rp({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","feed":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$openSearch":"http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-24T11:54:53.995+13:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Cardio \u0026 Earthquakes"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":"Bringing down the house with exercise"},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/posts/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026orderby\u003dpublished"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"},{"rel":"next","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026start-index\u003d26\u0026max-results\u003d25\u0026orderby\u003dpublished"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"875"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"25"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-7501292658789692211"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-22T20:00:00.002+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-22T20:10:25.888+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"RPM 46"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"RPM"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"RPM 46 - Part 3"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonday 2nd November - 2:30pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eThe RPM studio was transformed for the filming - about 30-40% of the bikes were removed, and the remainder of the bikes were pushed right back to the walls of the studio.  There was a big gaping space on the floor in the middle of the room in front of the stage... which, funnily enough, isn't the normal stage in the studio.  The regular stage was sitting outside, and a specific RPM filming stage was brought in.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis is what is normally looks like:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/lesmills006.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/lesmills006_small.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOrdinarily, there's the RPM filming marketing material behind the stage on the wall of the studio; the older version of these:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/RPM_Background.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e(it's only one image, not all three - but you get the idea).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFor filming, the image was gone.  Or covered up.  I can't really tell whether they simply covered it or removed it off the wall, but it wasn't on display.  Instead, there was some crazy psychedelic artwork behind the three presenter's bikes.  Normally, the stage is big enough for two bikes, definitely not three, so that's a completely different stage they use in the RPM studio for the filming classes compared to the normal classes.  Who woulda thunk it, huh?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe team were Glen and Sarah, and international presenter Wolf  Schmidtberg from Germany.  Through doing Sarah's regular Tuesday night classes, I'd had the privilege of seeing Wolf teach a few times - first his normal tracks, then his tracks for RPM 46, and I was instantly impressed.  When someone can get off the plane having wung it from halfway across the world, get in front of a jam packed class full of members who are used to training with the program directors, teach in a language that isn't their mother tongue, it's a HUGE ask.  And Wolf, dammit, he was awesome.  If I'm ever in Germany, I'll have to hunt out his classes. (And I will make it to Germany, the calling of those German sausages gets gradually more intense day by day!)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThey were wearing new cycling jerseys from the LMClothing line that is to be launched early in 2010.  Glen and Wolf were wearing black and grey versions while Sarah was wearing a white and blue version.  I loved both colours, and would totally buy both if they were available.  If you have Sarah Ostergaard on your Facebook, check out some of the photos she's been tagged in from the RPM 46 filming, since the shirts are damn hot.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBlack cloth was draped in front of the windows and the back of the room where the windows are - if you look at the photo up the top, you can see that there's a sort of conservatory like thing with windows on the right; that was all covered up with black cloth.  The cameras were right back up in the corner, with the regular production team all standing there with their headsets and clipboards and everything else.  Chris Richardson was the program coach, and he was there to observe the filming.  A couple of people I didn't expect to see on bikes Body Pump presenter Susan Renata, and Body Vive presenter Pete... Pete. (help me out with this last name, if you know!  He presented on BV13 and is the regular guy who does all of the announcements at filming time).  It's little things like this that I quite like about being a participant - seeing international presenters looking uncomfortable in programs other than their own; they be human, they be human.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe first ten or so minutes of the filming was focused on the warm up.  We had to film it one and a half times, since there's going to be some special affects applied in post production to make it look awesome.  Since we saw it in pieces, in the filming we were all like, \"...Eh?\"  I'm sure it'll look great on the DVD, and I'd love it if any RPM instructors out there could let me know how it looks once they get to see it!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSarah presented the warmup, Wolf presented track two, and after that I can't really remember who presented what (ahahaha), apart from that Sarah presented track seven and Wolf presented track five.  My favourite tracks this release are tracks 3 and 7, good, hard working hill tracks.  There wasn't much in the way of bloopers or anything - the vibe in the room was great, the energy between the three instructors was great, everything went well and ran smoothly.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWell, for the most part of it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAfter track 7, Wolf presented the ride home, and threw out something that noone was expecting.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHis girlfriend was in the front row - I'd seen her around throughout the other filmings and recognised her when she sat down.  How did I know she was his girlfriend?  Well, they were one of those annoying Always Smooching couples (ergh) so it was rather obvious.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHe looked at her and said;\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"Yasmin, will you marry me?\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/EeEeEee.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNoone in the room saw that one coming, including Glen and Sarah, judging by the looks on their faces!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEveryone's eyes were on the girl, and she was in tears with delight.  It was only due to sheer emotion and overwhelming happiness that it took her a bit of a moment to compose herself enough to say Yes.  With that, the class absolutely erupted.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAfter the track had been completed, Glen said. \"... Well THERE's a first!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI am seriously lucky that this filming was my first RPM filming - it was special and unique for more than the RPM itself!  I never got to offer my congratulations to Wolf and Yasmin, so I do it through this blog.  Congratulations on your engagement!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat I like about RPM is that unlike all other classes, your space is defined for you.  Once you have your bike, you have your space, you don't need to worry about it.  You don't need to worry about anyone stepping on your toes, or someone kicking you in the mouth (yeah seriously), or someone stealing your Pump weights... or having your Vive ball flung across the room (by yourself!).  