said on there are often done so in the nastiest manner possible. I had a discussion with someone involved in LMI and they believed that leaving the forums unmoderated meant that they would get pure feedback; that people would be uninhibited and honest with their opinions. There has been open criticism and ridicule of presenters who have come before, and I worry that even though this person has been on an incredible journey to get to the level they did (and heck, it wasn't very long ago that I was teaching for the first time, so that experience is still very fresh in my mind), they they will be torn apart.

There were a number of people astonished that this person was even allowed onstage, never mind given two tracks to present. And this is just for Pump - there were (from what I hear) non-instructing presenters in CX30, and a non LMI presenter for SH'BAM 4. (If this information is incorrect, I'd be keen to know ASAP so I can set the record straight).

I'm also not a fan of non-instructors shadowing, particular for programmes like BODYJAM and SH'BAM where you are constantly watching the presenters for technique guidelines. Having other people up onstage might be 'all in good fun' and 'a good show' at the filming, but it compromises the finished product - which is our learning materials. I know I was one of the ones woohooing and cheering the loudest in the RPM 46 filming when the presenter Wolf proposed to his girlfriend midway through the ride home. It was fun at the time, though it became my module release which meant I had to watch that proposal over, and over, and over, and over. Not so much fun anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I have no vendetta against each person in question, and for at least one of them I had no idea that the person hadn't instructed before until I was told.

I'm just concerned. I've seen how vindictive and nasty instructors in the LMI community can be, and maybe LMI need to have more of an awareness of that when selecting who can present on their DVDs. Glen Ostergaard himself came onto the LMI forums to stand up for Susan Fleming after she presented on BP75 - after the nastiness I heard from instructors about her appearance, I think it's sad that instructors stoop to that level... yet all the same, I have confidence that Susan can handle it, being a well respected and experienced instructor. These new instructors/presenters don't have the benefit of that experience and the strength that presenters who have been through the process have.

The DVDs for this quarter are beginning to make their way out to instructors already... I wasn't anywhere near that stage, and even I'm bracing myself.

I'm all for the growth and development of new talent - like I said, I'm fortunate to be close to two people who are in the middle of doing this, and I know that they are secure in their abilities and are capable of any criticism that is forthcoming. Whether this new breed of instructors who have been literally thrown into their presenting roles have that same capability... that remains to be seen.

Dan Cohen: BODYCOMBAT 50

2011-05-16T08:45:00.000+12:00

If you're not aware, Dan Cohen has his own blog and has been quite diligent with providing updates with how both of his programmes - BODYCOMBAT and CX30 - are developing, and now he's using the power of the blogosphere to ask for suggestions for BODYCOMBAT 50.

If you're keen to have you say, go on over and tell him what you'd like to see!

NZGlen: BODYCOMBAT 49 Filming

2011-05-12T08:50:00.001+12:00

While I have been asked to stop writing about the Les Mills filmings, my blogging partner in crime Glen Stollery has not, and he's written a GREAT filming post about BODYCOMBAT 49.

Go on over to his blog and check it out!

[/end]

2011-04-24T21:45:00.001+12:00

Hey everyone,

We are a few days out from this lot of filmings and there is a lot of excitement at LM Auckland over the next round of releases. I've only seen BODYPUMP 79 and a couple of tracks of SH'BAM 5, though I'll also be seeing RPM 52 soon. It's not likely that I'll be seeing any of the other programs before filming, and in the case of Attack, Step and CX30, I probably won't be seeing them at all.

Today I was approached by someone I highly respect at LMI and was asked to stop blogging about the filmings. It's the fist time that I've been asked to stop blogging altogether, as most/all of the time I've been asked to moderate content (no chorey or music spoilers).

I'm afraid that I respect that particular person far too much to not oblige their request. Also, not writing for the program(s) that they are involved in would reveal their identity - something I do not want to do - and the reason they gave me for stopping applies to all of the programs, not just the program(s) they work closest with.

In light of that there will be no more filming posts on this blog - not only for this quarter, but for every quarter thereafter. This applies to *all* Les Mills programs.

I will continue to blog about other Les Mills related topics, but as far as filming posts go, this is the end of the line.

Slave To The Music

2011-03-31T19:40:00.002+13:00

One thing that is a constant topic of discussion within the Les Mills community is the songs used in the programs.

Music is such a complicated thing, and it will never be possible to satisfy everyone's preferences. Everyone has their likes and dislikes when it comes to music, and I know that while I'm pretty open when it comes to music, I still prefer some tracks over others.

What a lot of instructors in other parts of the world don't know is how dire the music situation has gotten in Australia. For months on end, the only speed track that RPMmers could do was 'Long Way To Go' from RPM 47. That the only back track that BODYPUMPers could do was 'Don't Speak' from BP74. That the only conditioning track that BODYCOMBATters could do was 'Put Your Hands Up On Me' from BC44.

Les Mills International had enough restrictions with obtaining licenses for songs before the threat of the PPCA was realised. Now there are many more considerations that Les Mills International need to take on top of the previous ones that have to be taken into account when it comes to music selection.

[DISCLAIMER]: Before I continue I want to make it clear that the below are only my thoughts and opinions. They are not the official standpoints of Les Mills International, and I am not speaking on behalf of or as a representative of Les Mills International. I am just speaking as an observer with some thoughts on the matter.

Jackie Mills has said in recent quarters releases that covering music costs Les Mills International more than purchasing the license to use the original music outright. Also, covering a track would take a lot more time and effort too. A friend of mine had a casual conversation with Gandalf regarding the cover for 'Getting Over You' which was used in BODYJAM 55 (and also BODYATTACK 71) where he said, "I know! We spent *hours* in the studio and it *still* ended up sounding like this :(" I can imagine it would be particularly heart wrenching to have your sights set on a song and then restricted to 'trying to replicate it without trying to replicate it'.

From what I've heard, like-for-like covers are also subject to royalty collection by the PPCA, so the covers have to be different on some fundamental level. Sometimes that fundamental level has been the gender of the lead singer (as per 'Ignorance' from BC44 and RPM 47), the type of instruments used (as per Propane Nightmares from RPM 49 which started off with string instruments instead of brass) or the most difficult element to circumnavigate of all - timing. I know that BODYPUMP in particular has been greatly affected by this, to the point where new, PPCA-free music choreography notes have been re-published specifically.

Naturally, because of all of the effort involved to produce a single cover track, LMI would want to get their monies worth from it. Hence why of course 'Ignorance' was used in 2 programs, 'Russian Roulette' was used in 3, 'Release Me' has been used in 4, and now we have an unprecedented 6 program overlap for Q2 2011, although the track actually appears 7 times since it shows up in one program twice in the same release. Song overlap is a reality that we're going to have to get used to. It's not always a bad thing, since I love having 'Ravers in the UK' for both RPM and Pump, 'I Will Be Here' for both Pump and Jam - and I would love to see Commander, Pyromania and Teenage Crime appear in RPM after making appearances elsewhere.

The other thing that we will have to get used to is similar sounding artists or re-use of the same artists. I know for RPM in particular I've seen a lot of Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and Paramore. Balance has seen a lot of Leona Lewis and Jason Mraz. Then we have artists who fall into the same or similar genre appearing across all programs.

Take for example Usher who has appeared in BP75, BP77, BJ55, BJ56 (twice, two different songs), SH'BAM 1 and BV18. Then you have artists who sound similar-ish like Taio Cruz, Flo Rida, Sean Kingston, Iyaz, etc. My theory is that since LMI have a Small-But-Growing pool of cover artists, song selection to match their skills has become a higher consideration.

Check these out:

GhostHunter	BJ54: Bombtrack BC46: Spitfire
DJ Lotus	BP75 & BJ54: I Will Be Here BP76: Storm BP77: Only Girl In The World
Computer Love	BA70: Me Against The Music BA71 & BJ55: Getting Over You
Studio 88	BP73, RPM 46, BA68: Evacuate The Dancefloor BS83 & SH'BAM 3: Dynamite
TransNoise	BP73 & RPM 46: I Gotta Feeling RPM 47: Meet Me Halfway
Bodytronixx	BC41: Let Me Entertain You RPM 49: California Gurls
Swade	RPM 45: Burn It To The Ground BP77: It's My Life
SpaceGliderz	BS81: She's a Genius BV15: When I Think Of You RPM 48: Brick by Boring Brick BC46: Shut Up & Kiss Me BP77 & BS83: Commander
Southern Light	BS81: On A Mission SH'BAM 3: Don't Want To Go To Bed Now BB52: Set The Fire To The Third Bar RPM 48: Lost Highway RPM 49: Propane Nightmares

And these are only the covers that LMI have provided on the original kits; there would be more recurring names there also on the full PPCA free kits.

I was talking to a friend - amazing Pump instructor Sarita Norton-Barrett (whom you might recognise from some of the official Les Mills promotional material), and she was filling me in on how excited she was about spending 6 days in Perth and how she'd managed to line up team teaches there during her stay.

I began to caution her about which tracks she could use over there - It probably came off sounding like I was taking the wind out of her sails, but I was just watching out for her (because I love you, Sarita!) What she said to me was what is a common misconception about the current music situation in Australia.

"But I thought they won? I thought they can go back to playing anything now?"

Nope. Fitness First Australia still need a PPCA license to play music from artists under the PPCA (my understanding - correct me if I'm wrong), and at this stage they have not renewed their license. This means that instructors teaching at Fitness First are still restricted to PPCA free music only.

Sarita certainly isn't the only one who wasn't aware of this. To my surprise, I heard about conversations that Australian instructors had with various program directors where *they* were under the impression that everything had gone Back To Normal.

Ladies and Gentlemen, these are your program directors that we are talking about here. I'm not hating on them in any regard whatsoever - in fact, I love, admire, and look up to them. Even so, I was very surprised to hear that they weren't aware of the fact that the largest Les Mills license carrier in Australia was staying PPCA free and using a severely compromised catalogue of music.

To those of you in other countries who think "Well why should the rest of us give a toss about what's happening in Australia?", just know that your part of the world could be next.

Could you imagine BODYCOMBAT without Jigga Jigga, Shake Ya Shimmy, or The Black Pearl? Could you imagine BODYPUMP without Summer Rain, See The Light, Walk This Way or All I Ever Wanted? What about BODYJAM without Sandcastle Disco, Tambourine or Dance Wiv Me?

In my case... could I imagine RPM without The Night Train, Painkiller, Welcome to Africa or Alone In The Dark?

I can't imagine it. Yet it is a reality that so many instructors and participants are forced to face.

Les Mills International have already come a long way with getting cover artists on board and producing covered music. As a bystander I think they could do a bit more - bonus tracks would soften the blow that much more - though I can't comprehend the effort or cost that would be involved with this. No doubt it will get better in time. We just need to hang in there and respect that there is a lot that comes into play that we don't know about. All of what I've written about are my thoughts and my thoughts only.

I bet I haven't even scratched the surface of what really goes on.

Take that into consideration when looking at tracklists for upcoming quarters. Think about how the music landscape has changed, and what impact that has on song selection. It is challenging, but everyone is in it together, and we can get through it and continue to deliver life changing fitness experiences the world over - whatever the soundtrack may be.

Happy RPM Birthday

2011-03-27T06:00:00.003+13:00

Today is my RPM birthday.

It has been a full year since I did the module in 2010. When I think about how far I've come from then, it's hard to believe that it's only been a year.

I can't begin to describe how much I've grown as a person over this time. Not only has becoming an instructor challenged me physically, it's challenged me mentally and emotionally. There are a few more posts to come in the 'The Future Starts Now' series where I will articulate this, though know it hasn't been smooth sailing. There have been times where I've walked out of a class with my heart in absolute agony because I've been so frustrated with how it's gone. Other times I have been going mad because I couldn't handle not knowing when I next was going to teach again.

When I registered for the RPM training, it was my second choice. My heart was set on Jam, and there were days when I resented the RPM training because it meant that Jam took a backseat. It hurt seeing people I cared about onstage together, and people in my circle of friends do the Jam training and join them while I continued to be left on the floor. But I know now that everything happens for a reason. There's a reason that RPM came first into my instructing life, and I'll share that in due course.

When I was initially training, I recall a message that Hamish sent me after I'd texted him apologising for a teach that hadn't gone well. It said, "I'm not going to beat around the bush. It's going to take time for you to grow and develop to a level that you're comfortable with, though one thing I can say for certain is that it'll feel so good when you do nail it."

For the majority of the past year, I never hit that point that he referred to - the point where I felt I'd nailed it. Every single class I've taught thus far (and the count is 37 classes since I became certified. Yes... I keep a log.) I've come away frustrated by at least one thing. I've always thought, "Damn, [that] needed more use of imagery", or "Damn, I didn't cue the intensity very well [here]". Whenever people told me that I'd taught well, I found it difficult to receive the compliment because in my head I was angry that I had lacked on at least area at one point.

Everyone's journey takes a different length of time, and no doubt because I didn't get a class of my own straight away mine was frustratingly long - especially when I wanted nothing more to go full steam ahead and throw myself into teaching. And while it took 364 days to nail it, finally, on the 26th of March 2011, I did.

That doesn't mean that the journey of growth is over, by no means. There'll always be ways that I can continue to improve my teaching and I'll constantly be looking for them and working at it. But now I finally understand what Hamish meant when he said 'it'll feel so good when you do nail it.' It actually took me taking control over an element of my life outside of teaching that was causing me anguish and setting that free before I finally was able to walk into the RPM room with the confidence to take ownership of the class right from the outset.

It's incredibly poetic his this happened pretty much bang on one year from beginning my group fitness journey.

And I know I am *far* from being done.

At the risk of sounding like an Oscar winner, I am thankful for this blog and it being a platform where I can express my thanks to people who have helped me through what has been a real roller coaster of a ride so far. I also can count on them to be there for the terrain to come, and that deserves some thanks too.

Patrick Mougin, Glen Stollery & Jace Ago - While none of you are RPM instructors, you've have all been so incredibly supportive of me, and steadied my hand while I took the my very first steps into instructing. I had serious levels of doubt, a severe lack of belief, and all of you guys were there for me right from the beginning.
Georgia Himsley - You didn't know me from a bar of soap and yet you were supportive and understanding when I was looking for the right person to talk to at our gym. And now you're one of the best friends that I've ever had and I can't imagine my life without you.
Rhys Finlayson - Without you I wouldn't be teaching RPM at all. You started the fire, and it has not stopped burning since. (in a good way). It also means a lot to me that while you have no interest in RPM before, you still gave up your Sunday afternoon when you could have been doing BODYJAM with Gandalf to instead, ride in my RPM class in a gym far outside Auckland's city limits to support me. I am officially overwhelmed by how much you have done for me.
Arizona Grubmayr - You are a gorgeous, wonderful person, and I've found your compliments so beautiful that they've been hard to bear. I look up to you and one day hope to be at least one-tenth the Jammer that you are. You are an inspiration and have come through so much - I admire your strength and your heart.
Chris Richardson, Amy Styles & Sarah Ostergaard - The best LMNZ RPM trainers that a girl could ever ask for. You guys are amazing.
Jaci Griffin - You got me hooked onto this amazing program. I remember my first class vividly, and how genuinely proud you sounded when I stumbled out of class for the first time and you said to me, "Good work!". While your style when you're on the bike is powerful, strong, and no-nonsense - those two words that were completely overloaded with pride for my effort were what made me come back for more.
Mid Thomas - I can't even begin to describe the amazing woman that you are. I will never be able to thank you enough for your guidance, and for being the wonderful, beautiful person that you are. And for being the quality instructor that you are also. There will never be enough words that I can say to describe how grateful I am.
Cath Martin - I still can't believe what kind of fluke it was that I happened to be buddied up with you for the technique session at the module and to then find out that we were both sponsored by the same gym. We have both come so far this past year, and I can't think of a better person to have had by my side. You are an awesome instructor, and an awesome friend. (And since I've seen you angry, I'm glad that I'm in your good books!!)

And above all...

Hamish France - YOU, sir, I will be forever grateful to. I am so thankful to have been trained by you, and I know that I would not be a fraction of the instructor that I am now if it weren't for you. You took me under your wing and guided me through what was an incredibly overwhelming, dizzying, terrifying time. Every time I taught, it was to make you proud, and on some level, that will be something that will never change. I look up to you and hope to one day inspire others in my class the way that you have inspired me. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for every that you have done, and everything that you continue to do. You are an asset to the RPM program and the industry should be counting their lucky stars that they have a phenomenal individual as yourself in it. No words I say will ever come close to being able to thank you as much as I want to.

I am so lucky that I have such incredible people, and I can't imagine my life without them in it. For a self proclaimed introvert who had to script what I needed to say whenever I made a phone call to order pizza, standing up in front of a room full of people and motivating them to exercise was like a parallel universe. Now it is my entire universe.

World, you ain't seen nothing yet. There is so much more to come, and you better be ready for it.

BODYATTACK 73

2011-03-18T16:03:00.002+13:00

I have watched many an Attack filming - I have even tried to participate in Attack filmings but have been so thrown out by the number of people around me that I haven't managed to last a whole filming masterclass. While I enjoy doing Attack (difficult for me to do it regularly), the place I like doing it the least is at LM Auckland Central simply because it is so difficult for newbies to come in and get accustomed to the program. I'm frustrated enough at the bitchiness between members at that gym without adding fuel to their fires by being steamrolled by them during class.

It was quite gutting to miss out on the BA70 filming though, where Mid Thomas presented on the DVD - so when I heard that she was presenting again on BA73, I knew I had to be there and give it my best to support her.

Again, like the BODYPUMP and RPM filmings, you will notice that there is a rather large name missing from the presenter's lineup.

June Anderson (New Zealand - Low Options)
Bevan Eyles (New Zealand)
Nate Jones (Australia)
Mid Thomas (New Zealand)

Lisa Osborne is not presenting on this release. It came as a shock to a lot of people as she had been participating in the release rehearsal classes (as had Jackie Mills for Balance), myself included.

She does make an appearance at the beginning of the masterclass before handing over to the presenters. Before the filming started, she sat on the edge of the stage holding the newest addition to her family, little wee Hunter. You could hear the collective 'awwwwwwwww' from the participants on the floor, though she almost gave me a heart attack when she held him up and said, "Look, it's Hunter! Look! LOOOOOOOOOK!!!" and then started wiggling him around vigorously. He was asleep so his head and limbs just flopped around rather comically. I worried for a few seconds there that we were going to have a Michael Jackson Baby-Balcony incident.

[DISCLAIMER]: The below is my own personal opinion about the release based on my experience as a participant. I in no way am an authority on BODYATTACK or any other Les Mills program. Please keep an open mind as you read this, as you and your participants may have a completely different experience. If you feel as though the publish of my below opinion is detrimental to the program, you have no obligation to continue reading. Be informed that Les Mills International are aware of the existence of this blog and have no issue with its content as long as no tracklists or choreography is disclosed.

That part where Lisa wiggled the baby around was not when the cameras were rolling. Lisa does come onstage to introduce both Hunter... holding him in a much more conventional manner.

And of course, she introduces the Attack presenting team.

Now I am probably the least qualified person to be writing about Attack. Never mind that I'm writing this blog post quite some time after the filming took place so my memory is sketchy - I have little distinction as it is as to each individual track focus in Attack, never mind to try and write about it in a comprehensive manner.

I recall the warmup being an overlap from two programs, though thankfully this is one of the programs where the Six Programs In One Quarter song does not appear. But the song selection for the warmup is fantastic, and sets the tone for a great workout and is a wicked opportunity to connect with your members.

The agility track, interestingly, was based on Netball training. I know that this has been trending towards training based on sports, but I was intrigued by the choice of Netball. I love Netball, was a Netballer when I was younger and had I pursued it further I had the potential to be really good and go places. (I have yet to let go of the resentment I harbour towards my family for squashing that dream when I was a kid. I wish back then I knew better.) I recognised the movement patterns that were taken from training, and I enjoyed it and got a good workout from it. I do wonder though, with Netball not being a popular or well known sport in many countries, how well this will resonate with instructors. I can't recall exactly how many Netballing references were used when Mid presented this, so it might not be as big a deal as I'm making it out to be - the moves universally will be a good challenge for participants.

The team were sporting the new LMI Attack gear which is now available for purchase, it is so good to see yellow back in action for Attack. Hopefully this will mean we'll see the other programs make a return to their true colours (though I'm happy for Jam to not go yellow, ack... and thankfully RPM has stayed blue).

Mid really showed what a fine, inspirational instructor she when she presented the final cardio peak. You could feel the buzz in the room and it created this insane spiral of energy that just kept on going up and up. Fitness Magic at its best. I hope that it comes across on the DVD, though I fear that there will be no way that it can really be captured - fingers crossed you can replicate the same feeling for your participants because the way that I felt in that track has created an emotional tie between me and BODYATTACK which I haven't had before. It was the one program that always dropped off my radar, but after that track at that filming taught by that instructor, I am officially interested. While it will still be difficult for me to do regularly, still, I am officially interested.

That is why this post was saved for last. It was by far my favourite filming of the quarter. This blog post has not done it justice.

The word from most seasoned Attackers is that this release is HARD. Even the presenters were going around saying FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK with regard to how challenging it is. I'm not quite experienced enough with Attack to make that comparison, but I was definitely challenged, and ready to crumble into a heap once I was done.

One other thing. Once the Vive filming had finished, Nathan returned onstage by himself in his Attack gear again and he presented a whole track without the microphone. He did the entire thing with non-verbal cues. Now, noone officially announced what they were doing, but I believe that this might have been the education session for Attack (or even a generic education session across all programs) for how to cue without using your voice. If I eventually train in Jam, watching him present that track again will definitely be good guidance for me and how I can continue to give my members a good experience even when the equipment fails you.

I'm sorry that this hasn't been a comprehensive review of the release - I did the best I could, and I know that it probably leaves more questions unanswered than answered. Hopefully there will be more Attack filmings in the future (again, will depend on whether people will stampede on me or not!), and I will get better at writing about them.

Just know you've got an awesome release in store, and your members should brace themselves!

RPM 51

2011-03-18T02:23:00.004+13:00

The RPM filming was shifted so that it was going to take several hours earlier than originally scheduled to allow the filming team to accommodate for the filming of Step and Core (CX30) which had been shifted to the second day of filming due to the power cut on day one.

I'm not sure how evident it will be on the DVD, but definitely there was an emptiness in the room. The change of time really messed around with a lot of people, but it was something that couldn't be helped.

The presenting team was as epic a lineup it could be without the presence of the one and only Glen Ostergaard. I in particular was very happy to see Lee Smith back presenting again.

Sarah Ostergaard (Assistant Program Director)
Patrick Maes (Belgium)
Lee Smith (Australia)

[DISCLAIMER]: The below is my own personal opinion about the release based on my experience as a participant. I in no way am an authority on RPM or any other Les Mills program. Please keep an open mind as you read this, as you and your participants may have a completely different experience. If you feel as though the publish of my below opinion is detrimental to the program, you have no obligation to continue reading. Be informed that Les Mills International are aware of the existence of this blog and have no issue with its content as long as no tracklists or choreography is disclosed.

I made the big mistake of riding next to my friend Johnnathan - an instructor of freaking EVERYTHING - who nabbed a bike in the front row when I *really* didn't want to ride there. I received some very nasty comments from supposed BODYJAMmers about a year ago where I was told repeatedly that I was too overweight to be seen in the front row on the DVDs and found solace in the RPM community... I am now worried that I'll experience the same thing from RPMmers. RPMmers - please prove me wrong.

The start of the filming was delayed for a couple of reasons. The first being that they made a late decision to switch the power source over to the back up generator. Already that morning power was compromised to certain parts of the gym - thankfully the group fitness studios were not one of them, but anyone in the changing rooms was having to try to shower and change in complete darkness... not an easy thing to do. I for one was relieved that they made the decision to do this.

The second thing... well, it was me and my big mouth.

The bikes were so close together that when I sat with my hips at the back of the saddle in cycle set position, I could feel handlebars of the bike behind me. At exactly the wrong moment, I exclaimed, "Arrrrrrrrrrgggg, my ARSE is on the handlebars!!!" A split second later, I looked up and several of the RPMmers in the room had cracked up laughing, and I'll be damned if all three presenters were looking over at me with a "Huh???" expression on their faces.

I was wearing a yellow jersey, but heck, I'm sure the shade of red that my face went was far more bright.

Personal Non-Filming Moment: I attended a team teach where Lee and Patrick taught together - it was funny because Lee was introducing Patrick and he was like, "This is Patrick, from The Netherlands!" and Patrick shook his head to say "No". Then Lee was like, "You're not from The Netherlands. You just teach in The Netherlands." Again, Patrick shook his head No. Lee responded with, "I'm sure over the next few days we'll get to know each other much better." Ahahahhaha, I love it that the pair of them were pretty much just thrown together to teach and it worked out so well.