The bike is there.  Even when you get off for stretches, your space is defined for you.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThat's why throughout this filming, even though it was more squished than a regular filming class, it still was great that our space was defined.  Refreshing, even.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eUntil it came to the stretch track.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI looked around at the jigsaw of bikes around me and said out loud, \"Uh... now this is going to be interesting.\"  There were a few chuckles around me - clearly I wasn't the only person who had this thought on their mind!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTo the people whom I managed to sit on during the stretch track, sorry!  It really was quite difficult to manoeuvre oneself amongst those bikes with handlebars and pedals; especially with me being neither slender nor flexible.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI pushed myself really hard during that filming, and let me say it, I'd just done Vive and my legs were hammered.  Absolutely hammered.  I still had the Vive and Combat filmings to go through.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThen, we were told we had to go back and refilm track 5 again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/normal_headdesk.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFor those of you who know RPM, track 5 is the hardest working track in the release - it combines load and pace and is a true, pure interval training track.  So going back to it AFTER you've cooled down and stretched is hella painful.  The best example of this is at the Body Combat 42 filming where we had to refilm Track 8 about five times after we'd cooled down and stretched.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI don't know if any other filming attendees feel the same way that I do about this - I'd love to hear from you whether you'd prefer to go back and refilm cardio tracks after cooling down, or whether you'd prefer to repeat them immediately.  I know what my preference is!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe vibe and energy in the room was definitely down once the track was refilmed - it wasn't as noisy, and in fact, it was close to being zen!  I'd be interested to know if that's detected on the DVD - pockets of footage where the crowd is quiet and looking a bit bedraggled and tired.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was thinking the other day about how it would've been some wicked awesome symmetry if filmings for both of the programs which I love above all others was release 43 in each program.  The first filming I attended was BJ43, but it wasn't until BJ46 that I began to fully understand what the whole phenomena of Les Mills was about.  It was only after BJ46 that I became motivated to attend every filming thereafter.  In a way, it's because Gandalf started teaching at New Lynn, and I got to see the development of BJ46 before it got filmed - I got to see how the choreography changed, modified, and was tweaked leading up to the filming.  In that way, while I attended the filming masterclass for BJ43, I 'experienced' the filming master class for BJ46.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe filming masterclass of RPM46 was definitely something I experienced, since I got to see the choreography be worked and adjusted before filming through Sarah's classes.  In that way, I feel like there is some symmetry - BJ46 and RPM46.  Feel free to disagree with me, though I think in some way, it feels like some sort of script; like I was 'meant' to attend this filming.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI've still got some growing to do.  I scuppered off after the filming without saying a word to anyone - even Sarah, thinking that the others deserved to talk to her and the other program directors more than I did (argh, not that again!), though I've got every other RPM filming ahead of me to help me with that.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-7501292658789692211?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/7501292658789692211/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d7501292658789692211","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/7501292658789692211"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/7501292658789692211"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/rpm-46-part-3.html","title":"RPM 46 - Part 3"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-6590603338941684363"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-21T20:30:00.000+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-21T20:39:18.044+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Other"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"A Quick Shout Out..."},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"To the person at Les Mills Auckland Central who found the cards that fell out of my wallet...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThank you *so* much for having the kindness and consideration to hand them in to the gym reception.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI know I don't always speak kindly of the members at Auckland Central, though clearly, there is a lot of kindness there that I don't appreciate.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf you happen to be out there, and you happen to be reading this, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-6590603338941684363?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/6590603338941684363/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d6590603338941684363","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/6590603338941684363"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/6590603338941684363"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/quick-shout-out.html","title":"A Quick Shout Out..."}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-4253822917949904123"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-20T21:15:00.002+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-21T11:14:33.699+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"RPM 46"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"RPM"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"RPM 46 - Part 2"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I received a reply from the address that Sarah gave me, and I was told that the RPM 46 filming had been fully booked out as of two weeks prior, but that I was on the waiting list and to turn up anyway in case people didn't turn up for their booking.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNeedless to say, I was disappointed, and actually, a bit upset.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI took my chance though and asked to be booked in for RPM 47.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI had pretty much given up on any hope of getting into this filming, but was relieved that I would be in the first RPM filming of 2010.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn the morning of the filmings, I was looking at my bulging bag of gym gear, wondering if I could fit in my RPM shoes and bike shorts.  Figuring, \"You never know\", I crammed them in there.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMissy - who was staying with me for this round of filmings; was great to have her staying at my place :-D - wanted to do Vive at 1:10, and the RPM filming was scheduled to start at 2:30pm.  If you were booked in for the RPM filming, you were asked to turn up at approximately 2:15pm to get in, though realistically, I would expect that you would turn up a good half hour early.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePartway through Vive, I thought, \"Meh... you know what, maybe I'll just do Vive and forget about RPM.  There's probably a bunch of other people who are more deserving than I am to get a bike in the filming.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere we go, that voice of inadequacy again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI found myself continuing to look at the clock during Vive; turning over my shoulder, thinking about the RPM filming, wondering if I should leave the class and go downstairs to change.  It got to the point where I actually couldn't concentrate and I thought, \"The hell with this.  I'm not focused on this class, my mind is downstairs in the RPM studio.  Let's go downstairs and get changed.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI snuck out of the class (literally, I crawled on the floor close to the stage in Studio 1 so that Mid wouldn't see me, sending Missy into absolute hysterics), and got changed into my cycling shorts and shoes.  There was a line of people waiting outside the studio, when it was only 2:05pm (ack!).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI saw person after person walk past me, get their name ticked off, and head on into the studio.  There was a collection of bikes that had been pulled from the studio, and they were sitting in the circuit room.  Seeing the number of bikes that were sitting outside the studio made me even more nervous.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe girl who was walking around with the list went and spoke to everyone who was waiting outside the room - some of them saying \"I booked in... I'm This Person from This Country\", and others saying, \"I was put on the waiting list\".  I stood there, not really knowing whether I should be approaching her, or whether she was going to talk to me - given I was now the first person waiting beside the doorway to the studio.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSarah O walked past me, saw me waiting and said, \"Ohhhhhh I so HOPE you get in!  Make sure you book in for next time, yeah?\" And I assured her that indeed, I'd booked myself in.  It was actually a very similar look on her face that I saw in Carla when she told me I had to go to the BJ43 filming.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBy this time, Vive had ended, and Missy, Fred and Hector came down the stairs and saw me waiting outside the studio.  A brief bit of communication through extravagant hand gestures and faux sign language (them asking, \"Think you'll get in?\" me respond with, \"I hope so, but I've got no idea!\"), when the girl with the list walked past me and said, \"Ah!\" and then went inside the studio.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was a bit dumbstruck.  I looked around, not really knowing whether she was 'Ah!'-ing to me, or whether she had just realised something she had needed to do.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen I hadn't followed her, she came back and popped her head around the doorway and said, \"Raina?\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWell, THAT's pretty clear!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI followed her into the studio, it suddenly dawning on me that \"Wait a minute... I'm *ACTUALLY* inside! I'M INSIDE!\"  She gestured to the bikes, and I said, \"On that one?  Number 45?\" and she said, \"Wherever you feel like.\"  She rushed off to go and see to the next person, and that's when I really started to get excited.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe bikes were INCREDIBLY smooshed up against each other.  I'm lucky in that I'm actually used to riding in cramped conditions.  The New Lynn RPM studio is about half the size of the Auckland Central RPM studio, yet while being 50% of the size, it has 67% of the bikes.  Auckland Central has 60 bikes, New Lynn has 40.  The first time I rode in Auckland Central, I was irritated because of how much space there was in between each of the bikes - I was used to everyone being packed in and there being a whooooooooooooooole lotta sweat sharing.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFilming time though, I had never seen the bikes so crammed in before.  The bikes had been pushed right back up against the walls, and what would ordinarily be one row of bikes, was three.  The bikes were intricately placed in amongst each other, like a jigsaw.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn fact, the moment I sat down on my bike, I nearly jumped off it in fright as my butt literally sat down on the handlebars of the bike behind me.  I turned around and said to the girl, \"Good grief!\"  In the handlebars of the bikes at Auckland Central, there are casings for you to put your drink bottles in.  If it weren't for the girl behind me having a little water bottle, the poor thing would've had the mouth of her drink bottle sticking up the crack of my butt.  Which... wouldn't have been... err... ideal?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was lucky that the positioning of the bikes in front of me meant that my handlebars weren't being sat on by someone else, though I've learnt my lesson - LITTLE drink bottles in the RPM filming means maximum comfort for the other participants.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSarah O was inside, talking to some of the other participants who were all seated.  She turned around, and heck, she came *this* close to squealing when she saw me sitting there.  It was great to see her so excited and responsive to me being in the class - and to think, I'd spent all this time fretting that I didn't deserve to be there.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was sitting on that bike, happy as a clam.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eCould it get any better?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOf course!  Because remember, by this stage, we hadn't even started pedalling, and the camera hadn't even started rolling...!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTo be continued...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-4253822917949904123?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/4253822917949904123/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d4253822917949904123","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/4253822917949904123"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/4253822917949904123"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/rpm-46-part-2.html","title":"RPM 46 - Part 2"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-2471156267101919689"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-19T21:30:00.001+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-19T21:40:26.550+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"RPM 46"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"RPM"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"RPM 46 - Part 1"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Well well \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eWELL\u003c/span\u003e!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);font-size:400%;\" \u003eWELL!\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat is \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eTHIS \u003c/span\u003ewe have here?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDid you get the impression that I was *done* with the filming posts for this quarter?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere are two filming masterclass this year that I will hold incredibly special and dear to me.  While each class is special, there certain ones where the memories pop up more often.  The first one is the BJ51 filming.  I had Rose on one side of me, and Patrick on the other.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe other filming?  ... ;-)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe only way I actually got my act together to attend a filming in the first place was when Carla said to me, \"Oh my god you've GOT to come!\" when I told her I didn't think I could make it to the Body Jam 43 filming.  It was that look on her face, that expression, that pleading that, You Can't Seriously Not Come look.  I had no idea at that time about filmings, presenters, program directors, DVDs... I had some idea about Les Mills being in several places throughout the world - after all, I found out about Body Pump through reading an Aussie blogger living in Scotland.  