In fact, Patrick taught the Mountain Climb of RPM 50. I was wearing my Tour De France Yellow Jersey that I bought in Paris last year, and Patrick did some motivational cueing to get the participants through the final working phase. He said, "Chase down that yellow jersey!", then looked me square in the eye and said, "I want that jersey, girl." Getting caught up in the moment, I loudly said back to him, "Come and get it!" He responded with, "Oh I'm coming to get it! I'm coming to get it... ... ... I got it! Now take it off!"

I wore the jersey again for filming in the hope of giving Patrick a bit of stick, but it didn't quite work out that way. I'm sure that damn jersey also makes me very easy to spot in the crowd... however, the camera loved a rather attractive girl riding next to me (who had terrible form and terrible cadence) so I might have managed to escape too much camera time... hopefully.

Onto the release itself. The first time I heard this song I thought, "Man... I would *so* love it if this was a warmup in RPM." And well! I couldn't believe my luck when it happened! One of my favourite recent songs, but it does follow on a trend of a current top 40 song being a warmup track. I've happened to like recent T1's, but they have been a coincidence, and it would be good to see something else in future release.

I am in love with T2, and while T3 is a fun, upbeat track which is hard and no doubt I'll enjoy teaching, I feel the shelf life of it is quite short. I was quite happy with both of the T3's from RPM 50 whereby I'll get a lot of longevity out of them, though I personally feel that recent T3's (aside from Ecuador which blew so many people out of the water) have room for improvement.

T4... well. I don't really know what to say about this track. When I heard it I thought, "Oh gawd... not again." I have mentioned in past posts that there has been one song that has appeared in six different programs, and in one program twice. The T4 for RPM 51 is one example of this track occurrence. I personally prefer more uplifting T4's - but enjoyed Spin from RPM 49 as it was challenging and different. This T4, while fun, is in a similar direction to Spin, but like T3, has a shorter shelf life.

T5, oh man, this one is fun. An overlap from an old BODYJAM release, and I never would've picked it to appear in RPM, but that adds to how good this track is.

I can't remember much of T6, but again, T7 is massive value. The choreography is incredibly challenging - think of two of the hardest T3's you can think of, stringing them together, and amping up the intensity. For me, it's like a mash up of Ecuador and Show Me Heaven with the incline of a mountain rather than a hill. I have LOVED the recent mountain tracks, and this one is no exception. The music and/or the choreography have sold me from RPM 47 onwards, and it is so wicked knowing that I am going to end the class on a massive high when I use a recent mountain track.

I take my hat off to Glen and Sarah for their work. I'm looking forward to teaching this one, and I can do the release justice and give my participants an epic workout. I know that I've certainly gotten that from this release!

BODYJAM 57

2011-03-16T18:15:00.000+13:00

Firstly, sincere apologies at how long it's taken me to get this up. My life is pretty hectic so finding time to blog is incredibly difficult. This blog post has been worked on on my iPod Touch in various car parks, supermarket lines - any spare moment I've had where I've been able to jot down a few words there. Clearly this is not the most effective way to blog, but it was better than nothing.

BODYJAM 57 was the final filming of the day, and there were three presenters this time around.

Gandalf Archer (Program Director)
Carla Fitzsimons (New Zealand)
Nicole Hsu Sanchez (United States)

[DISCLAIMER]: The below is my own personal opinion about the release based on my experience as a participant. I in no way am an authority on BODYJAM or any other Les Mills program. Please keep an open mind as you read this, as you and your participants may have a completely different experience. If you feel as though the publish of my below opinion is detrimental to the program, you have no obligation to continue reading. Be informed that Les Mills International are aware of the existence of this blog and have no issue with its content as long as no tracklists or choreography is disclosed.

First things first, I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who lasted the mammoth day of filming and came along to the BODYJAM 57 filming. Because of the power cut on Day 1 of filming, it meant that 7 programs needed to be filmed. Even with shifting RPM 51 filming earlier in squeezing in Core and Step before that, it was going to be a tight schedule. Other elements like Core having 3 bonus tracks, as well as Vive and Core requiring stops for refilming pushed the evening filmings further back.

I spoke to a few Bodysteppers who were already frustrated over having the filming change days (one of them exclaimed to me, "I had a spot in the front!!"), and they were unimpressed that Core started 10mins late, and that because of the stoppages and bonus tracks, that Step started later, saying, 'It's no excuse that 'they're still setting up', they had all morning to set up!'

I know I'm no representative of LMNZ, nor am I qualified to make statements on theirs or LMI's behalf, though I urge international visitors to keep in mind that the main purpose of the LM Auckland Central gym is NOT to film new choreography. Like any other gym, its main purpose is for people to come along and work out to whatever discipline and using whatever equipment is on offer. Classes, daycare, team training, personal training, and non-filming classes continue to operate for the members. The gym does not come to a standstill just because LMI need some floorspace to film.

Keep that in mind. The filming crew don't have all morning to set up, because members who want to get in their morning Pump before work, or who want to do their morning Balance after dropping off their kids to school expect to, and are entitled to do just that. They pay the membership, after all. Great things do take place at that gym, yes, but first and foremost, it is a gym like all other gyms.

Now, back to BODYJAM 57. I personally love the presenting team this time around. I'm biased enough with Carla Fitzsimons being on board, and after seeing Nicole Sanchez's name popping up all over the place, it was a delight to see her onstage presenting.

Personal Non-Filming Moment: I saw the release once before filming when the team practised it at New Lynn, and afterwards I went to talk to Carla. She had only just learnt her block that morning and she was a bit frustrated that it hadn't gone as well as she would've liked, but heck, I thought she did amazingly and certainly couldn't tell! While I was talking to Carla about this, Nicole saw me and said, "You! You are on ALL of the BODYJAM DVDs!! Can I get a photo with you?"

I can't say I've ever had an international presenter ask me that before!

After the filming I saw Nicole there with a cluster of people around her and I thought, "You know what... she probably doesn't even remember saying that she wanted to have a photo with me", and I said my goodbyes without speaking to her and went home. A few days later when she was back in her home, I received a message from her on Facebook where she said, and I quote, "Now I so want to cry, just find out I didn't have any picture with you >_<>_<".

In that regard, it was an absolute breath of fresh air having Nicole with us - she was so incredibly lovely to everyone she spoke with; I don't think I've come across an international presenter for a long time that has been so down to earth.

The crew were sporting the new LMI clothing range, with G layering the mens BODYJAM t-shirt over the top of a peacock coloured polo shirt (yes, seriously, peacock coloured. He in fact, made fun of this several times at the filming). Now this is my personal opinion... I don't think G suited the t-shirt, and I have seen several other people wear it and not suit it. There has only been one instructor that I have seen look good in that t-shirt and that is Rhys Finlayson who teaches at LM New Lynn and regularly teaches and covers all over Auckland. It'll be really interesting to see if more people buy the shirt and if there are more people that look good in it. Personally, I'm nervous as it's a difficult style to pull off.

The women's gear is much more. Nicole wears a sleeveless purple hoodie while Carla wears a light red/orange cap sleeve t-shirt, though the back was ripped out. This isn't how the t-shirt comes, but if you're into tearing apart your expensive LMI clothing to simulate the same look, it's an option for you.

Onto the release itself.

I'll have to admit, I wasn't completely convinced by this release, but I was in a dramatic minority. Nearly everyone I spoke to said that they hadn't enjoyed a release top-to-bottom as much as they did BODYJAM 57.

It follows on from the precedent set by BODYJAM 56 in that there is no true Latin Block. While there is one that has latin-ish moves, the music isn't latin. There are rumours that BODYJAM 58 will take on the format of BODYJAM 45 in that it will be latin-free, but that is something that will be revealed in time.

The theme of the release is 'Carribean', and the choreography reflects this across all of the block. This was tried in an earlier release where it has been deemed a resounding failure by a large number of instructors. I definitely don't think this is the case this time. I am a big fan of the first cardio block and of the house block which both incorporate this feel in the music and choreography.

Nicole starts off presenting the warm up and isolations - and she is so perfect for these tracks that I almost feel like the music and moves were selected especially for her. Especially the isolations, which is cheese upon cheese upon cheese. Be prepared to camp this one up big time!

There are epic tracks throughout the release, and the first two of the house do it for me; they were immediately sourced on iTunes and downloaded onto my iPod - I've been bopping along to them ever since, which is always a sign of a good tune.

However, I must say this. There is one block in the release that point blank, I am not a fan of. This has never happened before... I actually became sick of it *during* my first time trying it. I feel like it is missing one 8 x 8 of chorey, or that it is one song too long. The holding patterns go on for what feel like an age, and I just found it very difficult to remain interested. I just hope that like I said, I remain in the dramatic minority and the way I feel about this block is not something that is shared by members. I could try to sugar coat it as best as I could, but I know that readers of this blog appreciate that I tell it how I see it. And Carla was the one presenting the block, and I freaking love her!

The vibe at the BJ57 filming was the best I've felt at a Jam filming for a long time. There was a lot of bitchiness at the BJ55 filming that almost had me walking out in anger, then there was the general stress of GFX in general at the BJ56 filming. The late start time start time and that it was The Quarter After GFX meaning that it was less crowded resulted in an awesome atmosphere.

Oh! That's right, there was one thing that surprised me about the cooldown. I had seen it at a rehearsal class at New Lynn, and there was one move in there that the moment I saw it, I thought "Ah, there's no point doing this. It's going to be culled." Far less ridiculous moves have been removed from BODYJAM before - and those of you who have seen the original Videophone with the crawling around on the ground will know exactly what I mean.

To my astonishment, this was kept in the release! Chris Richardson, you are one sick bastard. An evil genius, legendary, awesome sick bastard, but a sick bastard nonetheless. I am predicting a whole lot of WTF expressions from the participants when this one makes it into the members.

BODYJAM 57, while not one of my personal favourites, is one that will be well received by participants. Clubs and instructors will have the opportunity to have a lot of fun with theme-ing up the launch, and when the excitement of launch has died down, the release will continue to deliver value to members.

Be ready to grab this one with both hands and set your club on FIRE with it.

Patrick Mougin: BODYSTEP 84

2011-02-08T05:10:00.002+13:00

Right! You know when the guest posts start rolling in that it's time to get your act together (I'll get onto my posts for the second day of filming as soon as I can guys - I've been asked both about BODYATTACK and RPM in particular repeatedly, and I'm doing what I can... I've been working weekends, so I have precious little time to spare).

He blogged fantastically about BODYSTEP 83 and a bunch of other programs on my behalf last quarter, and I'm so thrilled that he's able to help out again this time around.

But first... the obligatories.

[DISCLAIMER]: The below is a personal opinion about of the release based on the guest bloggers experience as a participant. They claim in no way to be an absolute authority on BODYSTEP or any other Les Mills program.

Although the contribution is from someone other than myself, I am still the owner of this blog and take full responsibility over all published content. Any content submitted for publishing is crafted and edited before it is made live on this site. If anyone takes any issue with the content publish, I am the person who sought out the guest content, and I am the one who should be spoken to regarding this.

Please keep an open mind as you read this, as you and your participants may have a completely different experience. If you feel as though the publish of my below opinion is detrimental to the program, you have no obligation to continue reading. Be informed that Les Mills International are aware of the existence of this blog and have no issue with its content as long as no tracklists or choreography is disclosed.

So here we go! I hand you over to my dear friend Patrick.

There comes a point in the life of any Les Mills program where it has to evolve in order to stay current with the latest needs and trends in the world of fitness, and BODYSTEP is no exception. When I first saw this release in the rehearsal classes leading up to filming, I had to take a few moments to think “what is going on here?”. But trust me, this is worth it...

In terms of the release itself, I obviously cannot (and will not) give away any song titles or specific choreography information. But it is safe to say that not only is BODYSTEP undergoing an evolution, BODYSTEP 84 takes on a whole new dimension.

The presenting team for this release was as follows:

Mark Nu'u (Program Director, New Zealand)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)
Susan Renata (New Zealand)

Now you're reading the above and probably thinking “there's something strange about that line-up”. And yes, it is different from past BODYSTEP line-ups of the last few years, mainly because of the notable absence of Lisa Osborne (BODYATTACK Program Director & BODYSTEP Research & Development Director).

Lisa recently gave birth to her second son, Hunter, on Christmas Eve 2010, and since then she has been resting. She had been due to present in both the BODYSTEP 84 and BODYATTACK 73 filmings, but unfortunately she fell ill in the days leading up to the filming and had to pull out of both. In that sense, it is the first time since BODYSTEP 61 that Mark, Lisa and Sarah have NOT presented on a BODYSTEP release together (and coincidentally, BODYSTEP 61 was filmed just after Lisa's first son Jackson was born, hence her absense from that release).

(On a side note, it is also a weird first for Les Mills in general, with BODYPUMP and RPM Program Director Glen Ostergaard having broken his foot on New Year's Eve, thus ruling him out of the BODYPUMP 78 and RPM 51 filmings, as well as Jackie Mills having chosen not to present for BODYBALANCE 53 due to the recent birth of her grandson Max (thus having 4 releases in the one quarter where the Program Director has NOT presented, the first time in Les Mills history this has occurred)).

Nevertheless, the trio of Mark, Sarah and Susan pulled off a smashing release (in more ways than one), with some great choreography and music to match. The ladies had some lovely pink tops on, with Sarah's hair spiked up (in a different way to 76 though), and Susan's hair up in a beehive. In fact, they stood out so much that I cannot remember what Mark was wearing (oops!).

In general, BODYSTEP 84 re-introduces some choreography from previous releases, and also continues the recent theme of recycling some older BODYSTEP tracks (in fact, one of my all-time favourite tracks has been re-used in this release, and fits the theme for that particular track rather well).

The filming started off with Susan taking the first 4 tracks. Tracks 1-3 served as a great start to this release, and (for me) set the tone for what was to follow. Track 4 is rather intense, and is probably one of the hardest that I've done since release 80 or 81.

Mark took the following three tracks (5, 6 & 7), which are very contrasting to each other both in terms of music styles and choreography choices. Track 6... well, you need to do it to really feel it, and that is all I can say about that right now.

Tracks 8, 9 and 10 were all Sarah's tracks. Track 8 in particular is one of the most enjoyable Party Step tracks I have ever done, and I cannot wait to teach this to my members when I get the release. The whole of Studio 1 went berserk during this track, and I do not blame them one little bit.

I personally believe that Track 10 in this release will have all BODYSTEP instructors around the world thinking “eh?” when they first see it. That was certainly my reaction at first, but if taught with the enthusiasm and passion that all BODYSTEP instructors are renowned for, this will go down in history as one to remember for a long time to come.

Tracks 11 and 12 were taught by Mark. Track 11 is very tough, and Track 12 served as quite a light-hearted way to finish what I found to be a hard, tough release.

BODYSTEP 84 is certain to be a talking point for BODYSTEP in the years to come. And it is our responsibility as instructors to not deride it, but to embrace it and help take BODYSTEP to even greater heights.

- Patrick Mougin

Paul Thorne: BODYVIVE 19

2011-02-02T22:40:00.006+13:00

As much as I love BODYVIVE, there was no way that I was going to be able to commit to a full day of filming with a job to go to the next day, so BODYCOMBAT and BODYVIVE dropped off the radar for my attendance as I went home to prepare for the next day.

Thankfully, I had my wonderful Viveing friend Paul Thorne with his eyes and ears open and present at the filming to Do Mine Bidding. I really respect this guy's opinion a lot when it comes to knowledge about BODYVIVE.

The presenting team this time were as follows:

Susan Trainor (Program Director)
Maureen Baker (New Zealand)
Kathi Fleig (Switzerland)
Mo Hagan (Canada)
Mark Nu’u (New Zealand)

Great line up!

[DISCLAIMER]: The below is a personal opinion about of the release based on the guest bloggers experience as a participant. They claim in no way to be an absolute authority on BODYVIVE or any other Les Mills program.

Although the contribution is from someone other than myself, I am still the owner of this blog and take full responsibility over all published content. Any content submitted for publishing is crafted and edited before it is made live on this site. If anyone takes any issue with the content publish, I am the person who sought out the guest content, and I am the one who should be spoken to regarding this.

Please keep an open mind as you read this, as you and your participants may have a completely different experience. If you feel as though the publish of my below opinion is detrimental to the program, you have no obligation to continue reading. Be informed that Les Mills International are aware of the existence of this blog and have no issue with its content as long as no tracklists or choreography is disclosed.

So here we go! I hand you over to Paul.

OK, so my post about BODYVIVE 19 is NOT going to be a review of the release – I will give some information about each track (no music or choreography spoilers) and my general feelings about the release as a whole – but I don’t want anyone to get a pre-conceived idea about the release before they see it for themselves…

This was my second trip to Auckland for filming and I have 2 people that I want to give special mentions to… Dan Cohen and Maureen Baker – they both just looked like they were having so much fun with what they were doing – their enjoyment and enthusiasm really was infectious and inspirational and this may sound silly as we should all have fun with our teaching, but when I go home I really want to have a bit more fun going on in class!!!

Rise & Shine – Susan presented this track and “Shine” is just what she did. She had a real laid back confidence going on that was just the perfect start to class. This is also a warm up from a previous release for another program, which I love, so it was a double bonus!

Connect & Go – Mo presented this track, which is a MASSIVE tune! The chorey really suited the music. Not much more to say – LOVED IT!

Dance Cardio – Maureen had a lot of fun with this track! It totally reminded me of going clubbing when I was at University! She was just so secure with the choreography that it gave her loads of time to interact with the room and bounce off the other presenters on stage – a really great example of how to balance coaching and communication.

Interactive Cardio – This was the only track that Mark presented. Susan had him on his toes as there was lots of moving around the room, I can’t be more specific without giving spoilers, you will just have to wait to see it for yourself. Big number and Mark brought just the right amount of cheese to it.

Fitness Cardio – Kathi presented this track. I think maybe earlier in the week she had some nerves, but she was on fire at filming – she was definitely enjoying her moment. There’s always one track in every release that I don’t love and this is it. I don’t dislike it, there are some good innovations, but it is just not my favourite musical style. However, I do appreciate that Susan tries to include songs that will appeal to everyone, which is a good thing.

Tai Chi & Yoga – I loved this track, it’s quite dynamic, kept the heart rate up. It’s more Tai Chi than Yoga. As it’s not too much of a recovery I really felt like I was working throughout the whole class. Mo presented this track.

Balance & Leg Strength – Mo also presented this track. There are some really good & challenging innovations within this track. Instructors are really going to have to think about how they set this one up and explain the options to make sure participants feel successful. My butt was absolutely burning!

Strength 1 – This track really suited Maureen’s personality. Lots of innovation in this track too. Again, lots of coaching is going to be needed here for the new moves.

Strength 2 – This was a pretty standard track 9, no real surprises. Kathi presented and even taught us Swiss-German for “butt” and tried to get us to do some counting too – this made it good fun! This is one of the tracks that Raina mentioned is appearing in several releases this round, so depending on what programs you teach, it may get tired pretty quickly. But it IS a great song!

Abs – I loved this track. I can’t remember too much about the music, but chorey was great, nothing fancy, no quick transitions, just a good abdominal workout. This track was presented by Kathi.

Back Care – Maureen was back for track 11. This was a mash up of chorey from previous releases. The rhythms and tempos really suited the music and I found it physically quite tough.

Release & Restore – Susan finished off the class. I love how the final track in BODYVIVE is never the same. I think some of the other programs could learn something from what Susan does with BODYVIVE. There are always variations that stop each track 12 from being just another track 12.

Overall I think this is a great release. Maybe it’s because I have been teaching BODYVIVE since release 1, but I just had the best time in the filming class. The music is strong and the team looked great (I want to know when we’ll be able to get our hands on the new clothing – I loved Mark’s light blue/turquoise top but I think the female instructors out there will have to be brave/confident to wear the tops that Mo & Kathi were wearing – the see through panels on the sides and back of that top looked great on them as they are in awesome shape!

Anyway, thanks to Raina for asking me to be a guest writer for the blog and I hope you all enjoyed reading my post!

- Paul Thorne

2011-Q2 Day 2 In Brief

2011-02-02T00:40:00.000+13:00

Whoops, I was supposed to write a preview for today's happenings, but I'm using the excuse that I woke up at 4am and was out the door not long after, so there you go.

TUESDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2011

11.40pm RPM 51
2.00pm CX30 3
3.00pm BODYSTEP 84
4.10pm BODYATTACK 73
5:40pm BODYCOMBAT 48
7:30pm BODYVIVE 19
9.00pm BODYJAM 57

Pretty full on day!

I have guest bloggers lined up for CX30, BODYSTEP 84, and BODYVIVE 19 - and I *might* have one for BODYCOMBAT 48, but there may not be a post on that, I will need to confirm later.

For now, here are the highlights of the day.

Lowlight of Day 2 - Song overlap is something that a lot of people have been complaining about before the PPCA fiasco. It's gotten a bit worse since then, with more overlap happening. Initially I felt that LMI were doing what they could with what they had, and that we as instructors would just have to suck it up. However, this quarter, there is one song that appears in SIX programs. AND it appears in one program twice!! I mean come on, seriously?! SIX programs in the same quarter?!

Highlight of Day 2 - There are two highlights for me, one biased, the other unbiased.

Biased highlight - Gandalf giving a shout out in BODYJAM 57 to my good friends Jace and Arizona. LOVE!!!

Unbiased highlight - The amazing presentation from Mid Thomas in BODYATTACK 73. The final track that she presented was incredible; the energy in the room was amazing and the way that she engaged the crowd and lifted the experience. It's something that's difficult for me to describe, but my goodness, it left everyone for dust.

Lots to write about today, and I know I'm going to babble on till forever about RPM 51 in particular :D. Hopefully I will find some time to write over the next couple of days; Auckland had a long weekend which enabled me to get the Balance, Pump and Sh'Bam posts up quickly, but am not sure how quickly I'll be able to get it all done this time. The Vive guest blog post is already in progress (yay!), so hopefully you'll have some reading sooner rather than later.

Hang in there!

SH'BAM 4

2011-02-01T04:45:00.002+13:00

The introduction of two more programs to the filming furore meant some interesting timetable changes. BODYBALANCE at 2:30pm? BODYVIVE at 7:30pm?? BODYJAM at 9pm??? SH'BAM was one of the two new programs that has been introduced, and it was scheduled to be at 5:30pm on the first day of filming - understandably, it had to be on a different day to BODYCOMBAT to ensure that Rach's workload was spread out.

There were two presenters this time around:

Rach Cohen (Program Director)
Claudio Melamed (Spain)

I was down the back for the SH'BAM filming, and didn't even go up the front for the filming photo - I just wanted to SH'BAM.

[DISCLAIMER]: The below is my own personal opinion about the release based on my experience as a participant. I in no way am an authority on SH'BAM or any other Les Mills program. Please keep an open mind as you read this, as you and your participants may have a completely different experience. If you feel as though the publish of my below opinion is detrimental to the program, you have no obligation to continue reading. Be informed that Les Mills International are aware of the existence of this blog and have no issue with its content as long as no tracklists or choreography is disclosed.

What I'd heard about the release was that there was little 'lead in' to the cardio-ness of the release, and that physically, it was quite hard.

I'll agree with this. The warm up isn't really a warm up, rather a 'first track' which has the same cardiovascular intensity as the rest of the release does.

The other thing that I'll say is that there is a *lot* of music overlap between SH'BAM and the other programs. It seems to be felt more in SH'BAM than the other programs, and I'm guessing this is because the choreography for SH'BAM by nature is simple, so the differentiating quality from release to release is the music. I nearly fell over when Hello, one of the tracks is an RPM track?! Stop the madness!

Claudio appeared to struggle with presenting, and I'm guessing this is a combination of having to present in English, and the fact that he's renowned in the freestyle world and may not be teaching choreography that isn't his own. For the tracks he presented, you could tell that he wasn't happy as he would often stop the filming and restart the track.

Rach's tracks went amazingly well, absolutely beautifully, which is to be expected.

As for the release itself... I'm starting to get a *little* bit concerned with the diversity and variety within SH'BAM. We've only had 4 releases so far, and already, the choreography is starting to get a bit repetitive - with the same moves appearing in all of the releases we've seen so far. And again, because the songs used in this release appear in other programs - not only for this quarter, but for previous releases too.

I know I'm coming off all sounding rather negative about this release... I don't mean to be. As always, SH'BAM 4 is incredibly fun, although I didn't get as much of a workout as I could've simply because of the room on the floor - even at the back of the studio it was still a bit smooshed in, and there was one participant around me that seemed to be rather oblivious to the fact that she was constantly on the verge of colliding with me with every step she took.

For the cooldown, Rach called up a few 'Sh'Bammers' up onstage, and by this stage I was so frustrated by the participant who was almost colliding with me constantly that I was at the back of the room watching.