If it weren't for Carla, I wouldn't have ever come to a Body Jam filming, and who knows where I would be now.  I wouldn't know Rose, Patrick, Missy, Hannah, and so many other amazing people that I've met (far too many to name here!).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI joined Les Mills New Lynn in October of 2006.  In March of 2007, I did my first RPM class.  In a very short time, it was not Body Jam that I was doing most frequently, it was RPM.  I was doing three RPM classes per week, while I was doing one or two Body Jam classes.  I've managed to attend every Body Jam filming (apart from BJ50+) from BJ46 through to BJ52, yet I automatically assumed, like many, that I could never get into an RPM filming.  For a start, unlike all of the other classes, Les Mills never advertised when they were.  If I didn't know when the class was, how was I supposed to book into it?  Also, what if it was on a completely different day to the other filmings?  I just had no clue.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSo why the massive delay in finding out about RPM filmings?  Clearly it's a program I'm passionate about - moreso than Pump and Combat, whose filmings I have made a large effort to attend over the last year.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat happened was I got sucked into the Program Directors Are Messiahs Syndrome.  I managed to actually generate a FEAR of Glen Ostergaard's classes.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYes, I am being serious.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBody Jam is an interesting program.  It, and Balance are the two programs which are focused on \"These are our bodies.  Let's enjoy them.\"  All of the other fitness programs are very focused on your traditional exercise goals - burning calories, toning muscle, shaping, cardiovascular fitness, strength, weight loss, weight gain, etc.  Through Body Jam and Body Balance... and now probably Body Vive, you get participants that are all different shapes and sizes.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThough maybe I'm not being fair.  It wasn't that I was afraid of Glen Ostergaard himself.  After all, I've done the guy's Pump classes and LOVED them; the guy is phenomenal.  It was more about the sort of crowd he'd attract - the sort of members that would come along to his classes.  I know it is incredibly insecure of me, though I thought \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eI do not have the worthy body shape to deserve to attend his classes\u003c/span\u003e.  As I'm writing this, I'm thinking, \"Well that's just a load of CRAP\", but heck, it was enough to keep me from pursuing the attendance of an RPM filming!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt didn't matter that I'd done Amy Styles's RPM classes at New Lynn, or that Jaci is in fact the most slave-driverish RPM instructor you can probably find on the planet.  I still had this notion in my head that I 'wasn't worthy' of attending a regular RPM class taught by Glen.  Never mind a filming class.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt was only when my friend and fellow RPMmer/Viver/Stepper friend Legz *easily* talked me into doing Puke Tuesday with her - RPM with Mid, followed by RPM with Sarah Ostergaard.  Sounds great, yes!  I'd read about Sarah Ostergaard's classes on Reymond's blog, and in a weird stalkerish kind of way, I'd overheard Sarah talking to fellow gym members about general training concerns and all kinds of topics.  I recall one member complaining to her that she'd been doing a lot of extra training, but had gained weight, and Sarah gave her some great advice - to not be so focused on the number on the scale, as her cardiovascular fitness would have increased and it was likely that her body fat percentage had gone down.  Because I'd already 'seen' Sarah outside of a program director role, I wasn't intimidated by her classes.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was completely buzzing after doing my first class with her, and even talked to her afterwards.  I told her that I'd been doing RPM at New Lynn for 3 years, and through that, I'd like to think she was able to tell that when it comes to RPM, I'm not a flash in the pan - I'm someone who genuinely enjoys it.  I typically do three classes a week, and the only thing that constrains me from attending more is that at Les Mills, there is a cost per class which begins to mount.  If I had my way, I could easily see myself doing four to five classes a week - with Jaci on Monday, with Mid and Sarah on Tuesday, Mid on Wednesday, Jaci on Friday, and Magali on Saturday.  And heck, if I were able to during the day, I'd try to attend Matt Thraxton, Chris Richardson, and who knows, maybe even Glen's classes as well.  (Yes, this is ON TOP of the Jam that I already do!)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI very soon became a regular in Sarah O's class, sitting in the front row (same spot for where I sit in Mid's classes, to make things simple), and talking to Sarah week in, week out, enjoying her classes and having a blast with the double-dose of RPM.  It was also through RPM that I met Reymond, whose blog I've been reading for ages - and I'll admit it now, his original blog was the inspiration for the Les Mills twist that this blog has taken.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI became both Sarah O and Reymond's friends on Facebook, and I happened to see an interaction between Sarah and Reymond (omg what a stalker am I!) where he was asking her about when the filming for RPM 46 was.  I took this moment to chime in and ask her if you needed to be an instructor to attend the filming.  Sarah advised me that no, you didn't, and that if I wanted to come, to let her know so that she could try and get me on the list.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e?!!?!?!?!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eShe gave me an email address to contact, and I sent an email and waited.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTo be continued...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-2471156267101919689?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/2471156267101919689/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d2471156267101919689","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/2471156267101919689"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/2471156267101919689"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/rpm-46-part-1.html","title":"RPM 46 - Part 1"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"2"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-5263112146380552803"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-17T21:00:00.002+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-17T21:12:00.234+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Oct-Nov 2009 Filming Posts"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"So here we are!  A list of the posts I've written for the filmings this quarter.  I'm still annoyed that I didn't write them as fast as I would've liked, but I'm quite relieved that it didn't take me a month like last time.\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-step-79.html\"\u003eBody Step 79\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-pump-73.html\"\u003eBody Pump 73\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-jam-52.html\"\u003eBody Jam 52\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-balance-48.html\"\u003eBody Balance 48\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-vive-14.html\"\u003eBody Vive 14\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-attack-68.html\"\u003eBody Attack 68\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-combat-43.html\"\u003eBody Combat 43\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-jam-52_17.html\"\u003eBody Jam 52+\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ul\u003eI'm not able to give much detail on Attack, Step and Balance since these three programmes are the three that I don't regularly participate in.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI do hope that you enjoy what I have been able to write.  