I have a lot to say about the 'Sh'Bammers' who were called up, so I will save that for another post. For now, I will say that 4 Sh'Bammers were called up to pack out the stage for a super super cheesy cooldown. Participants probably will have fun with this one.

All in all, a fun release that continues in the same vein as the previous three. Whether SH'BAM can continue to grow from here and forge its own identity and be innovative without becoming more and more complex is something we might have to wait for another release to see.

BODYPUMP 78

2011-01-31T18:30:00.001+13:00

There's been a lot of concern about how this filming was going to go with the absence of Glen Ostergaard. To assure those who have been stressing out over Glen's recovery (yes, I'm referring to *you*, Amir :-P), Glen himself actually appeared at the filming, and before the presenting team came onstage, he plonked himself on the edge of the stage and addressed the crowd.

You'll all get to see him on the DVD, he appears to introduce the team, full leg cast on display. He announced that he'd broken his foot, but... (and this is the news that you've been waiting for...) he will be back for the next round.

So rest assured, the Glenmeister will be back super soon! AND by the looks of things he's still heavily involved in both RPM and BODYPUMP, despite being away from the weights and off the bike, so the Ostergaard Influence is still going strong.

To cope with the absence of such a vital person to the team, the BODYPUMP 78 presenting squad was extended to be an epic lineup.

Susan Renata (Head Trainer)
Emma Barry (New Zealand)
Dan Cohen (New Zealand)
Petter Ehrnvall (Sweden)
Jacqueline Klossner (Switzerland)
Les Mills Jnr (New Zealand)
Will Pritchard (New Zealand, Shadowing)
Mid Thomas (New Zealand, Shadowing)

[DISCLAIMER]: The below is my own personal opinion about the release based on my experience as a participant. I in no way am an authority on BODYPUMP or any other Les Mills program. Please keep an open mind as you read this, as you and your participants may have a completely different experience. If you feel as though the publish of my below opinion is detrimental to the program, you have no obligation to continue reading. Be informed that Les Mills International are aware of the existence of this blog and have no issue with its content as long as no tracklists or choreography is disclosed.

The video wall was incredibly effective during the Pump filming; the graphics that they used were fantastic. Only downside was that a couple of times when the team was presenting, the wall was turned off (whoops) and we had to wait for the wall to come back on again before we could resume filming.

A lot of excitement is currently filtering through the BODYPUMP word over the choice of song for the warmup in BP77 and how aggressive and strong it was. You guys will be just as excited about the warmup for BP78. This release again, starts with a bang - heavy and hard right from the word go. I like it a lot.

Squats was exquisitely presented by Petter, and apparently he was really nervous. The first take of the squats, the poor guy wasn't able to hear the beat, ended up off-time, and he knew it too. He said to the crowd. "Do you like squats? Good, because we're going to be doing a lot of them today."

But there was only one false start and the rest of his track went smoothly. In fact, the end of the warmup had to be filmed a couple of times, and in fact my girl Mid Thomas was one of the reasons why we had to refilm! When the rest of the crew had their bar down to signify the end of the track, she did an additional curl. Whoops! She knew straight away that she'd made a mistake, but what was funny was that I had the entire BA73 filming team standing around me in support of her, and Lisa Osborne - literally about... 10 centimetres away from me - pipes up at this moment with, "Come on Middy! ... It took us 3 hours to get her hair sorted out."

We love you Mid, for realz!

Everyone was keenly interested in how Les Mills Jnr (technically he's Les Mills II rather than Jnr, but I'm gonna roll with what Kia Kaha have published his name to be) - son of Jackie and Phillip Mills - and how he was going to go. He was down to present both chest and biceps. I have a lot to talk about regarding Les's tracks, so I will save that for a separate blog post.

What I will say though is that I had heard a lot about how Les was teaching when he first started rehearsing for BP78, and the progress he has made since then has been amazing.

I'm going to come back to the back track, as for me, it was the highlight of the release.

Jacqueline presented the triceps track and I tell you what, I wish I could've heard her presenting - I couldn't hear a thing through all of the whooping and yelling from the Switzerland support crew in the front corner of the room. At the time it creates atmosphere, and is fun, but I've since seen the instructional DVDs and have seen how annoying the yelling and shrieking can be. I don't know about how much it can be edited out on the actual kit, but it was a bit frustrating for me personally at the filming.

That could also be just me being grumpy ;-) Anyone who was closer to the front - if you could give me some feedback on how Jacqueline presented, that would be great! She certainly was a popular presenter as far as the support on the floor went :-)

Les was back for biceps, and the Susan Renata came back on for lunges. Oh My God. Lunges. It's not Dangerous from BP74, but it is HARD. Definitely in the top 5 of hardest lunge tracks in the history of BODYPUMP. It and the back track for me are the two highlights of this release.

I have mixed feelings about the shoulder track. It's one of my favourite tracks from another program from Way Back When, and when I heard it was coming in for BODYPUMP, I nearly broke something. I need to see it again and view it for the shoulder track is actually is. The entire track, all I could find myself saying was, "I can't BELIEVE this is in BODYPUMP. ARGGGHHHH!!!" The exercises therein are good, but I need to get over the song choice.

I didn't stick around for abdominals and cooldown, so I'll be seeing those when the workshop team start preparing for quarterlies in 3 months. It looked pretty standard from what I could see, but it's always a different experience watching an ab track and doing an ab track.

Now. The back track for me was the highlight of the release. Not only was the choreography innovative and tough, Dan Cohen really set the standard of what a quality, versatile presenter should be like.

Choreography first. I wrote this about the BP76 back track six months ago.

BODYPUMP instructors were particularly excited about the back track. And after having seen it myself, I can see why. There is a choreography innovation in there that had Pump instructors in the room going absolutely crazy with sheer delight. If I was a Pump instructor, I too, would be going crazy.

However! If you are a Pump participant, you might see this back track and go, "What new choreography? What's all the fuss about?" After all, I was particularly excited by the Power Climb sprints in track 7 (as opposed to the regular Standing Attack sprints) of RPM 48, though my members don't even really notice anything different from the norm.

And this is what I wrote about the BP77 back track.

Without a doubt, your participants *will* notice the choreography change, the new move, and will probably be FREAKED about it. Susan Renata presents this and she touts it as *THE* biggest back track ever choreographed in the history of BODYPUMP.

For BP76, I cautioned, 'you might be excited, but your participants may not be.' Now, this time, I urge instructors to hype up their participants and GET them excited. It is so big that it deserves all of the attention and hysteria it can get. Go crazy!!!

So which category does the back track from BP78 fall into. Is it "Instructors will notice it, but participants won't" like BP76? Or is it "Participants will FREAK" like BP77?

I'd say it falls into the category of BP76, where it's not 'new moves', but a 'new sequence'. Participants may not see the difference, but they will certainly *feel* it.

Second. Presenting style. I was curious as to why LMI went with Dan Cohen when we have amazing, recognised LMI Pump DVD presenters such as Mark Sinclair and Matt Thraxton, and LMNZ presenters like Amy Styles, George Clark and Sarah Ostergaard not taking part. I'm not sure what their workload is like (I believe that Matt Thraxton might be down for a Pump filming later in the year... if so... YAY!!! I hope it's the big BP80!!), though I admit, I raised an eyebrow. Why would someone who doesn't even have a regular BODYPUMP class at an LMNZ gym be selected to present on a DVD?

I was slightly assured when I received feedback from instructors in different parts of the world that Dan had presented BODYPUMP at other quarterlies, so he wasn't a completely green presenter.

As I mentioned on the filming day summary post, Dan Cohen's presenting was inspired. I might be shot down in flames for this, but I actually feel that him presenting that back track for BP78 far surpassed any of the presenting he's done for BODYCOMBAT.

Why?

At times, I have felt that the BODYCOMBAT DVDs have felt a bit too scripted- I know that this has been mentioned on the LMI Forums as well on a thread a while ago - and the energy from the presenters therefore was a bit forced and contrived.

I'm not saying I could do better, absolutely not. In fact, I'm not surprised that sometimes presenters sound scripted. In fact, I was having a conversation with one of the LMI safety team a while ago whereby they mentioned that some of the most amazing instructors have been tried as DVD presenters (this is across the board, not just Combat) and have struggled with having to have so many of their cueing scripted - and there is so much scripting that goes into the DVD presenters cues, since there are 'must cues' that need to get out some way, some how for instructors to learn that track in its truest form.

Dan presenting that back track looked comfortable, relaxed, and like he had more time to get out what he needed to say. He had a genuine enthusiasm about him, and as a result, you could feel the energy in the room skyrocket.

My hat is off; he did a really good job.

BODYPUMP 78 is an awesome release, with an incredible presenting team, challenging choreography and wicked music. Me likey. Even without being on the stage, Glen Ostergaard is doing amazing things for BODYPUMP.

BODYBALANCE 53

2011-01-31T09:45:00.000+13:00

BODYBALANCE was the first filming of the day, and despite the unusually early start time of 2:30pm, there was a long queue of people waiting to get in that wound down all of the stairs to the bottom level of the group fitness building. There were a few people who instead of joining the end of the line, decided to stand in between the people already waiting. Not only was this pushing in, it also made the wait to get into Studio 1 incredibly uncomfortable - very hot from all of the body warmth, and a delightful aroma fusion of perfume, aftershave, and sweat. Deeeeeeeeelicious. [/sarcasm].

When we finally did make it into Studio 1, the first thing I noticed was that the rig which was set up with all of the cameras was *much* further forward than normal. Ordinarily, it is about 2/3rds of the way back so the majority of the floor is utilised for filming participants. This time, it was placed about halfway back, meaning that there was a large chunk of the room not utilised behind the set up.

I'm not sure what the reason for this is. If it was to try to force participants to go closer to the front for less populated filmings like BODYSTEP, BODYVIVE and BODYBALANCE, yeah okay, but why would they do that on a day where BODYPUMP was scheduled? Pump demands more floorspace due to the bench/plates/bars, so I'm quite surprised by how much the room on the floor was compromised.

The first big surprise for me was that there was NO JACKIE presenting in this release. She came onstage and did a brief little intro for the camera with the presenting team, then quickly scuppered offstage.

This meant that the actual presenting team consisted of:

Corey Baird (New Zealand)
Dr Dave McKenzie (New Zealand)
Anna Paringer (Sweden)

The TV screen wall was back and set the tone really well for the filming. For the majority of the filming it was a beautiful, soft, fog/haze like animation. There was one exception to this which I'll talk about later.

[DISCLAIMER]: The below is my own personal opinion about the release based on my experience as a participant. I in no way am an authority on BODYBALANCE or any other Les Mills program. Please keep an open mind as you read this, as you and your participants may have a completely different experience. If you feel as though the publish of my below opinion is detrimental to the program, you have no obligation to continue reading. Be informed that Les Mills International are aware of the existence of this blog and have no issue with its content as long as no tracklists or choreography is disclosed.

Jace indicated in his post about BODYBALANCE 52 that the Balance team are experimenting with different styles of music for the warmup. This again is evident with the song selection for BB53, and aain, the music, though unusual, completely works for Balance.

I'm not sure about what the official length of the Tai Chi track is, but it felt very long on the floor - to the point where after every 4 x 8 count I was asking, "Are we done yet?" It felt quite long, and I wonder what impact this will have with Balance instructors abilities to create mixes with this warmup.

Sun Salutations was pretty straightforward, though again we see the seamless transition through to Standing Strength. For me though, the dramatic contrast in the music styles between Sun Salutations and Standing Strength meant that despite Dr. Dave's gentle assurances of "Stay here...", I stood bolt upright as though to say, "Huh??? Are you sure???" For instructors teaching this, I would probably pre-warn your participants about the change in the music (I was not the only one who stood up all puzzled, I'll say that now).

Also... oh my god... 9 minute Standing Strength track. Sweet Zombie Hitler.

The Balance track... well... I wish I had some real feedback to give on it. Like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, the TV wall behind the presenters was effective for most of the class, with one exception (in my opinion).

The animation made a dramatic switch from the soft, green haze to a bright, harsh green backdrop with a large concentration of white bubbles dancing all over the screen. Given that I wanted something still to look at to help me maintain my balance, this was not appreciated. The impact might not be felt as much on the DVD, though on the floor, more than one person said to me after the filming, "What was with the bubbles?" Maybe if I see the track again without the bubbles I'll be able to actually remember the choreography and not the bubbles.

From this point onwards, I felt that the release was very strong and I enjoyed it.

An interesting moment in the filming itself was at the end of the masterclass when Dr. Dave pointed out that part of one track needed to be refilmed because part of the sequence had been missed out. Jackie Mills said, "Really??" Because Anna had just rolled with it, noone had noticed that a mistake had been made, and the filming crew began to scramble to find where it was that the blip had been made, since noone had spotted it and noone had a clue! Love it :-D

There are innovations throughout the release, and some difficult, yet familiar poses that will ensure that participants are challenged and get good value for their workout.

Be ready for this one, guys!

2011-Q2 Day 1 In Brief

2011-01-27T22:45:00.001+13:00

Hey everyone!

Well... below are the filmings that were scheduled to take place today.

THURSDAY 27th JANUARY 2011

2.30pm BODYBALANCE 53
4.00pm BODYPUMP 78
5.30pm SH’BAM 4
8.00pm BODYSTEP 84
9.30pm CX30 3

And, these were the filmings that actually took place today.

THURSDAY 27th JANUARY 2011

2.30pm BODYBALANCE 53
4.00pm BODYPUMP 78
5.30pm SH’BAM 4

Oh yes, there was an... erm... 'slight issue' with the night time filmings.

Lowlight of Day 1 - Immediately after the SH'BAM 4 filming ended, the power went out in all of the LM Auckland gym. Not only was Studio 1 effected, but so was the changing rooms, the weights areas, and the reception/cafe area as well.

The cutoff time for getting the power back on was 8:30pm, with the scheduled start of BODYSTEP being 8pm. I saw people running around trying to access the power mains to get a workaround in place, though it appears that despite best efforts, the power wasn't restored and the final two filmings of the day had to be postponed till Tuesday.

My heart goes out to the crew involved - they've got a *long* day ahead on Tuesday to make up the work.

Highlight of Day 1 - There are two highlights for me, one biased, the other unbiased.

Biased highlight - Mid Thomas onstage for BODYPUMP 78. She was *beautiful*, and Team BODYATTACK were near me on the floor in full support of her.

Unbiased highlight - Hands down, Dan Cohen presenting the back track on BODYPUMP 78. The energy in the room soared when he took control of the stage, and he absolutely owned his track and presented it flawlessly. I have a lot to say about his presentation, and I will say it when I write the full BODYPUMP 78 post, though I'll just make it known that he blew everyone else on stage that day out of the water.

2011-Q2 Day 1: Preview

2011-01-27T12:00:00.001+13:00

Today's the day!

The filmings lined up for today are as follows:

THURSDAY 27th JANUARY 2011

2.30pm BODYBALANCE 53
4.00pm BODYPUMP 78
5.30pm SH’BAM 4
8.00pm BODYSTEP 84
9.30pm CX30 3

I will be attending BODYBALANCE 53, BODYPUMP 78 and SH'BAM 4. Hopefully I'll actually last the length of the SH'BAM filming this time, not like the SH'BAM 3 filming at GFX where I barely made it through the warm up because I was so angry.

I taught an RPM class under stress last night (turned up 5 minutes late after traffic out of Auckland seriously delayed me - it took over an hour to get to the gym in question), but that being said I don't think I've *ever* worked that hard in a class before. It meant I had the best sleep I've had in years, and have woken up to a beautiful day in Auckland. With Balance being the first filming up, it looks like I'll be in a better mood this quarter ;-)

I've also heard some rumours about shadow presenters for both BODYPUMP 78 and SH'BAM 4 - both savoury and unsavoury. There's been a lot of disquiet being expressed about some of the shadow presenters in question and the validity of them being on stage for a DVD, so I'm especially interested to see how they go.

If any of you are going to be at these filmings today, I'd love it if you came and said hi - I'll be hiding down the back so come and have a chat! It'd be great to see you. I'd also love to hear your feedback about the shadow presenters (as mentioned above, there's been both delight and outrage), and about the releases in general. I got overwhelming feedback about the guest bloggers from last quarter - I think a wider scope of opinions really went down a treat, so your feedback will be much apI'll try to check in at the end of the day with a brief summary of the 3 filmings I've attended, no promises though.

I'll be paying extra attention in BODYPUMP since my blogging partner in crime Glen Stollery won't be there :-( (however I'm expecting him to return the favour and pay extra attention in BODYCOMBAT since I won't be there for that one!)

Peace out, one love, one tribe!

2011-Q2 Filming Presenters & Filming Schedule

2011-01-23T12:15:00.002+13:00

The official Les Mills Blog Kia Kaha has published the list of presenters for this quarter:

BODYATTACK 73

Lisa Osborne (Program Director)
June Anderson (New Zealand)
Bevan Eyles (New Zealand)
Nate Jones (Australia)
Mid Thomas (New Zealand)

BODYBALANCE 53

Jackie Mills (Program Director)
Corey Baird (New Zealand)
Dr Dave McKenzie (New Zealand)
Anna Paringer (Sweden)

BODYCOMBAT 48

Dan and Rachel Cohen (Program Directors)

BODYJAM 57

Gandalf Archer (Program Director)
Carla Fitzsimons (New Zealand)
Nicole Hsu Sanchez (United States)

BODYPUMP 78

Susan Renata (Head Trainer)
Emma Barry (New Zealand)
Dan Cohen (New Zealand)
Petter Ehrnvall (Sweden)
Jacqueline Klossner (Switzerland)
Les Mills Jnr (New Zealand)

BODYVIVE 19

Susan Trainor (Program Director)
Maureen Baker (New Zealand)
Kathi Fleig (Switzerland)
Mo Hagan (Canada)
Mark Nu’u (New Zealand)

BODYSTEP 84

Mark Nu’u (Program Director)
Lisa Osborne (Research and Development Director)
Susan Renata (New Zealand)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)

RPM 51

Sarah Ostergaard (Assistant Program Director)
Patrick Maes (Netherlands)
Lee Smith (Australia)

SH’BAM 4

Rachael Cohen (Program Director)
Claudio Melamed (Spain)

There are a few things that you will notice.

NO international presenters for BODYCOMBAT. I'm not sure what the reason for this is. When was the last time we had a D&R solo show? Was it BODYCOMBAT 41?
Both of my favourite instructors on the planet are presenting - Mid Thomas in BODYATTACK and Carla Fitzsimons for BODYJAM. YAAAAAAAY!!!!!! All I need now is Matt Thraxton in RPM and I can die happy.
Dan Cohen presenting for BODYPUMP?! Really looking forward to seeing him in action!
No listing for CX30 (previously known as 'Core') presenters.
A character named 'Les Mills Jnr' presenting for BODYPUMP. He is Phillip and Jackie's son, named after Phillip's father Les.

And the biggest surprise...
No Glen Ostergaard.

Glen unfortunately has an injury and that means for both RPM and BODYPUMP, Glen is not on the presenting team. Whether he is present in a coaching role (I had the privilege of chatting with Amy Styles only yesterday and she herself is injured and was relieved to not be on the presenting team this quarter, but is still involved with BA73 in a program coaching role) I'm unsure of.

As far as RPM goes, without Glen there, I am thrilled and excited that Lee Smith is back to fill the void. There's no RPM presenter that I personally have connected with as well as him. I love his presenting style and find him a true inspiration - a real asset to LMAP and LMI.

As far as BODYPUMP goes... I am really interested to see how both Les and Dan go presenting. Dan has no BODYPUMP classes at any of the LMNZ gyms, but from what I've heard, he's presented Pump at other quarterlies. There are also shadow presenters for Pump so it's going to be an epic, epic presenting team.

Now... the filming schedule for this quarter has also been published:

THURSDAY 27th JANUARY 2011

2.30pm BODYBALANCE 53
4.00pm BODYPUMP 78
5.30pm SH’BAM 4
8.00pm BODYSTEP 84
9.30pm CX30 3

TUESDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2011

1.30pm RPM 51
4.10pm BODYATTACK 73
5.40pm BODYCOMBAT 48
7.30pm BODYVIVE 19
9.00pm BODYJAM 57

The filming times and days have really been shaken up from what we've seen in the past - two things have contributed to this. The first being that now we have two more programs to accommodate for - Sh'Bam and Core/CX30. The second being that with Glen Ostergaard's injury, Dan Cohen's workload has had to be managed much more carefully.

Typically BODYPUMP and BODYCOMBAT are filmed on the same day, though now they have been split across the days presumably so that he's not presenting three programs on one day. I can only imagine the gruelling schedule for even *shadowing* one program, never mind being a presenter for three of them (I know my friends Jace and Rhys worked their butts off preparing for the LMNZ BODYJAM 55 workshop as shadow presenters - it would be tenfold minimum for an LMI filming!), so it shows you what a machine Dan Cohen has to be to be involved in three LMI presentations.

I've highlighted and italicised the filmings that I plan to attend. With the last filming now *starting* at 9pm/9:30pm, it makes things incredibly difficult for me, given that I have to go back to my day job the next day. Plus, LMI filmings never run on time.

One of the guest bloggers I lined up last time is back here again and will help by blogging about BODYSTEP 84, CX30, and BODYVIVE 19, though if anyone out there is keen to blog about BODYCOMBAT 48, please let me know - I'd really be grateful! If you're going to be attending the filming but are nervous about writing articles, I can guide you through he writing phase and work with you on that.

Filming is gonna rock! Stay tuned, I'll do my best to try and get the filming posts up quickly, though I will warn you that my day job has had me working ridiculous hours so it's gonna be tough. I love you guys, so I will do my best for you.

The Future Starts Now: Part 19

2011-01-16T06:00:00.000+13:00

After the BODYJAM launch, Jace, Hamish and myself moved the lighting from the group fitness studio into the RPM room. It was quite entertaining since Jace was so jumped up after the launch that he couldn't focus.

At one point he was sitting on the instructor bike. I initially gave him a 'Please, We're Here To Do A Job' look, but then he started barking out RPM cues.

"Ride Easy! Hands on top! Add working resistance! Slow your legs to the easy half beat!"

RPM instructor in the making??

Jace and I have a running joke about Hamish (Uh... I know Hamish is probably reading this... you know we love you, right? We joke... with love!) because we delight in how excited and happy he is when he teaches Jam. His eyes light up and sparkle and you can see it in his smile and hear it in his voice; never mind how that excitement bubbles over after class and he remains buzzing for hours afterwards. Jace and I commented it that was akin to a kid at Christmas, like a 5 year old. So Jace started saying in Jam, "How would you do it if you were a 5 year old?!!", which related directly to the enjoyment and excitement that Hamish gets out of being a Jammer.

It was especially funny when Hamish himself started saying, "You're such a 5 year old", because he wouldn't have realised that the origin of the whole '5 year old thing' was HIM. (Again, Hamish, we come up with stuff like this because we love you!)

So when Hamish sternly told Jace, "Bro you're such a 5 year old", it was quite amusing when Jace piped up with, "Nooooooo, I'm 5 and a HALF!"

Then things got even more crazy when Jace decided to try and pedal with one foot in a pedal of one bike and the other foot in the pedal of the other bike.

Oh boy. You tell me which one sounds more like a 5 year old.

[aside] To even the playing table, one time before Jam where Jace and Hamish were team teaching Jam and I was attending, Jace was in a full on conversation with me when a few members entered the room. Without skipping a beat, and me in full flight in telling him something, Jace walked off to talk to the members. Hamish saw this and was like, "Did he just snub you???" I think so!

So the joking around goes both ways :-D In fact... I'm curious as to what those two say to joke about me .... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm??[/aside]

...

ANYWAY (I'm sure both Jace and Hamish will never speak to me again... I've said this in the past, you don't want to be my friend, I laugh at you and then write about it on the internet.)

The upshot of that is even with Jace being High On Life, we managed to set up the room and get ready for the launch the following morning.

I wasn't involved this time - Cath and another instructor was launching RPM 47 in the evening, and Hamish had the beautiful Mid Thomas as a guest instructor to our club for the morning. There are a few instructors at our sponsor club that aren't enthusiastic about any new music/new choreography, so I was thankful that Cath and Hamish were representing the new release in the AM and the PM. Cath even got cover for her spin class so that she could come along and support the morning launch.

I've often spoken about how Carla Fitzsimons is my BODYJAM inspiration - she is my favourite instructor and reached out to me in a dark period of my life and brought me back from the brink of a very dangerous place. When I think back to the first few weeks I was a member of Les Mills, I know the longevity of my membership thereafter is because of that kindness and warmth she showed to me in my first few days after joining.

It was through Carla that I met Mid. At the time, she was teaching BODYJAM, and would often team teach and cover for Carla. She would recognise me as the Crazy Screaming Indian in the front row of the Jam classes.

After a while, I asked Carla where Mid taught - looking for another Jam class to stalk. It was then that Carla said that she didn't have a regular Jam class, but was one of the best RPM instructors at LMNZ. By coincidence, Mid was covering at New Lynn on the Thursday morning that week, and it was a day that I'd taken off work as well. At this stage I was still only doing RPM at New Lynn so I was too scared(?!) to ride in the city, so I couldn't believe my luck that the one day that she was covering at New Lynn was the one day I could go and do the class.

I still remember the look on her face when I walked into the RPM studio, and her exclamation of surprise when it dawned on her that I wasn't Popping In To Say Hi, but I was actually a regular RPMmer, and was coming in to do the class. She couldn't quite believe it, and kept on saying, "No way!! You do RPM?! NO!! No way!!! Really?? You do RPM??? You do RPM!!! OH MY GOD you do RPM?!! No way!!!!" If I hadn't been wearing both my cycle shorts and my cycle shoes, it would've been a hard argument to sell.

Admittedly, in the beginning, I thought that Mid's classes were easier than what I was used to. Over time though, I began to realise that I'd actually developed a dependency on having the instructor turn up my resistance for me (which is such a massive no-no in LM land) and I didn't know how to manage my own resistance and work to my maximum intensity on my own. It was through Mid's amazing connection, coaching, and motivation that I went from 'doing RPM' to 'loving RPM', and from 'being forced to work hard' to 'looking forward to working hard'. She developed an emotional connection with myself and RPM that I will always be grateful for. It was thanks to her that the fire was lit in me.

Whenever my friends from overseas came to New Zealand to participate in the filmings, my RPM would drop off the radar in favour of Jamming with them. After I discovered Mid's classes, I held onto my RPM and told them, "I'll meet you afterwards." I never felt I had to drag myself into class - in fact, I made sure I would begin work early on the Tuesday that she taught so that I could leave early and get into her class on time.

I prefer most of the newer music in RPM (while there are a few classic old tracks that I like too), but Jaci prefers the older stuff and I'm constantly too terrified to request any tracks from her, and Mid loved requests so I was never afraid to ask her when I wanted to do a particular song.

I always left her classes feeling positive, energised, uplifted and empowered - a feeling of achievement, even a small smile on my face as I went to the changing rooms. In the past I'd walked out of RPM with a physical feeling, but not an emotional one, and her classes began to unlock this.

So to have this amazing woman instructing alongside Hamish – who is also amazing – naturally made for an amazing launch. All I did was stand in the corner and watch as it was a packed house, my job being to change the colours on the lights from time to time. Hamish and Mid were awesome up there together and as I watched them, I thought to myself, “I wish I could be even one tenth of the instructor that both of them are.”

There was a great energy and buzz in the room, and it was an honour to witness it. The passion just radiated from both Hamish and Mid, and they did an incredible service to launching RPM 47. Standing on the sidelines I was filled with a sense of direction. Seeing them both up there and the quality of instructing made me think to myself, ‘I might be ready to certify, but even after that, I have got *so* much more growing to do.’ The journey was going to be a long one, and that feeling that I got standing there was confirmation that I was up for every bump and fall along the way.

I was also filled with something more specific. Hope. Hope that one day, I would get to launch an RPM release myself.

The Future Starts Now: Part 18

2011-01-10T06:00:00.001+13:00

I'd spent so much time to-ing and fro-ing trying to get my CPR certificate sorted, and I'd also been given a few cover classes by the manager which meant I managed to get a bit of a run on with my teaching.

Every class, I still got incredibly nervous, to the point of almost being sick moments before the class as due to begin each time. I stuffed up choreography and felt uncomfortable in some places, but each time I felt like I was improving and getting more confident. I came out of each class knowing what I needed to improve on, and I'd now had the benefit of learning 3 releases and a few other tracks here and there - RPM 41, 45 and 46. I had RPM 47 but it hadn't been launched.

It was so traumatic watching back the video of my first filmed class, that I couldn't do it by myself. Thankfully, both Cath and I had the same idea and we arranged to watch it together at my place with pizza to console ourselves with. Oh man, it really was traumatic seeing myself on the TV screen, hearing myself speak, and astonishingly... realising how little coaching I had done and how much I just sang along to the music. While Cath said that she was going to send hers in and that I should send mine too, I didn't quite feel comfortable with me sending in a seemingly karaoke effort from myself.

I managed to get 5 classes to cover in the space of 2 weeks, with the final one being the one where I would refilm my certification. But by this stage, I didn't want to do it on RPM 46. Given that all I did was sing along to it, I wanted to use a release that I felt I could coach a bit better. We hadn't launched RPM 47 at this stage, but had learnt all of RPM 45 and emailed LMNZ to ask if it was permitted for me to certify on an earlier release than the one I'd moduled on. If you're contemplating becoming an instructor and are in a different part of the world, there might be different rules for your region, so if you want to find out what the deal is in your area, contact your local representative of the LM Agency closest to you.

LMNZ's position is that you can use any release you like as long as you do not mix, although it is recommended to use the one that you did your module on since you've gone over that with a fine tooth comb. I really felt after having team taught most of RPM 45 with Hamish that I did a better job teaching it than I did RPM 46.

The first time I was due to refilm, I had team taught a couple of other tracks in the morning with Hamish, and then had spent the rest of the day flat out, revising and going over my scripts. I was absolutely spooked, but ready to do the deal and have it behind me. Hamish and Cath both said that they were going to be there, and I can't even begin to express how relieved I was when they both arrived. It makes a *massive* difference having a friendly face in the front row. And two friendly faces is even more awesome.

So then imagine my shock when I sensed some movement outside the RPM room, turned to look to see who it was, and seeing that it was my Mum.

My Mum struggles to understand why I want to become an instructor, thus, finds it difficult to support my instructing in any way, shape or form. If I ever expressed any difficulty or struggle, her immediate response would be, "Maybe you should quit.", as it's a world she doesn't relate to or feel any connection with.

Seeing her there, coming to ride in my certification class almost brought me to my knees. I was overcome with quite a hard wave of emotion as I cannot even begin to describe how much it meant to me that she came. My heart became an absolute tangle and I almost cried.

I introduced her to Hamish - as she'd heard me babble on about this awesome guy so much :-D. Little did I know that from that meeting for MONTHS thereafter she'd be rabbiting on about how much she liked him (she talked to him for all of 5 minutes :-S).

That's the *LAST TIME* I introduce her to any of my friends.

I was already nervous enough as it was, and having my Mum show up meant my emotions were in a real tangle, and I had to take a moment to regather my composure and get myself in check.

Then 2 minutes before the class started, the manager said to me, "Raina, can't film you. Camera's stuffed."

It was like I'd just swallowed a rock. I thought Oh You Have GOT To Be Kidding Me?!

I only had 1 minute before the class was due to start... and I still had to go and teach the class.

I could barely stammer out the bike setup, and was all over the place for the warm up and track 2. I was a bundle of nerves and had been so thrown by the camera not working that it trickled over into my teaching, and the fact that I knew that made me more frustrated, which meant I made more mistakes, and I ended up teaching even worse because of it.

By the time I hit track 3, I thought, 'You know what... stuff this. I'm not filming, I'll switch tracks.', and switched over to the one that I'd taught that morning with Hamish.

I said to the members, "Sorry to those of you that were here this morning..." When the music kicked in, I saw Hamish lean over to Cath and say something about Satan. I found out afterwards that what he actually said was, "Is Satan her husband??"

And anyways, I'm not sure if Satan could handle a bit of Voodoo Child for Track 3 anyway! On some level I think I had an inkling of what he'd said since I recall picking on him in one part of the track where he backed off load when I hadn't cued a recovery. Bahahah, I can seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee you! ;-)

I finished the class with a terrible knot in my stomach and a heaviness in my heart... I know that I had delivered a well under par class. Quite simply I knew I could do better. I hated it that Hamish, Cath and my Mum all saw that effort, and not what I knew I was capable of.

I had at least 3 weeks until I was able to film again, which made me feel even worse. After all of that, I was going to have to start all over again.

Errr... that wasn't supposed to happen

2011-01-09T20:35:00.001+13:00

I accidentally published a blog post which I wanted to publish next week - it would've popped up in your feed readers already if you're subscribed, and I'm just hoping that it doesn't come up in the Facebook note import.

Just so you know, there's supposed to be another blog post that comes up before it, so it won't make too much sense.

Sorry about that guys!

Jace Ago: BODYBALANCE 52

2011-01-09T01:00:00.003+13:00

Final filming post for this quarter, apologies again for the delay on this, but we got there in the end!

This post is brought to you courtesy of my well respected, amazing friend Jace Ago - who is certified in BODYJAM, BODYBALANCE and BODYVIVE. He is an incredible instructor, and someone who is respected and loved by a lot of people in Auckland - the day he moved from the Philippines down to Aotearoa was in my mind, a great one, on a personal level, I am thankful every day that he is here. I'm sure there are a lot of people here who feel the same way.

I'm going to take this chance to talk him up a bit - he has one regular BODYJAM and one regular BODYBALANCE class and has covered at several other gyms in Auckland, including all three of the Auckland LMNZ gyms. He also was a shadow workshop presenter for BODYJAM 55, so believe me, this guy is the beez-neez! Best part? Is he is so humble and down to earth and genuine and I am honoured to call him my friend. I'm thankful that he contributed by writing about BODYBALANCE 52, and from his write up alone, I'm looking forward to having him teach it in his classes :D.

Enjoy!

BODYBALANCE 52 is a refreshing release, very different and shows a level of innovation and contrast which is quite exciting for me as a Balance instructor. In fact, I would caution you who are reading this to try and hold off developing an opinion of the release until you have seen it, as it is difficult to describe how well the innovation and creativity comes through in the release whilst still saying grounded in the essence of BODYBALANCE.

The first point of difference from other releases is that the warm up is very different to the traditional warm Tai Chi warmup. I think they are experimenting with different Tai Chi feels to make it a bit more interesting for participants. Instead of the typical new age/indie feel to the warm up, the Balance team have opted for a more pop/hip hop song.

You heard that right. But believe me when I say that it works amazingly well, and captures the essence of BODYBALANCE fantastically. The moves in the warmup are still very traditional even if the music is of a different genre than to what we normally see.

The seamless transition between Tai Chi, Sun Salutations through to Standing Strength is kept, and I think this is a very nice way to do it as you really feel that you are progressing with the workout.

The presenting crew this time are amazing, and funnily, all of them have American accents, apart from Jackie, haha!

Jackie Mills (Program Director)
Linda Chambers (United Arab Emirates)
Kurt Gesteland (United States)
Dan McDonogh (United States)

[edit] I must apologise for Jace, we are all very aware that Dan McDonogh likes to go oot and aboot. Even though he is living in the USA, I'm sure that Canada will forever claim him as their own, just like we New Zealanders continue to claim anyone who moves across the ditch. [/edit]

Dan McDonogh in particular was a delight to have presenting - so many of you will know him as former RPM Program Director, and it was amazing to see him and his spark in BODYBALANCE.

In particular, he was phenomenal in presenting the abdominal track. He presented hip openers, abdominals, and meditation. The abdominals track... well, you heard it here. It's the the hardest abdominal track in BODYBALANCE history. Think of every single abdominal move that you could possibly do, and put them all in one track. That's what this one is about. And! 8 minutes long.

Dan did a great job in showing the different sides to his personality, particularly in this track. He showed how versatile he could be and how to teach the tracks effectively. I really think he is amazing in this one.

His quirky sense of humour comes through too [warning: slight chorey spoiler], where at one point he cues a move called a 'lola' and he says, "One more time, Lola. Don't you know she was a showgirl?"

For those of you that don't understand the reference, check out the below video for 'Copacabana' by Barry Manilow. Those of you who are reading this via the Facebook import, please click through to the blog page to view the video.

The song selection between tracks 5 and 6 have a dramatic contrast, where 5 is very subtle and relaxed and on the flipside, 6 is fun, vibrant and aggressive. This again is where Dan really shines as a presenter.

As has been mentioned in some of the other posts, a video wall was put up for the filmings and was utilised quite well in the BODYJAM 55 filming. I believe it was also utilised well in BODYBALANCE 52 - it really helped creating atmosphere in the studio, especially for meditation.

All in all, this is a challenging, exciting, contrasting, refreshing release, and I can't wait to teach it!

- Jace Ago

Patrick Mougin: SH'BAM 3

2011-01-01T00:01:00.007+13:00

2011 begins with a bang, and what a better bang to begin with than the filming post for SH'BAM 3. I was so frustrated at the filming due to a couple of snotty attendees (I grrrr in your general direction) that I hardly saw any of it, and I have been looking forward to this write up from my dear friend Patrick Mougin just as much as the rest of you.

Happy 2011 everyone, here is my gift to you. Which... Patrick wrote. But I'm giving it to you. Does that make it a second hand gift??

Anyways... enjoy!

What is there to say about SH'BAM other than it it starting to gain an identity of its own away from the “mini-BODYJAM” and “Zumba killer” tags that have been bandied about as of late? And SH'BAM 3 was no exception.

The great thing about the SH'BAM 3 filming this time around was the fact that it wasn't just Rachael Cohen on stage. She had two very special guests with her, one local and one from overseas.

The local guest was one who has been a part of the Les Mills family for god knows how long as a prominent member of the BODYSTEP DVD presenting team, and more recently BODYJAM. Yes, you guessed it, Sarah Robinson. And it is great to see her just blossom in other program DVDs after having been just a BODYSTEPPER for so long.

The overseas guest was someone also making a return after some absence. The last time we saw the USA's Mysti Oglesby was in BODYJAM 48 alongside G, Ginny, Rachael and Phil Harrison from the UK. And since then, she has been made the Head Program Coach for SH'BAM in the USA, where it is starting to gain a lot of popularity and traction. So it was fitting that for the first ensemble SH'BAM grouping, she would be involved. And boy she did not disappoint!

Those of you who do not know what the premise of SH'BAM is all about, it is a 45-minute 9-track dance program (kinda like how BODYJAM used to be pre-release 33). But the choreography is rather simple, and the music is pretty much Top 40 stuff. And soooo much fun!

Now I unfortunately do not remember the finer details about tracks and who presented what, other than to say these things:

Mysti led the class in the warm-up, and this track is a rather popular one that has had airplay right around the world during 2010. Now, if my memory serves me correctly, this track is also the warmup track in another program this quarter, so it has some overlap. Mysti was amazing from the word go!
There are also other tracks that have been used from previous quarters in other programs featuring in this release (not that it's a bad thing necessarily, as it helps to provide some familiarity).
Incidentally, the final cooldown track is by the same artist as the warmup track! I cannot remember any other releases of LM programs where this has been the case, and I reckon it is testament just to how popular this particular artist has been this year.

And just in case you are wondering, “gee, is SH'BAM really popular in New Zealand?”... take a look at this photo.

That photo was taken just before the SH'BAM filming by LMI (permission has been given for it to be embedded in this blog post). It gives you an indication of just how packed Studio 1 was. Popular opinion has it that it got more people in than BODYCOMBAT 47. The program may still be in its infancy, but if that is any indication, then it has a good run ahead of it.

SH'BAM is due to be officially rolled out in Australia in the first half of 2011, and similar timeframes around the world (speak with your local Les Mills agent for more information). I, for one, cannot wait to start teaching this program, particularly this release. In my opinion, it is going to cater to a wider range of members than BODYJAM and provide a solid starting point in which to get people grooving and shaking.

As at time of writing, the training and certification requirements for SH'BAM were still being finalised (as far as Les Mills Asia Pacific is concerned anyway; other agencies may be at a different stage). From the reaction that I ascertained from fellow instructors at the filming though, it will be one that a lot of instructors will be going for. So have a look out for it in the next quarter or so, because it is going to EXPLODE!

- Patrick Mougin

Patrick Mougin: BODYSTEP 83

2010-12-28T20:45:00.000+13:00

Now... I've mentioned lots of times before that I'm no Stepper. I personally was beside myself with excitement the first time I saw BODYSTEP 82, and I did not contain that excitement when I wrote my blog post about it. Now I've heard worldwide reaction to it... well... let's just say it's probably just as well I'm not writing the filming post for this quarter, since my personal experience was way off the mark from how the rest of the world felt about it!

Which makes me so thrilled to showcase this next post, one written by my dear friend Patrick Mougin, who is Steptacularly Steptastic and can do a WAY better job at talking about a Step release than I can. Knock yourselves out!

I'm gonna say it straight off the bat... BODYSTEP 83 is such a departure from BODYSTEP 82 that it is almost a relief! At time of writing, it has been some time now since we launched 82 at our clubs, and from the reaction of a lot of my members at least, they were happy to see the back of at least quite a few of the tracks from that particular release.

But enough of that... 83 is such a fantastic release. I only saw it once (at the filming), but enjoyed myself for every single waking moment of it. From the music to the choreography to the presenters, it was just unreal.

Speaking of the presenters, there was one awesome line-up for this one:

Mark Nu'u (New Zealand)
Lisa Osborne (New Zealand)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)
Olivia Ward (New Zealand)
Joella Hopkins (USA)
Amanda Scales (USA, shadowing)

For Olivia, this was her first time she had presented on a DVD. She is a BODYSTEP, BODYVIVE, BODYJAM and BODYBALANCE instructor at Les Mills in Christchurch, and she did CHCH (and NZ) very proud indeed. She presented Track 2 and 3 (and I think another one, but don't quote me).

Having said that though, during the filming in particular, a lot of eyes were on Joella. In the days leading up to the filming, Joella had re-injured her Achilles tendon and she was forced to rest for a number of days to reduce the swelling. So on the DVD, she may not appear to be her super Jo Jo self, and this is why. As far as I remember, she presented Track 4 only, but did it so well! A lot of people who were aware of the injury would have been very proud of her that day.

It was also great to see Amanda come back from BODYSTEP 80 to shadow for a few tracks in this release. Even when not speaking, her energy is amazing!

In terms of tracks themselves, all I can say is... WOAH!

From Track 1, you knew this release was going to be nothing short of spectacular. Lisa (complete with baby Hunter growing inside of her) took this track and led the way. As mentioned above, Olivia followed it on with Tracks 2 & 3. Now one thing a lot of instructors will notice immediately in these tracks is the mash-up of choreography, which will be rather awesome for members out there who want more of a challenge!

Track 4, as mentioned, was taken by Joella. And the track selected for this was perfect. Even with the Achilles injury, she gave this track everything it deserved.

Track 5 was a Mops track. But the refreshing thing is... it is totally no-frills (like Track 7 in BODYSTEP 82). The choreography in this track is dead simple, but OMG it kills you! Instructors, be ready for this. This is Mixed Strength at its absolute best!

My memory is hazy on Tracks 6 and 7, but Track 8 (Party Step) is one that I definitely remember. Think one of the Pop Princesses that have emerged big time this year, and you'll be on the right track.

Track 9 goes back to Flava for this release (after having had an Athletic stint in 82) and is beautifully taken by Sarah. Not as complex as 81 was, mind you. The members should be fine with this one.

Track 10 is a really pumped-up track, and (I suspect) will turn out to be one of my favourites once I start teaching it. There are some arm lines for Track 10 that are introduced way back in Track 2! And it fits the song like a glove. Track 11 is challenging, but the song choice makes it bearable. Track 12 I unfortunately do not remember.

All in all, this is one BODYSTEP release that hardcore Steppers out there are going to LOVE! It has the right mix of music, choreography and intensity to potentially make this one of the best yet!

- Patrick Mougin

BODYPUMP 77

2010-12-24T22:45:00.001+13:00

So with RPM 50 being accidentally published too early when I intended it to be published last, I made the decision that my favourite filming of the quarter would then be the final one I blogged about this time around. Alas, I haven't received the guest blog posts for SH'BAM 3, BODYBALANCE 52 and BODYSTEP 83, so here we go.

By far my favourite filming of the quarter was BODYPUMP 77. There have been some exciting developments in BODYPUMP over the last few releases, and I have heard a lot of people starting to say, "It's getting hard again.", and returning to BODYPUMP after an absence from it. The lunge track from 74, the shoulder track from 75, the back track from 76 all have brought some awesome innovations and awesome intensity which has both instructors and participants all over the world excited about the releases to come.

Let it be known that BODYPUMP 77 is no exception.

I loved the music selection for the warmup track, though it is getting a fair bit of radio play at the moment so it *might* be a bit dated by the time it gets launched at club level. That being said, it's a perfect BODYPUMP warmup and it fits just like a glove. It sets the scene incredibly well, and if I were a Pump instructor, I'd be thrashing this track like it was nobody's business!

There's a bit of a surprise in the squat track, not so much chorey wise but music wise. Those of you who regularly teach the older Pump material might want to review their music selection in the lead up to this track, as it is a track that has been brought back from an earlier release, BUT, the muscle group is different. For example, in a recent RPM release there is a track which was used in a very early release as well - only the track was a different focus, the old version was a Track 3 (Hill Climb) whereas the new version is a Track 4 (Mixed Terrain). It's pretty much the same deal here. If you are interested in knowing which song it is, send me a private message either by email, Facebook or on my Les Mills profile and I'll privately talk to you about which song it is.

The chest track gave me quite a shock when I first heard it. I thought, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!" It is quite an unusual song selection for a chest track, departing from the more rock based tracks that have been the norm of late. That being said, it is one of my personal favourite songs from 2010, so I'm quite happy to see it in Pump.

Without a doubt, the biggest track of BODYPUMP 77 is the back track.

Before I go into that though, let's recall what I said about the BODYPUMP 76 back track.

If you are a Pump participant, you might see this back track and go, "What new choreography? What's all the fuss about?" After all, I was particularly excited by the Power Climb sprints in track 7 (as opposed to the regular Standing Attack sprints) of RPM 48, though my members don't even really notice anything different from the norm.

Basically, I'm saying - Instructors, while you might be excited about the change that the back track from BP76 will bring, don't expect your participants to feel the same way. The change is subtle, and while I believe that it is a very good change and I'm happy that it's there, participants may not notice that anything is different and feel that the track is 'same same'; so don't be surprised if your members don't feel as excited about it as you do.

This is not the case in BODYPUMP 77.

Without a doubt, your participants *will* notice the choreography change, the new move, and will probably be FREAKED about it. Susan Renata presents this and she touts it as *THE* biggest back track ever choreographed in the history of BODYPUMP.

For BP76, I cautioned, 'you might be excited, but your participants may not be.' Now, this time, I urge instructors to hype up their participants and GET them excited. It is so big that it deserves all of the attention and hysteria it can get. Go crazy!!!

I love the tricep track, and I tell you what, it felt hard doing a triceps track with the bar again, ahahhaa! I'm a huge fan of the song, but that is my personal preference and other people will probably not feel the same way about it. I like it because it has a party-esque feel about it, and quite often listening to music that gives me the delusion that I'm partying helps me get through those final few tricep extensions all the more easier.

Biceps... not one of my favourites, but like I find with most tracks, it probably will grow on me if I do it a number of times.

I'll be completely honest with you in that I can't remember much about the shoulders and the lunges... BUT! I do remember the abs.

Instructors, I urge you *DO NOT WRITE OFF THIS TRACK*. There will be people all over that will look at the song selection and want to shoot themselves in the head. I'm weird in that I'm slightly obsessed with the song, but I know the majority of people tout it as one of he most annoying songs that they've ever heard. Though song selection aside, I truly believe that this ab track has staying power because the chorey is so intense. It might seem boppy and cheesy but heck, this one burns! Your participants will get an incredible oblique workout from this track, and it is honestly refreshing choreography after how recent ab tracks have felt a bit 'samey' as far as the moves have gone.

BODYPUMP 77 continues on from the good work that Glen, Emma, Susan and the rest of the BODYPUMP team have had going on from recent releases. You guys in the Pump community... you've got good times coming. Look forward to them.

Merry Christmas you guys! You lead the change, One Tribe, Kia Kaha!

Cath Gibson: RPM 50

2010-12-04T06:00:00.002+13:00

The final filming post of this quarter goes to what I feel is the highlight release for this round [EDIT: Apologies for this - this was *intended* to be the last post, but I accidentally set it to automatically publish rather then save it as a draft. There will be posts for BODYBALANCE 52, BODYSTEP 83, SH'BAM 3 and BODYPUMP 77 coming]; my biased and unbiased opinion - RPM 50 was a massive release. I had the opportunity to ride 99% of it once, though was unfortunate to miss out on the filming after a change of venue.

Thankfully, my friend Cath G who did the RPM module with me back in March made it onto the final list of attendees graciously offered to write a post about the filming - girl, love your work!

Without further adieu, here we have it.

Alrighty filming of RPM 50.

I'd hyped myself up about this one for weeks. The fact that I actually got a bike still amazes me... when Raina told me they'd moved studios and cut the bikes down from 60 to 45 I thought to myself... "Well that's it then...I'm screwed..." but no I was one of the lucky ones. My ticket got emailed to me and look at that I was ticket number 45. Lucky lucky last!