I'm still unsure of how I'm going to get back writing on here on a regular basis - since filming posts are one thing, but the regular classes - those are the things that you guys overseas don't get to hear about.  You don't get to hear about how Carla managed to freakily picked two Jam blocks that I'd been craving to do, and that the reason why she picked them was because she thought, \"Hmmm... what would Raina like to do...\".  That sort of thing is amazing!  \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYou don't get to hear about how Georgina Clark tells off Freddy at the back of the room because he's mocking her by doing bicep curls without a bar (air resistance, apparently?!).  You don't get to hear about the awesome Halloween Jam class that Sarah Robinson taught - where she dressed up wearing awesome wings and, horns and a devil's tail (and I dressed up like a pirate! One member turned dressed up as Goku from Dragonball Z!), taught tracks like 'Hey Big Spender', 'Jump (For my Love)' and wheeling out 'And I Will Always Love You' as a groovedown track (leaving myself and all of the other participants going WTF?!?!).  \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI know that filmings are awesome, and new releases are awesome, but if you're either a member or a participant, you will eventually get to see all of the new choreography, and hear all of the new music.  It's turning up to lunchtime Jam and having Gandalf go \"My name is Sally!\" (yes, seriously) that is the stuff that's unique, the stuff that you don't get to hear about, and the stuff that makes me love Les Mills above and beyond the exercise itself.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eJust know that I miss sharing it with you guys.  I really do.  I'll try and make it work, but in the meantime, I really do hope that the filming posts are enough.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMuch love to you all.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-5263112146380552803?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/5263112146380552803/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d5263112146380552803","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/5263112146380552803"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/5263112146380552803"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/oct-nov-2009-filming-posts.html","title":"Oct-Nov 2009 Filming Posts"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-7900197061488859531"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-17T20:45:00.005+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-17T20:50:25.960+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Jam"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Jam 52+"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Jam 52"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Jam 52+"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThursday 5th November - 1:10pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eAt the last Jam+ filming, I took annual leave, given that both the filmings for BJ49+ and BJ50+ had been a lunchtime filming.  For Jam 51+, though, it was instead scheduled to be in the evening, a class I didn't need to take leave for.  Argh!  No biggie though, since Rose and Patrick were in Auckland at the time and I got to spend a good amount of time with them.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis time, thinking that again, it would be an evening class, I didn't take annual leave, instead opting to take annual leave on the day that Vive, Attack and Combat were scheduled.  Though as luck would have it, for BJ52+, the class was scheduled as a lunchtime one.  Ah goddamit!  I warned everyone at work that I would be taking a *very* long lunch and would be staying behind a few hours afterwards to make up the time.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGeorge was finishing up Pump when I went into the studio for the filming, and it was all already set up, curtains drawn, equipment in position.  What struck me immediately was that there were a few other program directors around to make up the numbers for the filming - I remember seeing all of Susan Trainer, Sarah Robinson, Mark Nu'u and Dan Cohen.  Throughout the filming class, they were goofing around ('they' really meaning 'Dan Cohen' while Mark Nu'u had a perpetual look of horror-slash-confusion on his face, and Susan and Sarah both laughed their asses off at them both), and it was really awesome to see.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eToday I found it almost a mirror image of what the BJ49 filmings were like - where by far, Plus was the main filming, where you had no room to move, the timing was more accessible to most members and international visitors.  This time, and every time since BJ50, it was Base that was the main filming, Plus that was at a less accessible, convenient time, with less people attending.  In fact, a lot of internationals were dismayed to find out that the Plus filming was even on, as a lot of people (including my beloved Missy) had booked their tickets to leave after the Monday filmings, not realising that Jam+ was to be filmed on a different day.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI didn't attend the BJ50+ filming, but for BJ51+, where it was just Gandalf presenting on his own, he did a brief introduction and then we went into the filming.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt was a real shame this time, because there was significant microphone issues - especially with Rach's microphone.  The team - Ginny, Rach and G - all literally 'appeared' onstage and went immediately into sound checks.  When they were performing the sound check, the sound team used the warmup as the backing music, and Rach moved into the choreography for the warmup without introduction, cueing it, trying to get the volume mix correct.  There was some confusion between members on the floor, a bit of looking over people's shoulders thinking, \"Are we filming?\"  In the past when sound checks have been performed, the participants have started to get into the choreography and then suddenly the presenter will go, \"Yep, that's good!\", the music will cut, and all of us on the floor will stumble around like a pack of idiots in surprise, thinking, \"You mean that was fake?!?!?\"  We were all half-thinking this as we went through the warmup and the isolations track, though even THEN, the microphone issues still weren't sorted.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eG's microphone was crackling, Rach's microphone was FAR too quiet... Ginny's was the only one that was working properly, and before the filming of the first Plus block, she was subjected to a Much Longer Than Normal sound check.  To the point where she had to make up a whole bunch of crap to prevent the crowd from going stale.  She exclaimed in a heavy, grunty, throaty voice, \"Guilando!\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"#BJ52-1\"\u003e[1]\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e My name is Juanita... Perez... Fernandez...!  I like to drink SANGRIA!  And... a Waitakere Daquiri!  What's a Waitakere Daquiri? ...  Uh... Bourbon and Coke.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOh Ginny, we love you so very very much! :-D\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGinny was the sparkle in this filming - undoubtedly both G and Rach were incredibly unsettled by the sound difficulties - and Ginny did incredibly well to keep the energy and buzz alive.  It wasn't as packed as other filming classes, naturally, though there was a distinct lack of 'filmingness' about the Jam+ filming for a good chunk of it.  Even I struggled to give my energy into this filming, despite me being a rather large fan of BJ52.  Not only was G unsettled by the microphone, but he was also unsettled since there was a distinct lack of lighting features for a good chunk of the class.  He had to stop and say, \"Bro, the lights haven't done anything for the last three tracks, can we get them to be all crazy like, because the music's about to EXPLODE!