Being my first ever RPM filming of course was a little nerve wracking... but after sitting outside the studio waiting for 10 or so minutes I quickly realised everyone was pretty cruisy and really friendly...especially the Aussies... who of course hadn't stuck to the dress code of gold, white or black but turned up in their Aussie shirts... typical! They did redeem themselves however by wearing the scratchiest, most uncomfortable looking gold wigs...so we'll let them off.

Once we were allowed in the studio there was a bit of waiting around while the film crew got sorted and Sarah had to do a couple of interviews. The presenting crew was mammoth and how they ever all got onto that stage still amazes me. We had of course Sarah and Glen as usual, Dan McDonogh, Megan Nutall and Chris Richardson. They all looked like they were pumped and ready to go and they helped to fill the room with some nervous but excited energy. We were all finally sorted to make a start but were missing one instructor... Glen... who had decided to take himself off to the loo for a nervous pee. Sarah was hilarious though and got the music started and was cueing the warm up with us all pretending we were filming as he walked in! We all got a bit of a giggle and he pretended he wasn't bothered at all - yeah right! :)

The rest of the session is one big sweaty, exciting blur...they worked us fricken hard over a long period of time and all I can say was it was amazing and one of the highlights of GFX. There were 3... yep that's right 3... bonus tracks that will knock your socks off.

From memory I think the bonus tracks were an extra 3,5 and 6 - but don't quote me on that! There were a couple of minor hiccups with cueing and a bit of a break in filming as they changed tapes (we so didn't mind the rest though!) but otherwise it ran so smoothly and was so much fun. The team looked fantastic in their "limited edition" RPM50 Gold and black shirts and we were gifted with Les Mills packs at the end which were a lovely surprise.

So all in all an amazing experience...lovely lovely Les Mills crew...pushing us all to our limits and beyond...if you have never been to a filming before you must must go...and GFX in a couple of years?? Bring it Baby!!!

Cheers
Cath - Certified RPM Instructor.

BODYJAM 56

2010-11-28T06:00:00.000+13:00

Funny how this is actually the first GFX filming post that *I* have written, holy smoke! It has been great having the guest bloggers on board, and there's more content from them just waiting to be published - having seen the posts, man, you guys are in for a treat.

But onward! BODYJAM 56.

I haven't actually ever attended a BODYJAM filming where I'd never seen the release in full before, so BODYJAM 56 was an interesting experience for me in that regard. Even the first filming I'd attended, BODYJAM 43, I'd seen a couple of times before it was filmed.

I'd heard a lot of different feedback about BODYJAM 56, and one thing I can say straight off the bat is that this probably going to be a release that divides a lot of people. There will be people who love it, and people who can't stand it. There are songs in there that had people going "OMG YAY I'm *SO* glad he used this song!", and those same songs will make others go "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *WHY* did he use this song?!"

There has been frustration in the BODYJAM community ever since the introduction of Base and Plus options at the reduction in complexity of the routines, with some people wondering if the complexity of BODYJAM will ever return. Rumours ran rife that BODYJAM 55 went up a notch in terms of complexity, though I disagree with this. BODYJAM 56, however, definitely has some challenging choreography in there that will make those Jammers who have been crying for more complexity a bit happier.

However. I am worried about whether the direction of movement will work in smaller group fitness studios. I hope that we haven't found BODYJAM's equivalent of 'the komodo dragon' and that smaller fitness studios will be able to handle it.

I will add that the sheer mass of people in the studio for BODYJAM meant that my ability to move was a bit constricted, and remember, I am significantly less enthused by filmings than I used to be which may taint my description of it. (The magic is simply not there for me any more, and I don't think I'll ever enjoy filmings the way I used to.)

So! An interesting blend of music, and complexity in the choreography which we haven't seen in BODYJAM for a while.

The presenting team was incredibly strong:

Gandalf Archer (Program Director)
Fabienne Humblot (France)
Kimmo Jukuri (Finland)

Fabienne is gorgeous, moves beautifully and is absolutely crazy when she presents - and I liked Kimmo because he bore a striking resemblance to Phil Harrison. In fact, I was talking with Carla before the start of the filming and I said to her, "Kimmo looks like Phil Harrison" and her reply was, "He does! But better looking."

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

One thing that was changed for the first time for this lot of filmings was the introduction of a large screen at the back of the Studio 1 stage. This meant that any graphic could be displayed on there, and the filming crew weren't restricted by the lighting.

All of the other filmings displayed some nice graphics, but they were just a step up from the pretty lights that are typically displayed. It meant that there wasn't a need for a re-dress of the set should a filming have wanted to take on a particular theme, but that feature hadn't been utilised for any of the filmings. The BODYSTEP 82 workshop had some spooky looking images on the back which was probably the best use of the screens...

... up until the BODYJAM 56 filming.

If you are not a BODYJAM instructor, when the DVD comes out, I suggest you get in touch with a BODYJAM friend and sit down and watch the warm up and the cardio block of the release. At the very beginning of the warm up, there is an awesome surprise which made the best use of the screen that I'd seen for all of GFX.

And then, a second awesome use of it partway through the block that Fabienne presented. Plus options are still demoed like they were in BJ54 and BJ55 - integrated in with the masterclass rather than being filmed in separate segments - though instead of Gandalf demoing it...

... get this...

... a large monkey appears behind the presenting team onstage showing the plus option and Fabienne says, "Check out the monkey for your plus option!"

Seriously!!

I cracked up laughing on the floor, and I cannot WAIT to see how it looks on the DVD.

The other thing I want to mention is that along with wanting an increase in complexity, Jammers were hoping for was a release without a latin block.

While I won't go so far as to say that BJ56 is a release without a latin block, this is a point that is in dispute.

...

Wait. What?

Yes, seriously. Some people will say that there is a latin block in this release, others will say there isn't.

What do I think?

Personally, I think that there is latin in this release, but it's not in a place where you would expect it to be. Think along the lines of BJ44 when latin appeared as an isolations track.

Since I only got to see the second half of the release once, I didn't really get to sink my teeth into it and experience it fully, so I can't form an opinion. Just that the chorey felt more complex than normal which had me standing around going "Huh?" a few times. I'd need to see it again before I could really give it a more detailed review.

As for the first half, there are two blocks of exquisite contrast - very different in feel and musical style. I like both, but am not very good at either, haha. Jammers who have wanted to see some different style will get it here... whether they like it, remains to be seen.

I do believe that Gandalf has done some great work on this release, and it is refreshingly unique. Whether it will be to everyone's tastes remains to be seen, and that is evident already by the large variety of feedback that I'd had on the release.

All the same, I think that it bodes well for the future of BODYJAM that there is more creativity and uniqueness coming through. It means that the pathway is opening up for more of the same for future releases, which can only be a good thing.

Belinda Iacono: BODYCOMBAT 47

2010-11-25T06:00:00.000+13:00

Now I attended the BODYCOMBAT 47 filming, although given the number of people who were there, I was wondering whether I'd be able to or not. So I lined up a guest blogger in Belinda Iacono from Melbourne to write this post, and I'm so glad she did!

I was right down the back for this filming, and being right up against the rig where the cameras were set up, there was very little room to move and a lot of the time, I couldn't see a thing.

I asked a lot of people about their opinions of the release, and bear one thing in mind - I know that a lot of you haven't seen BODYCOMBAT 46 yet, though with it being GFX, the instructors and attendees there saw both BODYCOMBAT 46 and BODYCOMBAT 47 in quick succession, so the comparisons between the two were inevitable.

The feedback I've gotten is that BC46 is more challenging choreywise, and when I first did the release, I got my butt kicked from it. I didn't feel the same way about BC47, but a *lot* of instructors were more excited about it than BC46 because of the drop in complexity making it easier to coach to their members. There are good points that can be drawn from both releases, though I want to make it known that for BODYCOMBAT in particular, you couldn't get a description of BC47 without a description of BC46, and vice versa - and Belinda's review includes that element. Two for the price of one!

She also highlights some points about the music which Glen Stollery also commented on in his blog:

The first thing I noticed when I did this release is there’s quite a few tracks that have been “reused”. One has already been used in a previous BODYCOMBAT release, two others have been used in recently in other programmes (one was used recently in at least two other programmes that I know of, maybe more, and if you teach attack like me you may be really sick of two of the tracks from this release straight off the bat as they were both in VERY recent attack releases).

...

The other thing I noticed straight away was that they’ve chosen some tracks that are getting TONNES of airplay right now on radio and music television. Both the upper and lower body warmup, conditioning and cooldown are being smashed in terms of airplay frequency right now.

I have a few thoughts on the music and will be writing a post dedicated to this topic once all of the filming posts from GFX have been published.

Firstly thank you to Raina for allowing me to write this review, and being such an angel during the GFX period, she is as awesome as her writing is!!!

BODYCOMBAT 47 was presented by Dan & Rach, Ben Tang from Singapore and Andres Vesga from Colombia. It was the first filming class of the massive GFX (which was awesome!!) and was first cab off the rank (is that an Aussie saying?!) at the ungodly time of 8:10am on Friday 5th of November.

I think the filming started at 8:30am due to everybody having to register and then get into the room which took time, and then the fun started!

My first impression of 47 was this is not as hard as 46, and on my return back to Melbourne I asked a few other people and they also agreed, as after the first time I did 46 I couldn’t walk the next day (track 6 I’m looking at you!!!)

Also the music was very top 40; the 2 songs in the warm up have been overplayed in Melbourne; however they have used remixes so hopefully we will not be sick of these songs by the time it is released worldwide!

Track 4 which was was presented by Andres, has apparently featured in Combat before, and was recently used in another program (not telling you which one :P) It went OFF! During rehearsals and the filming he really grabbed the attention of the participants (and also finally woke me up!!) And OWNED this track!! The combo used in this track is basic but really gets your heart rate up...

Track 5, which was presented by Ben, was really fun track and gave the presenters the chance to mix with the crowd (hope I don’t get in trouble for saying that), and lots of shouting entailed during this track (I know from my side I could hear it)

Track 6 welllll... what can I say about it, I absolutely love the song, not sure others will consider it has also been used in another two program recently. Rach described it as a "karaoke track", and features no hard moves like the previous two releases have, and is generally a REALLY fun track!

Track 8... they saved the best for last, put it this way if your shoulders are not hurting before this track they WILL hurt by the end of it, I thought I heard wrong when I heard the cue for this move.. The song has been used in previous releases of other programs, but I really did enjoy this track.

The conditioning track, is HARD!! And NO KOMODO DRAGON for all those Aussies who are sick of Chris Brown singing that he can transform you with the Komodo dragon... In a rehearsal class that I was lucky enough to attend, Dan said something along the lines that this song is for his mother in law, and didn’t dare look at Rach after that HAHA!!! (It will make sense when you see what the song is)

I love the Cool Down song... And although it has been played to death here in Australia, it is such a beautiful song.

Overall this release did grow on me during the three times that I did it, and is not as hard as 46, but it is an enjoyable release!!

- Belinda Iacono

Patrick Mougin: BODYVIVE 18

2010-11-22T06:00:00.000+13:00

This was the second filming of the GFX weekend, and oh my, there were quite a few people participating in this one! For me, it was my first time back in Auckland since January, and I had missed the place so much. Such an overwhelming sense of relief to be back in Studio One!

Bit of background on me firstly though... instructor in BODYJAM, BODYSTEP and BODYVIVE from Melbourne, Australia. I've recently been quite fortunate enough to be shadowing with the LMAP BODYVIVE Presenting Team at the last couple of quarterly workshops, so it was quite fitting that Vive would be my first filming class for this trip.

The presenting line-up for BODYVIVE 18 is quite an impressive one indeed, featuring probably the best Vive instructors currently teaching:

Susan Trainor (New Zealand)
Maureen Baker (New Zealand)
Shelley Townsend (Australia)

You can probably guess that I was quite excited by this team, as Shelley has in recent months become the Head Program Coach for BODYVIVE in Australia (replacing the awesome Dione Ware who has had a baby and is taking time out from Les Mills to focus on her family). Shelley has been a fixture on the LMAP team for many years (almost since Day 1 in Australia) and has gained a multitude of respect from all sides of the world (and this Vive release will be no exception when it goes out to the instructors). And more personally, she has also been somewhat instrumental in developing me as a BODYVIVE instructor and helping to take me to that next level.

But enough gushing. I had literally flown in to Auckland the day before the filming, so the filming class was the first time I was seeing this new release. I was lucky to be in amongst a crowd of Western Australians who had made the trip over for GFX, so it almost felt like home in a lot of ways (and of course we all hogged the front row).

And from Track 1, I know it was gonna be a million dollars ;). Susan took Tracks 1 to 3, and they are a little different in style from BODYVIVE 17 (particularly Track 3, the Dance Cardio track). I think a few people will be taken aback by the song choice for this one.

Shelley then took command for Track 4 (Interactive Cardio), and she executed this one brilliantly. Quite a bit of moving around the room for this one, and the direction of movement is different to what we’ve seen in BODYVIVE before. Track 5 is, as Maureen described it, a “rockchick number”. Quite a bit of chorey to negotiate in this one (I wrongfooted a number of times during this track). It was made easier for me when Maureen had to stop the track because she wrongfooted herself!

Track 6 (Tai Chi and Yoga) brings back some past moves and has an interesting song choice for this one. Susan teaches this one. She also teaches the following track (Balance & Leg Strength). BODYPUMPers will be very familiar with this track!

Track 8 was a surprise for me, as I thought I would never hear this track in a Les Mills release, but it suited it perfectly. It's certainly one of those empowerment songs for the ladies out there! Tracks 9 and 10 are a little hazy for me in terms of choreography, but Track 11 is a tough back track (which Shelley takes)! And again, the song choice is interesting for this one.

Once again, memory is a bit foggy when it came to Release'n'Restore (Track 12). But considering that is the only time I've seen it, I am not surprised. One thing that did stand out throughout the entire filming... OBLIQUES! This creeps in everywhere, even in tracks that you don't expect it to. So Vive instructors out there, be ready!

All in all, this release has a very different feel to the release before it. It’s almost hard to believe that we are just about at BODYVIVE 20 – the program itself has undergone so much change in the last 5 years in response to feedback from both participants and instructors alike. Two releases to go, and I will make sure I am front row for the BV20 filming… it is surely gonna be one hell of a filming!!

- Patrick Mougin

Rachael Wilkins: BODYATTACK 72

2010-11-19T23:15:00.001+13:00

If there's one filming masterclass that always stresses me out, it's BODYATTACK. Every quarter, without fail, BODYATTACK has the highest number of participants on the filming floor, and for an Attack n00b like yours truly, it's not the best place to dip your toe in the water and try to learn how to do Attack.

So! I am absolutely thrilled that my beautiful friend Rachael Wilkins, one of the most awesome BODYATTACK instructors that I know - she has team taught with Lisa Osborne and Mid Thomas and totally rocked the stage with them - has written an amazing write up about her take on BODYATTACK 72.

I for one, took a lot of delight in reading her post, and I know you will too. Enjoy!

I was lucky enough to have experienced BA 72 many times before filming – even right from the start when Lisa started trialling music and moves. Even fortunate enough to be on stage shadowing and team teaching with her when she’s been practising (OK, gloating done and out of the way early). So I’ve been able to see the transformation and development of BA 72... but I’ve been told to blog on the filming experience and the release (without giving anything away), so that’s what I’ll do.

BA72 filming was scheduled for 10.50am on the Friday. I though that it wouldn’t be tooooooo busy – it would only be instructors/diehard regulars, and with such a long day ahead for everyone people might conserve energy for later on. Couldn’t be too busy, right?

WRONG. Just, WRONG.

I got to LM at 10.40am, went to walk up the stairs to Studio One and *thunk* - hit a great wall of instructors. Apparently there was a 30-40min wait for the class. Day One running late already after only two filmings?! Oh holy crap. Felt like we were waiting for a ride at a fair (‘you must be THIS tall and THIS old to ride’). Spent my time talking rubbish to instructors around me, met some lovely Melbourne instructors (I’m hopeless with names... sorry!). After about 20 minutes we were let in – naturally everyone swarmed to the front and centre so I went straight for the back corner.

Throughout the first four or so tracks I had other instructors (and my personal favourite ones at that!) come and join me at the back, and we were just having a blast, mucking around and stuff. Good times!

Onto the release itself.

The presenting team for BA 72 was:

Lisa Osborne (Program Director)
John Alexander Quist (Denmark)
Bevan James Eyles (New Zealand)
Brent McLemore (United States)

Good to see Brent back in NZ presenting, I thought he was the shining star of BA 68 and was looking forward to seeing him present again. Lisa – took most of the class low-impact but still had the same infectious energy as she always does. Bless! Hunter (her bubba) is actually going to come out of the womb doing starjumps and supermen, I swear.

Also happy to see two towers in Bevan and John up there. I was starting to think that Attack was for short bouncy people and I was doomed to a life of playing netball. Or being employed as ‘that’ person who’s only purpose in life is to get things off high shelves. There’s hope for me and my 5’10” frame!

So anyway, onto the release itself. It’s musically sound (pun intended) – good mix of Top 40 hits as well as thumping dance music to get you through the peaks. Couple of crossovers of tracks from other programmes – warm up is from a recent RPM release and mixed impact was used recently in Combat, but they are completely different mixes. And let’s face it, every programme crosses over with every other programme, so no surprise!

As mentioned above I had had the pleasure of watching the release evolve and grow over the last 3-4 months. I was a bit gutted to see that the original push-up track Lisa was using has been replaced with another one. The one that made it onto the release is great, don’t get me wrong, and hard – but I was very fond of the other one. So was my mate Freddy, so we’re hoping that it finds its way onto BA 73! Which I believe Lisa is putting the finishing touches on – like I said, Super Woman!
There is a new move (well, a variation on a regular track 2 move) in Mixed Impact, which I still see some regulars get slightly wrong, but it’s all about rhythm in the end, yes?

The aerobic track, which is always a highlight for me, is a bit of a let down. There was an awesome combo in the early stages of development which has been taken out completely, and there is none of my all-time favourite move in the whole track! *cry*. The song is cool though, and you can have a lot of fun with it.

Plyometric is a butt kicker, as is Power – yeouch. Leading up to the filming I had been nursing a leg injury so had to do the plyo lunges and most of the power track low-impact – and I was just as sweaty and disgusting as the high-impacters around me after each. ‘Nuff said. Filming class = no different. By the end of the plyo everyone looked like they wanted a hug...

The agility track is sports-inspired again, using a sport that has been used recently in a BA release. Would like to see some other sports used, ones where being agile is essential – like tennis? Hmm, probably wouldn’t be the most exciting agility track.

Interval track – pretty straight-forward. Arm combo in the recovery periods which I stuffed up a couple of times (only cause my attention span is like a fish’s…….not because I’m apparently blonde. Stollery – like you can talk mate!!). Music – not my favourite song, in fact it was so unmemorable I can’t even remember it. I only remember one word.

You can see there has been a bit of Body Balance influence in the ab track – the chorus features a repetitive Pilates move. It is an absolute butt ab kicker!

Overall, it is a great release – I can’t split BA 71 and BA 72, they’re pretty much on par with each other intensity-wise. Ever since I started teaching Attack (I moduled on BA 64) there have been a couple of dud releases for me music-wise; I don’t like too much Top 40 stuff in a release and BA 72 has just the right amount in my opinion.

Nice work Lisa/Hunter!

- Rachael Wilkins

Glen Ostergaard on Susan Fleming

2010-11-13T23:55:00.003+13:00

The guest posts from GFX are coming in and they'll be hitting your screen very shortly - I've got an awesome lineup of guest bloggers for you, and with the content I'm seeing, you guys are in for a real treat! I've already received guest posts for BODYATTACK 72 and RPM 50 and will be editing them and formatting them for publishing.

BODYCOMBAT 47 - Belinda Iacono (Melbourne, Australia)
BODYVIVE 18 - Patrick Mougin (Melbourne, Australia)
BODYATTACK 72 - Rachael Wilkins (Auckland, New Zealand)
BODYSTEP 83 - Patrick Mougin (Melbourne, Australia)
SH'BAM 3 - Patrick Mougin (Melbourne, Australia)
BODYBALANCE 52 - Jace Ago (Auckland, New Zealand)
RPM 50 - Cath Gibson (Napier, New Zealand)

Well would you look at that, a completely Trans-Tasman affair! I likes it :-D I'll also be contributing with posts on BODYPUMP 77 and BODYJAM 56, so keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of weeks while all of the posts start coming in.

But before I get into the GFXness, onto something else. A thread has emerged on the Les Mills forums which has surprised me and disappointed me.

Glen Ostergaard himself started a thread titled "Susan Fleming in BP75", and the content of his post on there is as below:

In reading some of your feedback on BLAH I felt the need to address this issue. Susan Fleming has been teaching BP since the early days and she has been a top BP instructor at Les Mills Auckland for as long as I have been there over 12 years now. She has a loyal following and pulls big numbers to all her classes.

She is also an elite athlete in Body Sculpting/Figure competitions and running. Susan is a role model to her members fellow instructors at LM Auckland and now to all BP instructors around the world.

Personally to me she is a great role model,inspirational presenter and friend.
glen

First of all, I think it's awesome that Glen has responded to feedback on BLAH - there often is questions raised by people on the forums as to whether the PDs do read the feedback, though this is clear evidence that yes, your feedback is being read and processed by the PDs directly.

However... I think it is sad that Glen has to stand up and justify a presenter for being on the team for a reason other than their presenting skills. There were comments made by several instructors after BP75 started hitting instructors hands the world over that Susan Fleming looked 'too defined' or 'too in shape' or 'too buff'... and the one that pissed me off the most 'not looking enough like a woman'.

You are all entitled to your own opinion as to what is attractive/not attractive. Though whether a presenter is attractive or not shouldn't have any part to play when learning the choreography. That's what the instructor DVDs are there for - to learn your chorey so that you can present it to your classes and make a difference in their lives.

I didn't attend the BP75 filming, however, I was angry at comments made by instructors about another LMI international presenter the following quarter about how they looked too skinny and should've been made to put on weight before presenting in the filming master class.

Whether they are too skinny, too buff, too hairy, or whatever, that has no bearing on the technique they display and the chorey that they present. Their job is to provide to us as instructors a tool to learn our chorey. They do not have to push our own personal buttons as to how attractive they are.

They do need the fitness and stamina that goes with a gruelling presenting schedule - a bunch of my friends have recently gotten onto workshop teams as shadow presenters, and the number of rehearsals and technique sessions they have had has been astonishing and eye opening. Whether they have the required level of fitness to present is not something that is determined by us as purchasers of the instructional material, it is decided well in advance by LMI.

What is encouraging to see is that all of the replies to Glen's post have been in support. Mind you, it would take a brave someone to stare down the likes of Glen Ostergaard and say "I disagree" for a matter like this.There are lots of awesome replies on that thread, though this one is my favourite:

From the tone of your message, it seems like a lot of instructors weren't very happy to see Susan in the video. In my opinion, I think it's a sad sad world we live in to have people complaining about someone else merely because of their Physical Appearance. Susan Fleming, along with the other presenters in BP 75 have demonstrated outstanding technique, taught instructors coaching cues, and inspired many of us to become better Body Pump instructors. This is exactly what we need from the videos, anything other than that is trivial.

[emphasis mine]

The kind of behaviour that has been displayed regarding Susan Fleming goes right against the The Les Mills Philosophy and the essence of One Tribe.

Do not forget why you are here.

We are here for the people in our classes, and not vice-versa. We keep ourselves in peak physical condition. Our Body is our Temple. We graciously accept constructive criticism and peer review. We are LOYAL to our program, our fellow instructors and our club. We are Warriors in the battle against sedentary lifestyle. We will make a Positive Contribution to the life of EVERY individual in our class. We will champion perfect exercise technique. We live for Les Mills music and choreography. While we strive to be STAR performers, we remain team players. We believe kicking butt is an essential part of any workout scheme.

By creating change in our own backyard, we can change the World

- The Les Mills Philosophy

Keep it real, team.

GFX 2010 - Day 2 in Brief

2010-11-06T17:35:00.005+13:00

So I'm attending fewer classes than I expected; I was intending on doing BODYVIVE 17 workshop, and BODYCOMBAT 46 workshop, but now I won't be... so I've got a bit of time to give you a brief update on how Day 2 of GFX went down.

Lowlight of Day 2: The SH'BAM 3 filming was the single filming that I was the most excited about, with being unable to participate in RPM 50. I was especially excited because it was the first official filming for SH'BAM, and I was beside myself that the amazingly amazing Mysti Oglesby was presenting alongside Rach Cohen and Sarah Robinson. The floor was PACKED with people, and I'd hazard to say that the numbers at that filming either matched or exceeded the numbers at BODYCOMBAT 47 (I'd still say that BODYATTACK 72 was the most populated filming of the quarter).

Since I was booked in for the RPM 49 workshop and with everything running at least 30 minutes behind schedule, I knew I was going to have to miss out on the end of SH'BAM 3 to be at the RPM workshop, so I positioned myself by the door so I could make a quick exit without disturbing too many people.

Because I was behind the door, however, this meant that there were a few people nearby watching... and a couple of girls thought that they had a right to step through the barriers and stand right in front of me, blocking my view and cutting off my room to move. There were so many people that I couldn't adjust my position on the floor... and if they had been SH'BAMming, I would've been fine with it. But no, they were just standing there, while I was trying to dance. I said to them several times, "Excuse me, would you mind moving? You're blocking my view/in my way", but move they did not. They knew I was there because whenever I spoke to them they would look over their shoulder at me, but then they'd carry on their conversation and not give a damn.

After they did this about 4-5 times... I know I've toned down the foul language dramatically on this blog ever since I became an instructor, but I'm not going to sugar coat this for you... After 4-5 times, I went, "Oh FUCK THIS SHIT", and left.

To those two girls - you *RUINED* my SH'BAM 3 filming experience. I have confidence that the release is amazing, though I won't know because you blocked my way. I hope you're happy.

*exhale*

Highlight of Day 2: - Two sections for this.

Unbiased opinion - Waiting in line for the BODYJAM 56 filming. BODYBALANCE 52 was being filmed and the LMNZ/LMI staff had to keep telling the Jammers waiting in line to SHHHHHHHHHHH because everyone was talking and giggling so much. Do you have any idea how hard it is to tell Jammers/Sh'Bammers to shut up? It became even more hysterical when everyone starting shhhhhh'ing each other, and then when we heard the BODYBALANCE participants applaud for the end of the filming, everyone in the stairwell in line joined in with the applause - and I'm not sure what was louder... the applause from the BODYBALANCE filming or the applause from the Jammers waiting in line. It's moments like these that are awesome about GFX. (And moments like the above in SH'BAM that are Not So Awesome about GFX)

Biased opinion - RPM 49 workshop. Lee Smith. Legendary. AND, I got to ride with a bunch of awesome folk with whom I did the module with, and it was *awesome* seeing everyone again.

I am *so* looking forward to unleashing this release on the members, they are in for a wild ride!

More detailed posts to follow!

GFX 2010 - Day 1 in Brief

2010-11-06T00:30:00.000+13:00

Hey all,

Am pretty tired so will only make this a quick update.

First day of GFX is in the bag and my goodness, what an effort that LMNZ have put on for everyone - Mid, Carla and Gemma have put their hearts and souls into this event and it shows. Everywhere I looked I could see the fruits of their hard work, and I know that those three have been absolutely flat out. To them, I just want to say Thank You on behalf of everyone who is currently having the most awesome time.

Lowlight of Day 1: During the BODYVIVE 18 filming I departed briefly from my spot to get a drink. When I came back, someone had come along and taken my Vive Ball, Tube, and the ticket for my GFX goody bag. This tends to happen a lot in Pump where peoples plates get taken by others (instead of going to the weights rack to collect them themselves), but it's the first time I've seen it happen in Vive, and hah, it happens not long after I actually said to someone, "But it's okay when Vive has filming stoppages because there's a good buzz between Vivers as they're relaxed and considerate." Uh... clearly not the one that took my equipment! I wasn't able to do the back half of the release because there was no equipment to use! NOT happy. To whoever took my ball, band and ticket... I grrr in your general diretion.

Highlight of Day 1: BODYJAM 55 workshop, with mah boi Jace In The Place onstage. Respect. I am so proud of him, and so happy for him.

More to come!

GFX 2010...

2010-11-04T23:25:00.000+13:00

It's only a manner of hours away.

The following are taking place tomorrow, with the ones I've done in bold being the ones I'm likely to be attending.

FRIDAY 5TH NOVEMBER

BODYCOMBAT 47 FILMING
BODYVIVE 18 FILMING
BODYATTACK 72 FILMING
RPM 50 FILMING
BODYSTEP 82 WORKSHOP
BODYBALANCE 51 WORKSHOP
RPM 49 WORKSHOP 1
BODYPUMP 76 WORKSHOP 1
BODYJAM 55 WORKSHOP

SATURDAY 6TH NOVEMBER

BODYPUMP 77 FILMING
BODYSTEP 83 FILMING
SH'BAM 3 FILMING
BODYBALANCE 52 FILMING
BODYJAM 56 FILMING
RPM 49 WORKSHOP 2
RPM 49 WORKSHOP 3
BODYATTACK 71 WORKSHOP
BODYVIVE 17 WORKSHOP
BODYPUMP 76 WORKSHOP 2
BODYCOMBAT 46 WORKSHOP

Which ones am I looking forward to the most?

RPM 49 Workshop <--- Of course.
SH'BAM 3
BODYJAM 55 Workshop <--- Because Jace is shadowing!!

Thank you very much for those of you who have volunteered to be guest bloggers; if there is anyone else who is keen to write about their thoughts on the releases, please contact me! As you can see, I can't quite attend all of the releases for all of the programs this time, that would be too much even for me!

And like I said... It's only a manner of hours away, aaaa!

The Future Starts Now: Part 17

2010-10-28T23:45:00.002+13:00

Jace was keen to make the launch for BODYJAM 53 an epic one, and Hamish was onside with him from the beginning - it was great seeing the pair of them exchanging ideas and practicing the release.

I'd seen lots of photos from gyms all over the world and the effort that they put into their launches; my friend Rose in Amsterdam in particular put a lot of effort into the outfits that the team wears for launch, which I always thought was pretty cool, and as I've mentioned, something that is lost in LM Auckland (although New Lynn do a pretty good ewhen it comes to launches - and I can't comment about launches at Takapuna since I've never attended one there).

For the first time, getting a chance to experience a launch at a Non LMNZ gym... I was quite excited. Jace and Hamish worked so hard, and one entertaining night in particular was when Jace and I roamed around the streets of Auckland in the middle of the night looking through costume shops to get ideas for launch. It was so hilarious, that everywhere we went we were grabbing more and more ridiculous items, saying, "What about this???", then cracking up laughing so much that our laughter echoed throughout the stores and we probably pissed anyone off that happened to be in the shops with us (whoops).

Hamish had organised some lighting for both the BODYJAM and RPM launches, and with the addition of some props and prizes, it was looking to be an amazing effort. To the point where other instructors at the club would say to them "Far out, you're making us look bad!"

I picked up Jace from the city to take to the sponsor club for the launch, nervous and excited for him, though this turned into almost full on anxiety as the traffic en route to the club was by far the worst I had ever seen it. It was down to a crawl, and the line of cars stretched out for as far as I could see, and I turned to Jace and said, "Can I be honest with you? I think you better call Hamish... We're not going to make it on time."

With much darting in and out of lanes on the motorway, I tried my damndest to get there as quick as I could - to the point where I even drove the opposite way down a one-way road to drop Jace at the entrance of the gym quicker. He took a moment to ask me, "Are you allowed to come in this way?" to which I exclaimed, "NO! Now HURRY UP and GET IN THERE!!!!!" He made a mad rush for it while I found parking and grabbed the box with the prizes in it.

I didn't have time to change out of my work clothes before going to the class; and I had to be there for the beginning of it to deliver the prizes to the front so that Jace and Hamish could hand them out. I was surprised to find though that they hadn't started, and in fact, by some saving grace, the class beforehand had run 10 minutes late.

I participated in the warmup, isolations, and latin... in my work clothes.

What? I told you I had no time to change!

It was at the beginning of the disco that I darted off to get change, and when I came back into the group fitness studio, Hamish had a big black afro wig on and was channelling the Disco Flava.

[FYI - the dude above is not Hamish. Hamish be much more fly (for a white guy).]

It was great to see the excitement of the Jammers, and they lapped up the extra buzz that came with the launch. I hovered around the back, occasionally stopping to take photos and... come up with stuffs like this.

[To Anyone From Les Mills - Please let me know if you would like this clip removed and I will take it down immediately. Disclosure of photography/film was disclosed to the participants at the time this footage was taken.]

It's Hamish that you hear instructing [to anyone reading this via the Note Import on Facebook, you'll need to actually come through to the blog post on http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com to view the video], and I cannot tell you how proud I was of both him and Jace up there. They did an amazing job, and the members absolutely loved it.

At the same time though... I felt this pang in my heart... not so much jealousy, but along envious lines.

This voice that said in my head, "If I had done the BODYJAM module first... I could've been up there with them..."

Kia Kaha: Dan Lives and Breathes Cycling

2010-10-28T18:55:00.000+13:00

Some feedback I've gotten from people is that they feel that the Kia Kaha official blog from Les Mills International isn't updated often enough, and when they do, the content is out of date and uninteresting.

In recent times, however, the Kia Kaha blog has become a vital source of information for LMers the world over, and I've found myself impressed by the content I've seen recently.

In particular, I'm loving this most recent post which is a feature on Dan McDonogh.

Here's an extract from the feature:

In September, Dan instructed at SUPER SATURDAY in Sweden and at the Nike Convention outside Copenhagen. The response was great and, according to Dan, many clubs are now interested in that form of exercise.

"I think many are beginning to realize the benefits of RPM™, and the benefits it offers customers, clubs and instructors. It is a simple form of exercise, aimed at a large audience, and as RPM™ has the same familiar structure, customers know they will get consistent training no matter who the instructor is."

"RPM™ instructors receive ongoing training and inspiration. What other bike programs do that?"

I loved reading it, and I know that there will be many of you out there who will also enjoy it.

The Future Starts Now: Part 16

2010-10-24T22:00:00.000+13:00

I remember sitting down on the floor, looking around me and thinking "Uh... I look like the odd one out here..." The majority of instructors on the floor all matched the stereotypical image of 'fit', and for a moment, I felt out of place.

It might have been because it was the first time I'd been back in the Central gym since the Sh'Bam 2 filming, and there were several people on the floor that were the reason why I'd downgraded my membership from multi-club to single-club to begin with. I will say though, that I was very relieved to have Stollery, his partner, and Cath with me and in close proximity.

Also knowing Mid and Chris settled my anxiety, and when Mid and Chris began their generic training session, I soaked up every word. As far as participation went... I wasn't particularly keen to jump up and respond myself to questions asked, so how proud was I when Cath jumped up to respond to a question that Mid asked. Hopefully in time, and with more confidence in myself, I will be able to do the same.

I won't go into the details of what the generic session was about, since that's LMNZ's educational material - though I will say, that there was a bit of BODYJAM involved. At one point we were told to rock our hips, and I remember looking over my shoulder at Stollery and seeing an image which was not to dissimilar to this...

Bahahhahahahaha. Even now, the expression on his face makes me laff. But hey, Stollery, I am so proud of you, you did a Half BODYJAM warmup! We'll have you doing barrel rolls in no time :-D

I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder, since the generic session was immediately before the first RPM workshop. It looked as though the generic session was going to run over time and I would miss out on the RPM workshop, though it took a moment to click that Hang On A Minute, it's an expectation of *all* instructors to attend the generic session *in addition* to the masterclasses.

Cath and I were booked in for the first workshop, and we had the honour of having Matt Thraxton and Phil Anderson present to us.

Before the generic session, Chris Richardson had asked me how the teaching was going, and I babbled about how I keep having trouble with the microphone among a billion other things. He kinda stared blankly at me, and it dawned on me later that "Hang on... I was talking to him about microphone problems like it was *new* information to him. I hardly think microphone issues are new to him! He probably handles them with ease!"

Cath and I managed to get a couple of bikes right up the front - close to where my 'normal bike' in the RPM Central studio was back when I used to ride regularly there.

One big difference this time though.

Normally, when I look across the room to the opposite side, it's another member that I see.

This time, it was Jaci Griffin - the club manager of Les Mills New Lynn, and the very person who got me hooked into RPM in the beginning. Only now I wasn't in her class as her participant, she was across from me as a *fellow* instructor. Between her and Matt Thraxton telling me every two minutes You're Looking Strong Girl, it was quite a trip out being surrounded by all of these amazing instructors that I looked up to.

One thing that happened was that Phil had a few mic problems himself, and him and Matt had to do an impromptu swap over of mic belts mid-track, though Phil kept his cool and carried on completely unfazed. I can imagine that it was this exact reason that I got the blank stare from Chris when I babbled about my OMG DRAMA reaction to having to instruct without the mic. At the moment, even when the mic *crackles* it stresses me out; so I look forward to the day when I can do that and carry on like It Ain't No Thang.

Matt is an amazing RPM workshop presenter, and from his coaching I learnt *loads* about how to go about teaching RPM 47.

Because I'm a nut, I'd booked into both workshops, and despite being completely smashed by the end of the first workshop, I was amped to do the release a second time. Cath said her goodbyes - it was great to have her alongside me for the first workshop, as throughout the entire release I kept turning to her and going "OMG I love this track... OMG I love this track... OMG this is my faaaaaaaaaavourite...". Ahahahaha, eager, much?!

Hamish had booked into the second workshop for RPM, so I had him next to me. We had the beautiful duo of Carrie Kepple (if you're ever in Auckland, get along to her class - ANY of her classes, Combat, Attack, RPM, she is an amazing instructor and a genuinely beautiful person) and Sarah Ostergaard. The focus of the two masterclasses were different, which might have related to the teaching styles of the presenters involved - I found that the first masterclass with Matt and Phil gave a lot of explicit guidance to instructors on how to deliver the release, while Carrie and Sarah were the perfect example of that guidance being put into practice. There was a massive benefit from attending both of the masterclasses, and I know that I'm going to aim to do the same thing for future workshops.

I so far had done 4 classes that day - and had another 2 that I'd planned to do - BODYPUMP and BODYJAM. However... it *was* BODYJAM 53, a release which doesn't sit well with me for personal reasons. I wasn't particularly interested in doing the BODYCOMBAT workshop as I'm not a fan of BODYCOMBAT 44, never mind that would've taken the class total for the day to 7 classes. Uh... 6 is enough, I think. (Probably too much, even.)

After getting some food in me (and realising that in fact, it was actually, disappointingly, the first food I'd eaten all day - I should *not* do that much exercise without eating ever again. That's just not healthy.), I headed back into the studio to do BODYPUMP 74.

The presenting team for BODYPUMP were amazing, and I loved seeing Sarah Ostergaard up there (girl needs to be on a DVD, seriously). I was pretty much placed as far back as I could be; strategically so too, so that I could slip out before the Jam workshop started without anyone noticing. You will no doubt know that BODYPUMP 74 is a phenomenal release, particularly quite possibly the most evil lunge track ever created. Three RPM classes, one BODYJAM and one BODYPUMP classes were hell on my legs, and I was pretty keen to slip out of there once Pump was over.

Funny how you discover then certain people that keep you there, albeit against your will at the time, but for your own good.

Hamish had gone home after the RPM workshop and returned in his BODYJAM gears, and came over to talk to me and get into position for the workshop. He said to me, "I'm gonna go in the middle, I think.", to which I responded, "I think I'll stay here." Without really hearing what I'd said, he walked off towards the middle of the room.

'Pffft. Be like that.', I thought to myself.

What happened next was rather amusing. Hamish kept on walking towards the middle of Studio 1, and stopped when he got to his preferred spot. Then he looked to his left, then to his right, then to his left again, then he turned around on the spot looking all around him like he'd lost something.

Next thing I know he was signalling over to me to say Oi What Are You Doing All The Way Back There, and Get Your Butt Over Here Now.

Uhhhh... so much for trying to disappear!

There was a brief signal frenzy where I was saying, No YOU Come Over Here Now, and he was saying No *YOU* Come Over Here Now, and finally, I dragged myself over to where he was. He didn't know that I was planning to leave without doing the BODYJAM masterclass, and that he had single handedly thwarted my plans. I grrr in his general direction, but in a friendly way. (I don't know if you can actually 'grr' in a friendly, way, but lets pretend that you can.)

I knew that Hamish in particular loved BODYJAM 53, though I'm unsure of how much he knew I hated it (again, no fault of the release itself). The workshop itself had a couple of hiccups in the disco block where the music skipped and Ginny lost her place (understandably), and the presenting team were awesome, and despite the happy Jammers that I was surrounded by - and having Hamish absolutely going for gold and visibly having a blast next to me... it *still* didn't warm me up to the release. I even did think for a moment, "Thank goodness I didn't do the BODYJAM module, otherwise I might've had to launch this!"

It was only in the final block - The Maddest Dopeness Eva - that something happened. Sarah Robinson presented the final track and at this stage, we had learnt all of the moves in the routine. To hype up the crowd, Sarah exclaimed, "Do you know it? Do you know it???", with this big smile on her face. The instructors on the floor all whooped and shouted in response, then suddenly an evil, cheeky expression came across Sarah's face - one I'd seen from her many times before.

In unison, all four presenters then sat down cross legged on the stage.

Hamish and I looked at each other all like OH HELL NO.

Oh hell yes!! The presenters remained seated and everyone on the floor began doing the final few reps of the routine without them doing it onstage, just sitting there watching us.

That small part of the BODYJAM workshop had a significant impact on me. I actually *enjoyed* the back end of the release because Sarah had provided a spark to it which had been lost for me. I even wrote a message to Sarah after the workshop thanking her, as I saw that moment as the moment that my BODYJAM mojo came back.

And now, I couldn't *wait* for the launch of both RPM 47 and BODYJAM 53 at the sponsor club.

Gandalf on Close Up: Fitness Rockstar

2010-10-13T11:00:00.001+13:00

Some of you would've already seen this being shared on Facebook and the like - recently Gandalf appeared on TV here in New Zealand giving viewers a bit of insight into the Les Mills Machine and the benefits of BODYJAM.

Check it out:

Also, for those of you who missed out on the Sh'Bam piece that was aired on NZ television back in September, you can check it out here.

GFX 2010 Presenters

2010-10-11T19:00:00.000+13:00

The official list of presenters for the November GFX filmings is up on the LMI Kia Kaha blog. I'm particularly excited for Sh'Bam 3, as it signals the return of Mysti Taguba Oglesby who presented on BJ48 - one of the most beautiful and kind presenters ever to grace NZ's shores.

BODYATTACK 72

Lisa Osborne (Program Director)
John Alexander Quist (Denmark)
Bevan Eyles (New Zealand)
Brent McLemore (United States)

BODYBALANCE 52

Jackie Mills (Program Director)
Linda Chambers (United Arab Emirates)
Kurt Gesteland (United States)
Dan McDonogh (United States)

BODYCOMBAT 47

Dan and Rachel Cohen (Program Directors)
Ben Tang (Australia/Singapore)
Andres Vesga (Hong Kong)

BODYJAM 56

Gandalf Archer (Program Director)
Fabienne Humblot (France)
Kimmo Jukuri (Finland)

BODYPUMP 77

Glen Ostergaard (Program Director)
Susan Renata (Head Trainer)
Rania Boucher (United Arab Emirates)
Nathan Brown (United Arab Emirates)
Thomas Cerbonesch (France)

BODYSTEP 83

Mark Nu’u (Program Director)
Lisa Osborne (Research and Development Director)
Joella Hopkins (United States)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)
Lizzy Troutman (United States)
Olivia Ward (New Zealand)

BODYVIVE 18

Susan Trainor (Program Director)
Maureen Baker (New Zealand)
Shelley Townsend (Australia)

RPM 50

Glen Ostergaard (Program Director)
Sarah Ostergaard (Assistant Program Director)
Dan McDonogh (United States)
Meg Nuttall (Australia)
Chris Richardson (New Zealand)

SH’BAM 3

Rachael Cohen (Program Director)
Mysti Oglesby (United States)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)

That being said, I had a bit of a cry when I saw the awesome team that are presenting RPM 50... 5 of them!?! And Chris Richardson!?!? Who was my trainer on my initial module?!!?!

Also great to have the *real* Rania back in town - the one that everyone gets my name confused for, haha! Will be looking forward to seeing her in action in BP77.

I haven't heard anything about the new releases at all, just the odd babbling about BJ56. One of my friends hates it, and another one of my friends is so excited by it that she can hardly stand it; so... that really doesn't tell me anything :-S

The call for guest bloggers still stands, so far I have bloggers willing to write for RPM 50, BODYCOMBAT 47 and Jace will be helping out with BODYBALANCE 52, so I still need your help for the following:

BODYATTACK 72
BODYPUMP 77
BODYSTEP 83

Really am in need of your help on this one guys!

Calling Guest Bloggers for GFX 2010!

2010-10-07T18:00:00.000+13:00

Right everyone!

Here's where I put out... basically a cry for help.

It is going to be impossible for me to write posts on all of the filmings for the upcoming GFX, since I won't be able to attend all of them. I need your help in writing posts for the ones that I can't attend.

Anyone who is attending GFX and is going to one of the below filmings and is interested in writing a post summarising the filming (I will assist in any way possible as far as editing goes), please get in touch with me either on Facebook or by email.

BODYCOMBAT 47
BODYATTACK 72
RPM 50
BODYPUMP 77
BODYSTEP 83
BODYBALANCE 52

I will be definitely attending BODYJAM 56, BODYVIVE 18, and SH'BAM 3, am uncertain as to whether I'll get a good spot for BODYPUMP 77 and BODYCOMBAT 47. I'd rather leave space on the floor for those who are more passionate about BODYSTEP, BODYATTACK and BODYBALANCE.

As for RPM 50... I'm a bit heartbroken about this (to be dramatic, haha). This filming was initially supposed to be in the circuit room at LM Central, and they would've been able to utilise all 60 of the participant bikes from the RPM studio. For most other filmings, the production crew have to pull out a good number of bikes to make room for the cameras etc., so not all 60 are used for the filming.

However, the filming has had to be shifted back into the RPM studio from the circuit room, which means 15 people who were on the list to be attending the filming now are forced to miss out. I'm one of those 15, so I need someone to write about RPM 50 on my behalf.

If anyone is interested, please get in touch with me as soon as possible!

Sh'Whatnow?

2010-10-06T16:55:00.005+13:00

So Les Mills's most recent Worst Kept Secret is the introduction of a new simple dance program, Sh'Bam. Despite best efforts to keep the existence of this program under the radar in its pilot phase, news spread fast of a new program developing, and videos and false information started hitting the web.

I've attended the filming of both Sh'Bam 1 and Sh'Bam 2, and was asked to keep info about it on the down low until at least the pilot period was over.

It looks as though that's about to happen, and then the official showcase of Sh'Bam - with the filming of Sh'Bam 3 - will take place at GFX 2010 in November at Auckland.

All we had was snippets of information from LMNZ about what times the classes were on in the Auckland gyms, but little information about what would be involved as far as training goes, and when it would be available. And no preview video for people to watch, which resulted in crappy uploads of unofficial YouTube clips, causing people to pre-judge the program before they'd experienced it for themselves. After all, do you have any idea how hard BODYPUMP will work you unless you try it for the first time?

Now, finally, LMI have published a section for Sh'Bam on the official website.

If you're interested in the real deal (and yes, there is some video footage), get it from the source.

RPM 49

2010-10-03T23:25:00.000+13:00

Presenting Team:

Glen Ostergaard (New Zealand)
Sarah Ostergaard (New Zealand
Lee Smith (Australia)

I might be biased, but this was by far my favourite filming of the quarter.

I happened to go to a rehearsal class for RPM 49 in the days leading up to the filming, and was so excited by the release that I almost wet my pants.

...

Yes, I did just say that.

There's a FANTASTIC presenting team this time around, with the Awesometastic Aussie Lee Smith being the guest presenter - and I really hope he comes back. His road cycling experience was a great asset in his presentation of this release and us as instructors can learn a lot from his presenting style and integrate points from that into our own classes.

At the RPM 48 filming, I had only just started instructing, so it was an interesting feeling going into this filming with 3 months of teaching under my belt. Firstly, I felt a bit more relaxed about being there, and when some of the other riders asked me about the release, I felt I could give them more detail about how their members would appreciate it, rather than how awesome *I* thought it was.

I know that I cannot wait to unleash this release on our members, and not being on the launch team for RPM 47 and RPM 48, I will probably muscle my way in to be on RPM 49 because I cannot wait to see the reaction.

At the rehearsal class I went to, I sat myself up the front in my Used To Be Usual Bike (waaah... the one thing I do miss about being multi-club is the RPM classes), and Lee was up the front organising himself. I started talking to him, asking him if he was going through the new release, and we had a brief chat about it and it was quite nice. I then had the added buzz of having Sarah Ostergaard walk in shortly after and introduce me to him officially, saying, "This is Rania [sic], she's an instructor."

It's dumb, but having the assistant program director introduce me to an LMI presenter like that felt *awesome*. Then his response blew me away too, he said, "Well you're clearly passionate, that's for sure." EEEEEEEE!!!