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere's one block in there that has a gunshot transition from one track to another, and while no big deal was made out of it for the Base filming, for the Plus, both Ginny and Rach pretended to shoot G while he flung himself backwards in the air - purely for dramatic effect.  Trouble was, this was reshot about four or five times!  Poor G continued to throw himself around, time after time, each time, getting more and more exasperated, all like, \"What do you mean I need to do it AGAIN???\"  I'm surprised that all of his limbs are still intact, the way he was flailing about in the air!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMy favourite moment from the filming though, came out of the blue from Rach.  She was trying to up the energy into a very bouncy move, and she said, \"How would you do it if you were dancing on a beehive?\"  Then she promptly shrieked \"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!\" and ran around thrashing her arms about, prompting G and Ginny to do the same.  It was something that was really uncharacteristic for the smooth, slick Rach, I actually stopped dancing for a moment while I cracked up laughing.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs for BJ52+ and how it compares with BJ52?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWell, if I were a GFM, here's what I'd do.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI'd launch BJ52, and I'd force... yes, that's right, I'd \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eFORCE\u003c/span\u003e the Jam instructors in my club to teach only BJ52 without any Plus options for a week or two, then, have a week where they could not teach any BJ52 at all...then RElaunch BJ52+.  There are a lot of differences, and I really think that a you could do two launches for the same release and it still go off.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNow I work with computers for a living - I'm not a GFM and there are probably GFM's out there who are reading this thinking, \"You'd WHAT?!!?!?!\", since I clearly have zero understanding of what it takes to manage a happy instructing team as well as balance the needs of the members from area to area.  I'm kind of looking at it like a little kid being asked about their dream house and them saying something like, \"I want it to be a bright orange castle, with a drawbridge and a moat, and an elevator, and a unicorn, and a waterslide, and LEPRECHAUNS!!\"  Hehhe, clearly someone who is still wide eyed and completely unknowing and un-understanding of the fact that Wait A Minute There's Obvious Limitations Here.  In my fantasy world, with my bright orange castle with the waterslide and the leprechauns, that's what I'd do - I'd launch BJ52, then ReLaunch it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe idea being, I'd whet the appetite of the participants by showing them the release a couple of times, then pulling it away and saying to the participants, \"No you can't play with that anymore\", and then bringing it back in shiny new packaging at the ReLaunch.  That's honestly how much flexibility and leverage you get with what you get in BJ52 and BJ52+.  I previously had said that BJ49's Street Jazz was the best example of the versioning between base and plus - though now, BJ52 as a \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003ewhole\u003c/span\u003e has far excelled it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eExpect to get a lot of milage out of this release.  A LOT.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt was definitely worth a few extra hours at the office that day to be a part of the filming experience.  Fred is going to be all over BJ52+, since the cameraman seemed to ignore everyone else in the room!  Which is a shame, because I was in the second row behind my friend Jace, and boy, he can MOVE.  WHY he doesn't have a Jam class to teach here in Auckland is beyond me.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFor any internationals coming down to Auckland who are Jammers, I urge you, when you're emailing Carla about the dates of the filming, ask specifically about the Jam+ filming date and time.  It's such a shame that so many people missed out, and while I normally am for more space on the floor at filming time, the October-November filming is that quiet that the filming *needed* more of our international friends there to elevate the mood and drama.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eJust because it is the last filming, it doesn't mean that it's not the least important.  It's as important as all of the other filmings, so make sure you don't miss out while you're down here.  When I think of the number of people who left the country and missed out on BJ52+, I think... \"Dayum...\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGuess you'll just have to wait for ReLaunch.  Like I will for my orange castle with the waterslide and the leprechauns.\u003chr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003e\u003ca name\u003d\"BJ52-1\"\u003e[1]\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e - P.S., I have \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eno \u003c/span\u003eidea what exact word she said, how you'd write it down, or what it means - if anyone in the South Americas or Spain/Portugal area has ANY idea what I could possibly be referring to here, help me out!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-7900197061488859531?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/7900197061488859531/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d7900197061488859531","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/7900197061488859531"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/7900197061488859531"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-jam-52_17.html","title":"Body Jam 52+"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"2"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-8313950341419081549"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-16T21:00:00.003+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-16T21:03:59.516+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Combat"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Combat 43"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Combat 43"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonday 2nd November - 8:00pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eI'd seen Body Combat 43 one and a half times before (yes, seriously - I joined in for the back half of D\u0026amp;R's class one day when they were rehearsing the release and I saw from Track 5 onwards), and already knew which track was my most favourite.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTrack 6, by far, is a standout in BC43.  Like I was telling \u003ca href\u003d\"http://nzglen.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/bodycombat-43-bodyattack-68-filming/\"\u003eGlen Stollery\u003c/a\u003e, there's only one word that you can use to describe that track - and that is EPIC.  From the first time I saw the track, I thought, \"Oh MAN, this is the defining track of the release!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt was so much to the point that I started messaging Stollery (I'm going to call him by his last name now since people seem to confuse whether I'm talking about Glen Ostergaard; Glens Glens everywhere!) telling him that I was going to bring a sword to the filming, and that he should bring one too, else I'd kick his ass.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNot that *I'd* ever kick his ass, being the innocent sweet thing that I am, heeeee!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAlthough, admittedly, there was a bit of a fake punch up (I made sure I didn't land any, I wouldn't have been able to run out of there fast enough if he chased me!) when I found out that he HADN'T brought a sword, booooooooo!  So I was the only one there with a sword, what a shame.  