Having the chance to talk to him and Sarah in that class like that made me feel quite at home at the filming itself. I put myself down the back away from everyone, yet in the lead up to the start of the filming class, Lee made his way down the back to where I was to check out the view from where I was, and commented about the great vibe in the room. It was just very very cool.

Another thing that blew me away was where I was seated was right near where the magic happens with the cameras and sound crew. A member of the crew introduced himself to me and said, "You must be Raina!" It's lovely when people do take the time to say hi to you, though every time it happens, I am surprised and humbled - I am totally used to being invisible.

I talked to him for a bit, then he said, "I saw your video of BODYJAM vs RPM, it was fantastic!"

THAT brought out this expression.

For those of you who missed out on that, here's a link to the post where the video is embedded.

GAH! Funny how I put these things on the internet and then get all embarrassed when people actually talk to me about them, haha!

Now, for the release itself.

I felt that both RPM 47 and RPM 48 worked towards shifting away from the more pop oriented releases that we've seen in the mid-late 40s, especially RPM 48. I also loved seeing innovations in the Track 7 with the surges of pace in power climb (I cue them as 'power sprints' or 'power surges' to the members as they seem to relate to this a bit better) in RPM 48.

There's much more innovation along those lines in RPM 49, particular in Track 3 and Track 7. Track 7 is going to absolutely mess with peoples heads - both instructors and participants alike. Track 7 in RPM 49 incorporates elements of The Race of Truth - the physical challenge used in RPM initial training modules for trainee instructors. To be clear, The Race of Truth is a training tool for instructors and is NOT for participants, although it is good to see that some of the elements used in The Race of Truth are making its way into RPM so that participants get the benefit of the workout.

The biggest surprise for me, however, was track 4. It's one of the hardest track 4's that I've seen for a long time. When I spoke to Sarah after the first time I did the release, the first words that came out of my mouth were, "Great release..., that track 4 is hard!!" Even she herself commented in the rehearsal class that she'd never seen her heartrate that high in a track 4. Not only is it hard physically, it's also a great tune which will have a great amount of longevity to it. If I wanted to prepare a mix of doom for my members, I'd probably do T3 from RPM 47, T4 from RPM 49 and T5 from RPM 43 to smash them, hehe! (look at me... already thinking of how I'm going to use it when I mix!)

Top to bottom, I absolutely love the music in this release. The front end of RPM 48 took a while to grow on me, but I am salivating over the music this time around. Track 1 is fun and bubbly, Track 2 has a great amount of energy which is exactly what is needed to bring the members into the workout, and Track 3 is dramatic and epic.

There might be some RPM and BODYCOMBAT instructors who will tear their hair out when they see the tracklist and what T3 is, though personally, I'm not a fan of the track in BODYCOMBAT and think it works much better in RPM. Again, I might be just a bit biased! I do think some tracks work equally well - like Zombie from RPM 40 and BODYCOMBAT 36, while some work in BODYCOMBAT better - like Burn It To The Ground in RPM 45 and BODYCOMBAT 40. (my personal opinion).

Track 4 - I've mentioned already, it's wicked awesome and can be a real selling point of uniqueness for this release. Track 6 and 7 are great, with Track 7 sampling an anthem of dance/electro track, and I think this will appeal to both new and seasoned RPM riders.

You'll see I haven't mentioned Track 5.

2 years ago, I was trolling the internet and I came across this song and thought "Wow, they should use this in RPM! I can just imagine this as maybe a track 5?" I didn't really know or talk to any RPMmers back then, and was only really riding at New Lynn with Jaci and Magali, so I didn't have any interactions with any of the presenters or program directors.

So when I heard that very song as track 5 in RPM 49, I let out a very loud, "NOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!", and I nearly fell off my bike. I have seen people fall off stationary bikes before, so don't think it's impossible. I couldn't believe it, and I am SO excited and cannot wait to ride it again.

I played the song for Cath - fellow instructor and module buddy - to show her 'this is what's in RPM 49', and the moment she heard it she said, "That's more like it." There's been some concerned displayed with regard to the level of 'sameness' between the track 5's for RPM 47 and RPM 48 (that being said, RPM 47's track 5 has *seriously* grown on me. I hated it when I first heard it, but now, I am hoping for a chance to teach it!), but RPM 49 brings track 5 right back to where it has been in the past (think RPM 45, RPM 43, RPM 36 as far as epic, grunty track 5s), and it is most definitely my personal favourite track of the release.

I am so excited about this one that I can barely stand it. And it feels like a forever away until I get to teach it! Great work Glen, Sarah and Lee - you guys did this release a great service and I cannot wait to rip it up with the members. RPM 49 is a wicked awesome ride!

BODYJAM 55

2010-10-03T02:45:00.002+13:00

Presenting Team:

Gandalf Archer (New Zealand)
Ginny Crocker (New Zealand)
Josh Keenum (United States)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)

I have to admit... this filming post is hard for me to write.

I love BODYJAM. I love BODYJAM 55. I love Gandalf, Ginny, Josh, and Sarah.

But there are sometimes when my experience is watered down through other factors.

I'll get into that later.

I had the awesome opportunity of seeing BODYJAM 55 a couple of times when the filming crew practised it at New Lynn. My experience there was better than at the filming, and this time, there wasn't anything that LMI or LMNZ had done (although to be clear, LMNZ were not responsible for me being moved at the BJ53 filming - it was LMI, and LMNZ were the ones who took my concerns to LMI on my behalf).

It was an absolute delight to see Sarah Robinson presenting this release - she's been an LMNZ presenter for Jam for as long as I can remember, and I have felt for ages that she needed to be presenting on a BODYJAM DVD. Now with Rach's added responsibility of being the sole program director for Sh'Bam, this leaves a big hole in the BODYJAM presenting team. I couldn't think of anyone other than Sarah Robinson to fill that hole, and I'm thrilled that LMI appear to have felt the same way.

Even better than she got to present with her close friend and awesome Jammer Josh Keenum from the US of A.

Sarah was nervous for her first time presenting BODYJAM on the LMI stage, and she had to go through the warm up a few times as she kept missing one of the transitions in the chorey. I wasn't fussed as I absolutely LOVE the warmup for this release. Ever since I first heard this song I have been trying. like. hell. to figure out what it is!! The tune is catchy without being cheesy, and gets stuck in your head. I'm frustrated that I haven't been able to figure out any lyrics or who the artist is or what! I WANTS IT ON MAH IPOD!!!

Grrr...

Now, with the latin. Whenever I see a new Latin block, I think of whether Ryan would like it or not (I know he's reading :-D). Straight away when I saw this I went, "OMG Ryan is going to go beserk!!" The latin in this release has its own beauty via the simplicity of its moves coupled with the heavy, throbbing, club latin beat of the music. One thing that surprised me though is that there is a repeat of a song which has been used a few releases ago. I think that there's a lot more restriction now on the freedom that Gandalf has with song selection due to the whole PPCA situation in Australia. There were a few surprising song selections, especially a couple of more mainstream tracks which G tends to stay away from. (My guess is that the mainstream songs are easy to cover, though that is just a guess and he just may be liking more mainstream stuff. Who knows! G is G :-D)

I didn't get to see BJ55 until close to when it was filmed, so I missed out on its developmental stages. All of the feedback I got was that the release was fantastic, but alas, that had gotten more and more simple the closer it got to filming time. The first time I saw it, I wondered what all of the fuss was about. The second time I saw it, I was like "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OMG I LOVES IT!!!"

The add on block has a real heavy, grunty feel to the back end of it, and I love that the music is quite different to what we saw in BJ54 and BJ53. I'd compare it to BJ52 and BJ48 - but it is not that similar. There are some absolutely inspired music selections in there, and surprisingly, there is one song that is selected in Jam that is a three-way overlap between two other programs; it also appears in BODYSTEP 82 and BODYPUMP 76. The mixes between all three are very different, and in BJ55 you could easily not realise that it's the same song.

When I first saw the release, I thought of the members at my sponsor club where Jace and Hamish teach BODYJAM and thought of them onstage doing it, and how the members there would react. I just pictured them going absolutely off the chain with the epic beats and the heavy feel to the music. It was quite exciting for me, as this is the first time that I've seen a new Jam release and those are the thoughts that I came away with.

Ginny and G were wearing the new LMI clothing range, though I absolutely loved the top that Sarah was wearing; a gorgeous one-shoulder purple top which looked amazing on her. Although I raised an eyebrow at the fact that apparently G was wearing purple pants. I wonder how much universal appeal that will have - they looked great on G, but... he's G, he can pull off outfits that many of us cannot. Ginny's top was sizzling, and I think I want it when it's available for purchase (price dependent).

Now... there are sometimes at Les Mills when despite the presenting team, despite the production team, despite the gym staff, despite EVERYTHING, it's your fellow participants that let you down.

Sadly, the more I've gotten exposed to Les Mills, the more I see an undercurrent of unnecessary competitiveness and bitchiness. It was in full force at this filming, and it tainted my experience. As you know, I am a large person, and I don't like it when people are judged based on their physical appearance. It's one of the things that I used to use an excuse to not do the module training, but after I did the training for RPM, I realised that that's all it was. An excuse. A crutch to lean on, and that as far as my actual ability went, my physical appearance had nothing to do with it.

So when I heard a chorus of bitching and complaining about how one of the LMI presenters was too skinny to be a presenter, and should have been made to put on weight before presenting on the DVD, it pissed me off. I didn't want to cause a scene, so I kept my mouth shut, but this is my blog and I'll cause a scene here since this is an issue that is very close to my heart. There are people I know that have the same physique as that presenter and they are people that I love dearly and close to my heart. And after all, the reason why I joined Les Mills is because of the inclusive culture - so I hate seeing cracks forming in that.

Now before you go, "Aren't you just being a bit sensitive? People have a right to their opinions." Yes, yes they do. However, there are opinions - where you just state your opinions and leave it be - and then there's statements which are downright hurtful, vindictive, and nasty. And from fellow instructors, it is especially disappointing. There was a LOT of that present at the Jam filming and I was tempted to walk out and remove myself away from those people.

Thankfully, Jace was at that filming and he had invited passionate member from our sponsor club to attend the filming with us. I had placed myself right at the back (as in, I was Jamming with the Pump weights) so that I could walk out of there without anyone noticing, though before I did leave, the member we had invited along came and stood next to me. She said that she felt too crowded in the middle where Jace was, so came to the back to Jam next to me. I'm grateful she did, as having her there reminded me of what I was there for, and helped me to put aside the barrage of nastiness that I'd just heard.

To those people - If you honestly think you could do a better job than those presenters up onstage, I suggest you get yourself onto an AIM module, film yourselves teaching, and go for the presenting role and see how far you get.

*exhale*

And by the way, BODYJAM 55 is awesome, haha!

BODYATTACK 71

2010-10-03T02:00:00.002+13:00

Presenting Team:

Lisa Osborne (New Zealand)
Fabio Abrantes (Portugal)
June Anderson (New Zealand)
Grant Goes (New Zealand)
Fred Kung (Canada)

I don't have too much to say about BODYATTACK since I'd worked out so much that during the Attack 71 filming I actually made myself sick, so find below the paragraphs from the filming summary post. I don't have too much to offer, though the feedback from Attackers is that BA71 is an awesome release. It looked fun, and I was gutted that I didn't join in! It was the sort of release where I watch it and it makes me want to do Attack. Eeeee!

Lisa Osborne is an amazing, amazing woman, and she's still her amazing, firey, energetic self even when she's pregnant - she puts so many people to shame (hence why I was even more gutted that I wasn't able to get through the filming). Respect to her - she is a true inspiration and ambassador for Les Mills and BODYATTACK.

By this point I'd done 3 x RPMs, 1 x BODYPUMP and 1 x BODYVIVE, so I wanted to go the low impact orute for BODYATTACK in order to save my energy for BODYJAM. However, the area at the back of the studio where I was hoping to hide my Low Impact Attacking Self was used for June to film the low impact options (go figure...!) for the release. As a result, I was further forward than I would've liked. I got swept up in the energy of the participants (it was by far the most packed filming of the quarter) and by track 4 I was so dehydrated and my blood sugar was so low that I actually made myself sick.

So... I can't really say too much about the release, except that the new BODYATTACK gear is quite pretty (both the mens and womens gear look good this time - I think most of the guys were jealous of the awesome blue and yellow tops from the last round).

Also, Kendal Kimball was called up onstage to shadow the back end of the release in a similar way to how Ruthie T was called up onstage for BP76.

BODYVIVE 17

2010-10-03T01:45:00.000+13:00

Presenting Team:

Susan Trainor (New Zealand)
Adalbjorg Hafsteindottir (Iceland)
Pete Manuel (New Zealand)

First thing that surprised me about this filming was the number of people. There were a decent number of people there! Sadly, BODYVIVE is notorious for having lower numbers at filmings than all of the other programs, though this time, I'd hazard to say that there were more people there than at the BODYSTEP 82 filming.

It made for a great buzz and vibe in the room. I was right down the back, but even there there was a good crowd of members, with a good amount of space between each person so that they could really get into the moves without encroaching on anyone else's personal space.

One thing I noticed about this release is that Susan Trainor seemed very relaxed and comfortable. There have been times where I've felt that maybe she hasn't been enjoying some of the releases (for whatever reason; I don't know, and I could be totally off the mark here). I think seeing the number of BODYVIVE instructors that were there at that filming and having some confidence in seeing the program really start to take hold. There were a large contingent of New Lynn BODYVIVE participants there, as New Lynn is the one LMNZ gym in Auckland where BODYVIVE has been a roaring success.

The Fitness Cardio track in this release is AWESOME. Even now as I'm writing it, I think about it and how much fun it is - simplicity of moves, a great tune, and a great workout as it's so easy to hook into the lyrics and the upbeat nature of the music. Definitely a standout for me!

I spoke to a few other BODYVIVE instructors before the filming, and the response I had was mixed. Some people said that the release was average, others said that the presenting team didn't appeal to them. I disagree with both of these, I think it is a strong release and that the presenting team were appropriate and did a good job in showcasing it. I always think it is a breath of fresh air whenever Pete presents for BODYVIVE (though I'd love to see him back in front of the camera for RPM as well) as he challenges the normal image of what a Viver looks like - same reason why I liked the presenting crew for BV15. Also, OMG Iceland! How cool is it that Iceland gets represented on an LMI DVD!

It's releases like this that make me upset that Vive isn't more accessible for me. I wish I had more classes to attend, and I wish I was able to experience it more. It's very easy to get excited about Vive with releases like this - my legs were jelly afterwards and I'd had an absolute ball. (pun not intended).

I wish I had more to say to do this release justice... but there are no words! I love BODYVIVE 17, and hope that I get the chance to do it again.

BODYBALANCE 51

2010-10-02T22:45:00.000+13:00

Presenting Team:

Jackie Mills (New Zealand)
Dr. Dave (New Zealand)
Corey Baird (New Zealand)
Filipe Russo (Portugal)

I said it in the filming summary post and I'll say it again. My favourite filming of the day.

Which was highly unexpected as I hardly EVER do BODYBALANCE.

My amazing friend Jace now has a BODYBALANCE class which I now regularly attend (not at Les Mills, unfortunately, but at the gym I teach at), so for future BODYBALANCE releases I'll be able to write a bit better about then, though what I will say about BODYBALANCE 51 is that even I, as a Non-Balancer, am excited about it.

What I liked about this release is that it was bright, breezy, and light hearted. All of the presenters were lovely, and the filming went so smoothly that I forgot it was a filming class. It's a challenging release, whilst being approachable and easy for members to hook into. If you were looking to promote BODYBALANCE to new members, this would be a great release to get them to try (like say... I dunno... if you were doing a demonstration somewhere or if you were giving away free passes to try BODYBALANCE or doing prizes for attending a new Balance class on the timetable).

The whole appearance of the release also felt a bit lighter than some of the other Balance filmings I've attended - the outfits of the presenters were softer, lighter colouring (without being the intense colours that the team wore for BB50), which matched the music and feel of the release. The balance track in particular for me is a breath of fresh air, pulling away from the tracks full of epic crescendos and drama - which are beautiful, yes, though it is nice to have something a little different.

Jackie was the only one wearing new clothing from LMI, though again like the Combat gear, her top, while nice, wasn't anything special. It might look a bit nicer close up, but from where I was, it didn't appear to be different to what you can currently get from Nike and the like.

I really enjoyed this filming, and it was my favourite filming of the day. I loved every track, and now that Jace is teaching Balance, I look forward to when it is launched and getting to experience the release again and know it better when it gets taught in our home clubs.

BODYCOMBAT 46

2010-10-02T22:30:00.001+13:00

Presenting Team:

Dan Cohen (New Zealand)
Rachael Cohen (New Zealand)
Hernan Lopez(New Zealand)
Shaunna May (United States)

I'll admit it.

I was very, very, VERY nervous about this filming.

I have good friends who are regulars at BODYCOMBAT, and being away from the Central gym this time around (and unlike BODYJAM, BODYSTEP and BODYATTACK, the smaller gyms like New Lynn and Takapuna don't get to see the new choreography until launch) I didn't get a chance to experience the release prior to filming. I had asked them to give me some feedback on what BODYCOMBAT 46 was like, and there was a natural hesitation. Reason being? I didn't hear much that was all that positive.

I kept an open mind going into the filming, since after all, I'd only spoken to a few people and hey, the first time I saw BODYJAM 55, I didn't like it. And the first time I saw BODYJAM 52, I hated it. Both of these releases have turned into two of my favourite Jam releases!

When the warmup kicked in, straight away there was an incredibly energy in the room. Track 1a and 1b for BC46, by far, is the best warmup I've ever seen for a long, long time. I liked Track 1b from BC45, even though it is quite a long one. The moment I heard that warm up, I thought, "Oh MAAAAAAAAAAAAAN this release is going to be AWESOME!!!", and I was totally geared up for a heart stopping release.

The theme of this release was encouraging participants to go into their warrior zone, and the warmup set that up nicely.

I'm afraid from there on though, most of the release didn't really hit my sweet spot. Track 2 was cute, and Shaunna May from the USA is a absolute ball of fire and bundle of energy, though to me, it was a bit too cutesy. There is an opportunity to have a bit of fun with the song and the lyrics with this track, though I'm unsure of the longevity of it. I'm also unsure of how such a track fits in with the 'warrior zone' idea of the release as it is, though maybe this track might work better when it is mixed with tracks from other releases.

I felt the same way about track 3. I was unsure about how the very 'lovely' style of song really suited the warrior zone theme of the release. It might work well when mixed with tracks from other releases, just like track 2, but it didn't quite go off for me the way that some of the other track 3s have done.

Here's where my brain goes to mush a bit and tracks 4 and 5 blur together a bit. I do know that one of them (I believe it is track 5 - a while ago I was certain it was track 5, but now I'm not so certain) was too strange for my liking. The moment I heard the beginning of the track, as soon as the choreography started, I just wanted the track to be over. I'm sorry... I don't like saying this, but I hated that track. I could very happily never do it again. Sometimes unique and weird sounding music (Warriors Dance from BC42, anyone?) works well in Combat, but I wonder if trying to be original and creative with this track selection may have backfired. I found it very difficult to draw any energy and inspiration from the music and the choreography.

I know I've made it all sound like doom and gloom though. It's not! Track 6, in my opinion, is AMAZING. With the lack of energy I felt from tracks 4 and 5, I got it back tenfold from track 6. It's heavy, aggressive, and really showcases the essence of BODYCOMBAT. It's the first track 6 that I personally have enjoyed since BC43. Track 7 for me was unmemorable (mind you... 'You're Shining' from BC44 was unmemorable the first time I did it, although the second time I did it, it became one of my favourite track 8s ever!), and I was waiting for track 8 to captivate me and provide a strong finish to the release.

The track 8 from BC46 is not one of my favourite track 8s. It might grow on me, like I said, with You're Shining.

The conditioning track has zero trickery to it. It's all simple, uncomplicated choreography, to the point where I was scratching my head going, "No... this isn't a Combat track? Surely Glen Ostergaard choreographed this? Is this supposed to be a bonus track for BC76???" It will be a breath of fresh air, particularly for the Australians who due to the PPCA have had nothing but alligator pushups for two quarters in a row. In fat, Rach intros this track by saying, "You asked for it, and now you've got it."

The cooldown ties in nicely with some of the choreography from track 6, which is quite cool.

Overall? The highlights of this for me are the warmup, and track 6. Shaunna May is a great presenter, and alongside Hernan, Dan and Rach, it was a great team. The four of them were donning the new range of LMI clothing, and my personal opinion is that while the t-shirts are nice, they're not special. LMI have also come up with a new range of Combat board shorts, which I'll leave you guys to form your own opinion of.

During the filming, there were a couple of stoppages - mainly where Dan kept upper cutting into his microphone (instructors - have you ever done this? I can imagine myself doing it, so it's probably a relief to know that it happens to even the big guns of the game!), and his mic belt kept sliding off. I'd taught RPM that morning, and I had the same problem, so I could empathise with him! It really is annoying and off putting feeling that belt slide down your body when you're trying to give it your all up the front.

I hope BODYCOMBAT 46 grows on me, I really hope it does. Though I am looking forward to doing that warmup again. I wish it was a proper working track rather than having it wasted in the warmup, but all the same, I can't wait to do it again.

It'll be interesting to see how I feel about the release when I see it again, as opinions change over time.

BODYPUMP 76

2010-10-02T21:15:00.002+13:00

Presenting Team:

Glen Ostergaard (New Zealand)
Susan Renata (New Zealand)
Emma Barry (New Zealand)
Mark Sinclair (New Zealand)
Guest Shadow Presenter: Ruthie T!!!

Unlike past filmings, being situated out at New Lynn only meant that I hadn't been exposed to much of the new choreography. At this point, the only new choreography I'd seen was RPM 49 and BODYJAM 55, so the only information that I had regarding BODYPUMP 76 was murmurings I'd heard throughout the gym.

The general feeling surrounding this release was that of absolute excitement. Pump instructors were absolutely buzzed about the release and couldn't wait to teach it in their gyms. The presenting team was absolutely sensational - an all New Zealand line up, and with that, came a friendly, laid back, unpretentious environment in Studio 1.

In particular, Susan Renata was talking to a couple of participants from The Netherlands in the front row; expressing... 'slight' frustration at the loss by The Netherlands at the hands of the Spanish.

And when I say... 'slight'... I mean she was all like, "THEY LOST THE F***ING FOOTBALL!!!!!! ARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Hahah! I could hear her loud and clear all the way from down the back of Studio 1 even without her mic being turned on.

Like with the BODYSTEP 82 filming, the presenters were sporting new gears from the second release of LMI Clothing. While the mens clothing was rather ordinary (think of the womens sleeveless top from last release, only a in a t-shirt), I was so very impressed with the new womens sleeveless top. Susan and Emma looked absolutely fantastic in them, and I can imagine them being a hot seller once they are available for purchase. What made them look even better while presenting was that the women also had a bright red arm sock on (arm sock you say? Yes, arm sock I say) one of their arms which was visually quite stunning against plain black skintight pants. Emma and Susan also were completely glammed up with glittery eyeshadow and red streaks in their hair.

Their inspiration? Well... let's just say that there's a rather eclectic female songstress who makes an appearance in one of the BODYPUMP tracks. I think there's an opportunity to play that up for a launch theme if clubs were up for it... that being said, it is a female artist that was the inspiration for the way that Emma and Susan were done up, so naturally, male BODYPUMP instructors may not be too keen, haha!

For the first time ever that I'd seen at a BODYPUMP filming, the LMI production staff had to request that participants move into the front row. NEVER had I seen that before. BODYSTEP had been quiet beforehand, though I really didn't expect it to be that quiet. It'll be interesting to get feedback from BODYPUMP instructors when they get the DVD as to whether it visually looks like the room is emptier than normal.

When the filming began, Glen started introing the release, and not 30 seconds into filming, he let out an "Argh F***", and had to start over again, much to the entertainment of everyone on the floor! And not soon after that, Susan taught a track and said, "I was holding my breath the entire time during that f***ing track!!!" I'd heard from a few people that she was a bit snivelly in the days leading up to the filming, but like the professional she is, she rocked it out and did an awesome job.

All four of them did an awesome job. I don't remember there being any major problems during the filming, or there being much re-filming going on. And believe me... when we need to refilm stuff in Pump, EVERYBODY remembers. I remember the agony of the BP74 filming where we had to refilm the bicep track again (and heck, that track is EEEEEEVIL), but all I recall about this release is how awesome it was.

Especially that Ruthie T got called up in the shoulder track to shadow for the remainder of the filming! She too was wearing the new LMI BODYPUMP top with the arm sock (it's a hot look, I swear!), the only difference being that her arm sock was black while Emma and Susan's was red.

Now, for the release itself. BODYPUMP instructors were particularly excited about the back track. And after having seen it myself, I can see why. There is a choreography innovation in there that had Pump instructors in the room going absolutely crazy with sheer delight. If I was a Pump instructor, I too, would be going crazy.

However! If you are a Pump participant, you might see this back track and go, "What new choreography? What's all the fuss about?" After all, I was particularly excited by the Power Climb sprints in track 7 (as opposed to the regular Standing Attack sprints) of RPM 48, though my members don't even really notice anything different from the norm.

Basically, I'm saying - Instructors, while you might be excited about the change that the back track from BP76 will bring, don't expect your participants to feel the same way. The change is subtle, and while I believe that it is a very good change and I'm happy that it's there, participants may not notice that anything is different and feel that the track is 'same same'; so don't be surprised if your members don't feel as excited about it as you do. That being said, the tune is uber catchy and it is a wicked awesome workout!

Glen Stollery mentioned on his blog an interesting feature of BP76:

...the first thing I noticed when I looked at BP76′s tracklist is we once again are missing a lot of rock. Lack of rock is the first thing I noticed when I did BP75 too.

...

Here’s what else I noticed, the tracklist has a large amount of female pop (like half the class!). In fact, although there’s no Pink or Britney, if you could rattle of five other female pop artists they’re all in there!

Even without being there, this information is dead on. Without Pink or Britney, there is a LOT of female pop in this release, so when the tracklist starts hitting the web - which I can imagine it will do soon - there may be some prejudice developing about how 'poppy' it is, and how 'girly' it is.

I urge you, do NOT make your judgements about this release based on the tracklist alone. It has some amazing, throbbing beats which will elevate and lift the energy of your members, and is a true-to-form kick-ass workout.

In fact, BP75 and BP76 have brought back a lot of members to BODYPUMP - ones who had departed when the BP50's started to hit, claiming that it was becoming too easy. While my answer would be similar to those who claim that the new releases in RPM are too easy; for RPM it's "Turn your resistance up", for BODYPUMP it would be "Put more weight on your bar", it is good to see that members who have been Pump-ing for a while are invigorated by the new choreography enough to make them come back.

Highlights for me? The back and the shoulders track. I love the song for the chest track, however, given that it is a cover of a famous artist, there might be people who are terribly offended that such an iconic artist would be covered.

Glen Ostergaard has done an amazing, AMAZING job with this release, and it makes me so excited that he continues to keep coming up with innovative, tough BODYPUMP releases. It makes me wonder what else he could possibly pull out of the bag for BP77. Every time I think "There's no way it's going to be as good as [the last release]", I am proven wrong.

I can't wait for this one to hit our clubs!

[EDIT] - And also! Watch out for his shout out to the one and only King Kong himself! "Come on Amir! My brother from the sands!" I really do mean it when I say that this guy's energy has completely captivated the program directors; The Ostergaards rate him very highly, and deservedly so!

BODYSTEP 82

2010-09-27T18:00:00.000+13:00

Presenting Team:

Mark Nu’u (New Zealand)
Fabio Abrantes (Portugal)
Chris Hutton (Australia)
Lisa Osborne (New Zealand)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)

Now I'm no Stepper. I probably only do Step once every 3 months, at filming.

Though despite this, I found myself absolutely captivated by BODYSTEP 82. The music, the theme, the choreography gripped me from beginning to end.

I did the majority of the class low impact, sometimes without the step since from the beginning of the day, I was knackered. I had covered RPM for Hamish at 6am, then had headed over to Takapuna to do BODYJAM with Carla, back to the city to do RPM with Sarah and Lee who were practicing the new release (eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!), so... yeah. I deliberately didn't give it everything and did some tracks completely off the Step altogether.

One of the things that caught me off guard was the lack of people around. Normally I would've been in the Central gym and I would've felt the number of people swell as all of the international visitors start coming into the gym. However this quarter, because my membership was now New Lynn only, I hadn't been around to gauge the difference in the numbers, so to see how empty the Step filming was came as quite a shock.

I'm guessing that a LOT of people would've opted to attend the November filmings ahead of this one.

I had heard that the previous quarter, LMI had been extra clear in communicating that if you had been in the front row before, to stay back and let people who had travelled to be up the front.

This time, LMI couldn't actually do that, as there were so few people in the room that instead, they were asking us to come forward. I'll be very interested to see what their plan is for managing the crowds at GFX.

But anyways, back to BODYSTEP. Myself and an instructor from New Lynn - Fabio Sampio; who has the most incredible amount of energy - placed ourselves right down the back.

Remember, myself and Fabio were at the back but.. hello, what's this? Another Fabio onstage?

Fabio, oh Fabio, where for art thou Fabio?

Or maybe...

Would the *REAL* Slim Fabio please stand up?

Or maybe...

Don't call my name, don't call my name ~~Alejandro~~ Fabio

(okay I'll stop now).

The presenting team were absolutely awesome and yes, Lisa Osborne was still in full force despite being pregnant. As always, she held her own and was on fire.

The entire presenting team were wearing light-to-medium blue, with the girls in sleevless Nike tops. (Susan Trainor and Abbas wear the same thing in grey at the BODYVIVE 17 filming). The men, however, were wearing the new LMI designs. From afar, it looked like a bog standard sleeveless top, but up close, I imagine that there would be some detail to it.

I actually want one... to teach RPM in, haha!

While there was a very 'blue' appearance to the clothing and lighting of the masterclass, I think to prepare for launch, Steppers should look to black & orange, or black & green, or black and SOMETHING to match the 'House Of Horrors' theme.

Disclaimer: The below is just my personal opinion.

I reckon GFMs everywhere could let their launch teams go absolutely hog wild with this release and selling this theme. Out of all of the releases this quarter, BODYSTEP 82 in my opinion is the most... 'launchable' (yes, I know that's not a word. I typed it in Blogger and even got the red squiggly line underneath it telling me that it wasn't a word. But I'm gonna use it anyway) release of the quarter, as far as making it a special event. BODYCOMBAT 46 would be the next one.

The house of horrors theme comes into both song selection... and, get this... the choreography. Lots of armlines have been 'zombified' (yeah I'm just making up words today) - whether you could substitute a more traditional armline if it wasn't to your personal prefrence was not something I recall being highlighted on the day, however it could be addressed as a pop up on the DVD or in the chorey notes.

Not Presenting Fabio and I were down the back having a blast. Fabio even started goofing around and adding in turns and extra moves while I laughed at him doing so. Glen Stollery mentioned thata way to get the attention of the presenters was to wear a brightly coloured singlet, as both Karen Russell and Susan Renata called him out despite the fact that he was near the back of the room.

Well... it's not always a good thing to get the attention of the presenters.

Fabio and I were two lone Steppers at the back, with about 6 rows of empty Steps in front of us. He was adding in his extra turns and whatnot when suddenly, holy crap, Mark Nu'u is off the stage and is right next to us. He asks Fabio to Please Not Do That as it is distracting the presenters (fair enough).

I think Fabio was actually a bit shell shocked that Mark Himself was the one to come and tell him to stop - I would've expected maybe one of the filming staff to deliver the order Please Do Not Do That rather than the program director himself IN THE MIDDLE OF FILMING.

My expression at the time would have probably been like this.

Like I said, getting noticed by the presenters is NOT always a good thing.

It's not all doom and gloom though!

Slight spoiler here; one of the tracks that Sarah presents is by a New Zealand band, and when she presents it, she mentions said fact and in mid track, I gave a bit of a fist pump in the air. She then says, "Go Raina!"

My expression?

Far out man, and I was at the back especially to avoid being noticed! *facepalm*

There are great tunes, great moves, and a great team that bring this release together. And with a great theme, its an opportunity for clubs to go a bit crazy when they launch it.

Let me put it this way.

As a Non-Stepper... even *I* am excited about this release.

Now that's saying something!

August 2010 - Day 2: Filming Summary

2010-09-13T17:45:00.000+12:00

Right, I actually wrote a few posts while I was travelling, but by hand, so now I begin the laborious task of typing them all up - the Day 2 filming summary being the first of the two.

I know that RPM 48 was the first filming of the day, but I'm going to write about that one last when the full posts get published. But for now, here are the summaries.

RPM 49

Presenting Team:

Glen Ostergaard (New Zealand)
Sarah Ostergaard (New Zealand
Lee Smith (Australia)

Three presenters - Glen, and Sarah, team up with the Awesometastic Aussie Lee Smith to present an epic release which I am *so* very excited about. The team were wearing the new clothing from the second release of the LMI clothing range, and I found it interesting.

Firstly, the tops are slightly more... 'boring' than the last lot. HOWEVER. The most dominant feature of the top design was a large black strip across the chest that had on it in big white letters 'RPM'. Yes, that's right. RPM. Not LMI.

BODYVIVE 17

Presenting Team:

Susan Trainor (New Zealand)
Adalbjorg Hafsteindottir (Iceland)
Pete Manuel (New Zealand)

No new LMI clothing for Vive - Pete, Susan, and trainer/presenter from Iceland 'Abbas'. (I'm not even going to try and pronounce her name, I know I'll do a great deal of disrespect to everyone in Iceland!) They were all in Nike gear, which maeks me kinda sad... especially since there is NOTHING in the Vive range for men. Before you say, "that's because less men teach Vive...", well, less men teach BODYJAM and they still get clothes designed for them. And speaking on a personal level, I'm friends with 6 BODYVIVE instructors and 4 of them are male.

Anyways - It gave me great joy to see a large number of people at the Vive filming; there wee more people there than at the BODYSTEP 82 filming which absolutely blew my mind. The vibe was cheerful, relaxed, and there was quite a bit of participant noise. I was down the back for this one (and every other filming come to think of it), yet I still had a big stupid grin on my face!

BODYATTACK 71

Presenting Team:

Lisa Osborne (New Zealand)
Fabio Abrantes (Portugal)
June Anderson (New Zealand)
Grant Goes (New Zealand)
Fred Kung (Canada)

Gandalf Archer (New Zealand)
Ginny Crocker (New Zealand)
Josh Keenum (United States)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)

Several people have commented that this (and BODYBALANCE) were the stand out filmings of the quarter. [Note: This is stand out *filmings*, not necessarily stand out *releases*]. That, I believe, is in the eye of the beholder.

Gandalf and Ginny at the very least were modelling the new LMI clothing, but I don't know whether Josh and Sarah were though. Though I have to wonder whether it was a wise decision to make purple pants for the mens range. The mens pants last time were that good that both men and women could wear them - especially after Rach rocked them in BJ53. Ginny's top looked great, you could wear it to BODYPUMP too.

Can I just say that the highlight of this filming was seeing Sarah Robinson up there presenting. I can't think of anyone who deserves to be up there as much as she does. High five, sister - we are so proud, and so happy for you.

So that's the summary posts for you.

Hope you enjoy them while I start working on the longer posts. *gulp*

Thank you for your patience!

Listen...

2010-09-02T19:33:00.002+12:00

I know that you guys are impatient to read about the filmings, but the reality is that I'm travelling at the moment and blogging is difficult (I'm writing this on my iPod).

Sending me abusive emails is not helpful; in fact, it makes me wonder why on earth I bother.

So please, just bear with me. If you are not happy with the rate at which I write, you are more than welcome to look for another blog, or even start up your own.

Cheers,
Raina

I haven't forgotten!

2010-08-14T17:00:00.001+12:00

Hey guys, sorry about the delay in getting the second summary post written, and each of the individual filming posts written... it's been mad in Marshyland lately!

Keep your eyes peeled, I'm going to be working on posts for the next wee while, so you should have some nice reading coming your way - hang in there!

In the meantime, treat yourself to this recent piece on the Kia Kaha Blog about BODYPUMPer and RPMmer extraordinaire Amir Behforooz - I had the honour of meeting him and getting to see him team teach with one of my favourite RPM instructors Sarah Ostergaard, and I can tell you that his energy and passion is infectious. Expect big things to happen where this lad is concerned! I dare you to read and not be inspired by this amazing guy!

And, repeat!

2010-08-02T08:30:00.000+12:00

Day Two of filmings is in, and I'm doing far too much exercise yet again!

RPM @ 6am, sponsor club
BODYPUMP with Amy @ 9:15am, LM New Lynn
RPM with Matt @ 10:15am, LM New Lynn
RPM 49 Filming @ 1:30pm, LM Central
BODYVIVE 17 Filming @ 5:20pm, LM Central
BODYATTACK 71 Filming @ 6:40pm, LM Central
BODYJAM 55 Filming @ 8:00pm, LM Central

I can already tick off the first class, and have got the remaining six to go. I'm really looking forward to doing Pump with Amy Styles and RPM with Matt Thraxton, since I don't normally get to do their classes... AND, out of all of the four filmings scheduled for today, I'm so very much looking forward to RPM 49. I'm so excited that I can barely stand it!

Why is it only 8:30am?! Grrr...

You'll hear from me at the end of the day - the feedback regarding the last filming summary was so good that I'm going to make it a regular feature.

Off I go!

July 2010 - Day 1: Filming Summary

2010-07-29T23:30:00.003+12:00

I haven't done this before, but given how long it's taken me to write the full filming posts in the past, I figured I should give you *something* straight away to tide you over until the full posts are written.

BODYSTEP 82

Presenting Team:

Mark Nu’u (New Zealand)
Fabio Abrantes (Portugal)
Chris Hutton (Australia)
Lisa Osborne (New Zealand)
Sarah Robinson (New Zealand)

Loved the theme of this release, loved the outfits, loved the presenting team... even though I'm not a Stepper, this release was loads of fun and totally kicked my butt. I loved the music in it too. I thought of my Stepping friends Rose from The Netherlands and Patrick from Australia and thought 'Oh they are gonna LOVE this!!' The three men were wearing the new LMI clothing range, though from what I saw, it looked as though Sarah and Lisa were wearing Nike.

BODYPUMP 76

Presenting Team:

Glen Ostergaard (New Zealand)
Susan Renata (New Zealand)
Emma Barry (New Zealand)
Mark Sinclair (New Zealand)
Guest Shadow Presenter: Ruthie T!!!

AWESOME presenting team. Entire crew were modelling the latest LMI clothing range, the womens tops were SEN.SATIONAL. The crew were relaxed, the filming participants were relaxed, but the release itself? TOUGH AS. Oh boy!

BODYCOMBAT 46

Presenting Team:

Dan Cohen (New Zealand)
Rachael Cohen (New Zealand)
Hernan Lopez(New Zealand)
Shaunna May (United States)

Both Hernan and Dan have dyed their hair blonde-ish! Rach was the only non-blonde on stage. Instructors... don't go dying your hair when you launch this one :-S Dan looked good but I think Hernan looks better with his normal hair colour, just quietly.

This release is one tough bastard! All thought it I was ow, ow, ow-ing. Though one thing I want to say... while I don't normally disclose choreography spoilers... I will say this though... no komodo dragon/alligator pushups in this release.

BODYBALANCE 51

Presenting Team:

Jackie Mills (New Zealand)
Dr. Dave (New Zealand)
Corey Baird (New Zealand)
Filipe Russo (Portugal)

My favourite filming of the day. The presenters were onstage for a looooooooooooooong time before the filming actually got under way, and to pass the time, Filipe sang to us! I don't normally get excited about Balance, but I am excited about this release. Lots of beautiful music, the presenters were great, and the filming went so smoothly that I forgot it was a filming class.

I'll be writing more detailed posts in the days to come, but enjoy the above. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments!

All right crew...

2010-07-28T22:15:00.000+12:00

...filming time is in the house yet again!

I have an action packed day, right from the small hours of the morning to the late hours at the night~~ning~~.

Here's my agenda for the tomorrow, Thursday 29th July 2010:

Covering RPM @ 6am, sponsor club
BODYJAM with Carla @ 9:15am, LM Takapuna
Either

RPM with RPM 49 Presenting Team @ 12:10pm, LM Central

or

BODYJAM with BJ55 Presenting Team @ 12:10pm, LM Central

(RPM is my preference, this will depend on whether I get a bike)
BODYSTEP 82 Filming @ 3:10pm, LM Central
BODYPUMP 76 Filming @ 4:30pm, LM Central
BODYCOMBAT 46 Filming @ 6:30pm, LM Central
BODYBALANCE 51 Filming @ 8:00pm, LM Central

If you see me, come and say Hi! I'll be down the back at all of the filming classes, though if I do RPM @ 12:10pm, I might be a front row hog :-D

My day starts with me covering a class for Hamish though... GAH!!! Wish me luck!

The Future Starts Now: Part 15

2010-07-23T23:50:00.002+12:00

By this time, I was staring down the barrel of my first quarterly workshop as an instructor. In Auckland, you can attend the workshop masterclasses as a member, just as you would any other group fitness class. In this regard, I wasn't unfamiliar with what a workshop class was like, having attended them for both BODYJAM and BODYPUMP regularly.

However I *hadn't* been to an RPM workshop before. Like the RPM filmings, I had no idea how to even get into an RPM workshop masterclass. Unlike the otworkshops, the times were never publicised; it seemed like you had to be a member of a secret society and have the secret password to be able to get into the class.

Well, in a way, yes, you needed to be a member of a society and have a password to get into the class, only it wasn't so secret. I used my OMG INSTRUCTOR LOGIN for the LMNZ Instructor section of the website to register for the workshop, wherein you selected which masterclasses you were attending. I saw that there were two classes for RPM and I thought ".... Hey... I wonder if I'm allowed to do both?"

I ticked both of the RPM classes, as well as the generic instructor session, BODYPUMP, and BODYJAM. I was tempted to tick BODYVIVE as well, though it was much earlier than the rest of the classes and clashed with Jace's BODYJAM class at the sponsor club (which Jace, funnily enough, was unable to teach that day so Hamish was covering it), so I didn't register for it this time. Maybe for future workshops when the timetable works out a bit better I'll attend a BODYVIVE quarterly.

Here was my agenda for the day of the workshop:

RPM @ Les Mills New Lynn - 9am
BODYJAM @ Sponsor Club - 11am
GENERIC INSTRUCTOR SESSION @ Les Mills Auckland Central - 1:10pm
RPM 47 Workshop 1 @ Les Mills Auckland Central - 2:10pm
RPM 47 Workshop 2 @ Les Mills Auckland Central - 3:10pm
BODYPUMP 74 Workshop @ Les Mills Auckland Central - 5:10pm
BODYJAM 53 Workshop @ Les Mills Auckland Central - 6:10pm

In the lead up to it, I had one of the most defining conversations of 2010.

Now... I'm going to share it with you... but be warned...

...The below has the potential to change lives.

...

...

Okay...

Here we go...

Marshmallow	Yoooooooooooooooou!
Jace	Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???
Marshmallow	Yoooooooooooooooou!!!!
Jace	Pffffffffffffffffffffff???
Jace	Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???
Marshmallow	YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!!!!
Jace	LOL
Jace	what??
Jace	what did I do??
Marshmallow	Oh nothing, I say yoooooooou to people all the time though you were the first person to reply the same way so I thought I'd see how long it'd carry on for
Jace	HAHAHAHA
Jace	Green minds think alike

What? You were expecting something informative, philosophical, and in context??

Just let me say when you're friends with a phenomenal character like Jace, if ever you're feeling down, it's not for long. You're always happy when you've got people like him around. :-)

Which is why it sucked that he had to work the day of the workshop!

The morning started off well with Cath and I meeting up at New Lynn to do RPM together. She was keen to do classes taught by as many quality instructors as possible, and I highly respect and admire Magali; the first RPM instructor other than Jaci whose classes I liked.

Marshmallow	Heya Magali, this is Cath
Marshmallow	We did the RPM module together
Marshmallow	So we're going to sit down the back in class today and steal your cues
Magali	:-/

Hey, I was honest. And she did laugh, because she's a good sport. And I hope she doesn't mind me stealing her cues, I only do so because they are awesome, and she is awesome.

I hammered myself in that class, and when I heard that Carla wasn't teaching Jam at New Lynn (it was actually Rach teaching Sh'Bam at New Lynn, which I didn't realise), I headed over to the sponsor club to do Jam, which was being covered by Hamish and our friend Nelly.

Nelly is one of the most amazing Jammers I have the privilege to know, and she was the first person at LM Auckland Central to treat me like a human being. She, like me, was a regular in Carla's Tuesday night BODYJAM classes, and one day in the changing rooms, commented to me that I had amazing energy and moved really well. I was overwhelmed that someone would say that to me - especially when I walked around that gym feeling the stares of everyone in the weights/cardio area, and feeling generally out of place and unwelcome. Every time I see her onstage, I think back to that day in the changing room where she first said 'hi' and think to myself, "Wow... we have come so far."

Both Hamish and Nelly taught brilliantly - though I was worried for Hamish during the class, since he'd been sick for the majority of the week and I noticed him turning off the microphone when he needed to cough. He got through the class, and like I said before, both of them were amazin'-mazin'.

But heck, the day had only just begun! We still had the workshop to get through!

Now. A while back, my good friend Glen Stollery wrote on his blog in November of last year about how the generic instructor session was Bootcamp Style training which caught instructors off-guard.

This actually made me really nervous about the generic session - to the point where I emailed LMNZ and asked them whether it was going to be a bootcamp session or not. If it was, I wanted to make sure that I had eaten during the drive (yes, eating and driving, look, I know I'm not perfect and it's not ideal, but how else am I supposed to get any food in?) from the sponsor club to the city to prepare and fuel myself for it.

I received confirmation from LMNZ that the generic was not going to be a bootcamp style session (phew!), but even so, so many instructors I talked to were so scared off by that generic session that they were very hesitant to to attend the generic session. Even when I was able to tell them that No It Was Not Going To Be Bootcamp, they still were wary of attending it, with the majority deciding not to attend it altogether.

It was really strange going back into the Auckland Central gym. I had been in there on a few odd occasions - once as a guest to an RPM class, then to try and give a present to someone (I left it at reception for them, since I couldn't go into the gym itself), and finally I... uh... 'got let in through a back entrance' to attend Carla's 40th Birthday celebration. Other than that, I had placed a big distance between myself and the Central gym.

I parked my car nearby and remembered something on the registration instructions that the 'instructor entrance' would be open from 10am. I had no idea where on earth this 'instructor entrance' was, nor was there any indication anywhere on LMNZ where the instructor entrance was located. I walked up to the general reception and asked them where I was supposed to go in. Any of you who are familiar with the layout of LM Auckland Central will know that there are two buildings to the gym - the general gym area building, and the group fitness building, and there is a footbridge that connects the two. The main reception where everyone swipes in and out is in the general gym area building, as are the changing rooms/lockers/cafe/etc.

The receptionists told me that there was a door at the group fitness building that the instructors go through for workshop, and whoever was manning the desk there would tick me off the list.

[aside] I actually believe that this should be a permanent entrance to LM Auckland Central - I can't begin to tell you what a pain it is parking right next to the group fitness building but having to run cross the carpark through the general entrance and double back in the direction of the group fitness building on a time crunch (and I have been on plenty a time crunch when attending classes during my lunch break). [/aside]

As I began to head off, one of the receptionists said, "Hey... Did you used to be a member?"

I responded with a nervous "Uh... yes?"

They said, "Ah, I thought so."

...

Anyways!

After got my named ticked off, I walked in, and bumped into someone whom I had tried to reduce contact with since stopping the multi-club membership.

They saw me and went, "Heeeeeeeeey, I haven't seen you in ages!", and began making conversation with me.

Odd conversation.

Person 1	So how is your BODYJAM training going?
Marshmallow	...
Marshmallow	BODYJAM?
Person 1	Yeah! How is it going?
Marshmallow	You... do know I did the RPM module, right?
Person 1	Oh yeah I know, but how is your BODYJAM training going?
Marshmallow	I... did the RPM module... I'm not doing any BODYJAM training... my RPM training is going really well though!
Person 1	Yeah I know, but how is your BODYJAM training going?
* Marshmallow sighs
Marshmallow	It's going well.
Person 1	Oh cool! So how much teaching are you doing?
Marshmallow	For BODYJAM? None! And it's going well!

I organised my belongings in a locker, and set out about finding Cath. She was going to meet me in town and we were going to go into the Generic session together. I was looking forward to meeting up with Stollery in the Generic session too... and man, I'll admit it, I was excited... my first workshop as an instructor.

Cath found me, and we headed on up the steps to the generic instructor session.

I saw Sarah Robinson standing down the back, and given that she doesn't teach at New Lynn any more, it had been a *very* long time since I last saw her. And hey, I did the RPM module with her ;-)

I walked up to her and said, "Heeeeeeeeey Sarah! It's my first workshop as an instructor!!!"

She responded with "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! ... It's not that exciting."

I'm guessing with how many she's attended/presented at... they would all blur together.

The BODYATTACK 69 Masterclass was finishing off, and when it was over, I did a running jump on Stollery (ahahaha), and we got into place for the generic session.

It may have been just the It's My First Time feeling, but I sat down there with a big grin on my face, ready to soak up everything and everything that they were going to send our way...