Honestly, this track is such the defining one of the release, that it is a bit of a shame that the presenting team didn't have a bit more fun with it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe team this time were Dan, Rach, Judy from Australia, Marcus from... somewhere (Germany, I think?  If anyone was at the filming, could you help me out with this detail?  I was preoccupied with fake beating up Stollery with my sword.)  Oscar - who was brought over for the Step filming - and Hernan were shadow presenters, so this is a mammoth lineup of 6 presenters!  It was great having such a large and diverse bunch on stage, and they all seemed to get along so well.  Highlight for me was definitely seeing Judy in action - not only was it a joy seeing her at the filming, but the following day, she team taught with Matt Thraxton at New Lynn, and I joined in on the second half of the class (after Balance, funnily enough.  It's quite an odd experience doing Balance and Combat back to back, especially with Balance first!).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAgain, I'm probably hypersensitive being exposed frequently to RPM tracks right back from RPM 1 through to the current RPM 44 (with RPM 45 being launched soon), though there were a collection of tracks this time that overlapped with RPM.  And let's be clear, this is not overlapping with RPM46, but with RPM itself.  So there were several tracks where I went, \"Heeeeey... this is an RPM track!  I feel weird not being on a bike!\", though if I look back at the time period between the RPM release and this Combat release, there has been enough of a gap between tracks used to prevent overplay. \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMy favourite tracks were track 2 and track 6, though I think I might have to do this release another time to get a better feel for it since my entire body was WASTED from all of the Vive I had done that day!  I had very little energy in my arms for jabs and crosses, and my legs were stiff and sore for any sort of kicking.  Probably just as well I like to hide down the back for Combat; I would've been a real embarrassment to the program if I'd been anywhere near on camera.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut the flipside of that is that you guys won't get to see my sword.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd yes, I did use it ;-)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Jam 52+\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-8313950341419081549?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/8313950341419081549/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d8313950341419081549","title":"1 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/8313950341419081549"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/8313950341419081549"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-combat-43.html","title":"Body Combat 43"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"1"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-1143103071404447594"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-15T13:30:00.000+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-15T13:40:15.504+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Attack 68"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Attack"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Attack 68"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonday 2nd November - 6:40pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eI had done three classes before the Attack filming, and I was pretty sore from the double dose of Vive and in the interest of making sure I didn't fall apart, I chose not to participate in Attack.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWas just as well, since this was the first filming since Attack 65 that I wanted to join in - and had I joined it, it would've been high impact, I wouldn't have been able to contain myself.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eLike with Balance, I can't really comment on the release in a comparative way.  I will say though that the feedback I've gotten from Attack participants is that this is a good release that builds well to a peak - and hey, I did want to join in!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen Lisa was introducing the release, Famous Johnny straight away started going \"WOoooOOoooo-Wooooo!\" in his famous way, and Lisa said, \"Steady on Johnny, we haven't started yet!\" (or something to that effect).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe presenting team this time were Lisa (of course), Grant, Bevan, Nathan and Brent from the USA.  They played up the North American sports theme quite a bit, in that during the agility track, the team put on some ridiculous looking American-gridiron shoulderpads (Grant looked freaking ridiculous!) and there was some tossing of the football around - it was an absolute crack up.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe boys were wearing black shorts with white sleeveless tops with blue detailing on the sides. Lisa was wearing a blue singlet and the black shorts - a nice, clean, simple look for the team.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOnce the Attack cooldown had all been filmed, it's rather sad, but the floor was taken over by Combatters wanting to participate in the Combat filming before the Attackers had even left the floor.  What's especially infuriating is that one of the tracks needed to be refilmed, and the Combatters had completely taken over the front row, so for the refilm of that track (which had to be done twice), on the DVD, you'll see an overabundance of people in their Body Combat gear.  Come on, people!  That ain't right!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI watched a practice run of the release in an earlier class, and there was a new move in there that's a bit... 'extravagant', Freddy sat down next to me and said, \"That's my move!  Bitch stole my move!\"  Ahahhah Fred!  Be happy that your move is aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall over the world for everyone to see! :-D  There have been little essences of 'Fred' that have appeared in Body Jam, and it's great that now Attack has The Essence Of Fred in there too!  Fredisms everywhere throughout Les Mills, I like it a lot! :-D\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI know I don't have much to offer with regards of the Attack filming and how this release rates compared to others, though I didn't hear any criticisms from people I spoke to - and remember, *I* wanted to join in and felt a bit grumpy sitting on the sidelines!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Combat 43\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-1143103071404447594?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/1143103071404447594/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d1143103071404447594","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1143103071404447594"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1143103071404447594"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-attack-68.html","title":"Body Attack 68"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-3172856598477955686"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-13T19:45:00.002+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-13T19:52:05.335+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Vive 14"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Vive"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Vive 14"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonday 2nd November - 5:20pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eDespite Vive being the first filming in the main studio of the day, it wasn't the first class I did of the day - interestingly enough, Mid was covering what ordinarily is Susan Trainer's Monday Lunchtime Vive class and Missy, Fred, Hector and Myself all showed up for it!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMy legs were BURNING from that class, and were still wobbly by the time I went into the Vive 14 filming itself.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis time, Vive was a bit more populated, given that it was probably the first time that I can remember that a Vive filming was held after 5pm, so more of the general members could attend it.  It wasn't as crazy as say a Combat or Jam filming, but you can't expect it to be at this early stage in its life.  It matched what you would typically get at a Balance filming, and for the program, I'd say that's a fantastic turnout.  I hope that for future filmings, there are more people who come along.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe presenting team this time were Susan, Mark, Maureen, and Australian trainer Dione - who in the words of Missy, is uber-pregnant.  One way to demonstrate the pregnancy options; have a pregnant presenter!  And let me say that it certainly did not take away from her ability to present - she was absolutely glowing and gorgeous throughout the filming.  It was like she was destined to be on a DVD - it felt like she had been presenting with Susan, Mark and Maureen since forever.  She was absolutely gorgeous, and I hope that Les Mills International call her back again and make her a regular international presenter, I really really really do.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe first Vive filming I attended was \u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/02/body-vive-11.html\"\u003eVive 11\u003c/a\u003e back in January.  It was the first full Vive class that I'd done, and I had an absolute blast - I remember the energy and buzz on the floor amongst the participants matching that of some Jam filmings... only without the pushing and shoving!  I did that particular filming with my buddies Missy and Jace, and then at the next Vive filming I attended - \u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-vive-13.html\"\u003eVive 13\u003c/a\u003e - I missed both of them so very very much.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eJace is now permanently based in Auckland (yay for Visa's finally being approved!), and Missy happened to come down for this filming, so what luck was it that both Missy and Jace were there for another Vive filming.  And what a filming it was!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNormally I pick out a stand-out filming of each filming day in each quarter.  On the last day of filmings, it was Jam 52's filming.  Today, it was Vive, closely followed by Attack.  There was just a great energy throughout the crowd, and I totally enjoyed myself.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSuch was the vibe that from the freaking WARMUP, the class went off.  It's a great sing-along release, and we were singing along right from the warmup, to the point where we actually put Mark Nu'u off and had to film it again, ahahhaah whoops!  He was too busy lapping up the atmosphere that he forgot where he was supposed to cue and was giggling when he requested that we start again.  None of us seemed to mind though, we were having such a good time with that warm up that we could've done it a million times over without getting sick of it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI struggled through the Vive filming physically - my legs were aching and wobbling on the back of having done Vive earlier on in the day.  Jeez people, don't you DARE call Vive an easy workout.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe funniest moment of the filming was when Susan was presenting a track and the team travelled to the left slowly - everyone in the team looked to the left before moving leftward, apart from Maureen, who looked to the right instead.  Quickly realising that she was the only one who had looked in the wrong direction, she quickly exclaimed \"OH FUCK!!!\"  The rest of the team were oblivious and carried on with the track, though Susan's brow quickly furrowed in the 30 or so seconds thereafter and she felt uncomfortable and finally asked to stop the track.  It was then revealed that Maureen had said 'The F Word', and Susan's jaw hit the floor, saying thereafter, \"I must've been channelling that rage!  I felt it from behind me!\"  We had to go back and refilm from just before 'the f word', and given that it was a resistance training track using the band, it was like ow upon ow upon ow!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe team were wearing some super cute outfits which care part of the new LMClothing line which'll be live in early 2010, and man, I'm actually quite impatient to get some of the items myself - I keep going onto the site to see if any of the items are available yet and all I get is this.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/LmClothing.gif\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/LmClothing_Small.gif\" border\u003d\"0/\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHURRY UP, goddammit!  I want funky clothinks!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOne thing I don't like during filmings is when tracks are refilmed after the cooldown is over.  Going BACK to cardio tracks to refilm after you've cooled down is torture for all programs.  The worst example of this was with BC42 when we redid track 8 five times after we'd cooled down.  We did the same thing for the Vive filming in that we had to refilm part of the interactive cardio track - and don't you DARE go thinking 'But it's only a Vive filming', else I'll kick your ass!  (with my legs that were incredibly strengthened as a result of all of the leg work we do in Vive!).  We refilmed that portion of the track, though I think it was either Susan or Maureen who noticed that for the reshoot, everyone was much more spread out and even than in the original shoot of the track.  I think it was Maureen who said, \"Are you sure the circle doesn't look a little fake?\", but the filming crew apparently had no problem with it.  So if in the interactive cardio track on the DVD for BV14, there's a moment in there that everyone firstly looks all higgledy-piggledy, and then suddenly all neat and spread out, and then higgledy-piggledy again... that's why!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAfter we had finally refilmed everything, I said to my Viveing friend Amy, \"I LOVE this Vive release!\"  She said in response to that, \"I love Vive FULL STOP!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eCouldn't have said it better itself.  Susan's worked hard on this release and it bodes well for the future of Body Vive.  For those of you who are sitting on the fence as to whether to give it a chance - and I'm not just referring to members, but to GFMs considering putting it on their timetables, and to instructors considering getting their Vive certification - you know what I reckon?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDo it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf you're looking to introduce yourself, your club or your members to the Vive phenomenon, BV14 is a GREAT release to do this on.  You could play off the whole 'fizzing with energy' by maybe doing a launch and serving up fizzy grape juice to everyone (purple, fizzy \u003d fizzing with energy?), and introduce members to it that way.  Or maybe have a lolly scramble during the launch classes with grape sherbert or fizzy lollies/sweets as well - or even do a competition on whoever wears the most purple to a BV14 launch party wins an energy pack with sports nutrition bars, or something.  This release is a really good one to get increased participation from Vivers worldwide, it's a fun release that is easy to pick up, but still works you hard (given I was sore for days, and struggled for the rest of the filmings as a result!).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBV14 is freaking awesome.  Freaking.  Awesome.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Attack 68\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-3172856598477955686?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/3172856598477955686/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d3172856598477955686","title":"6 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/3172856598477955686"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/3172856598477955686"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-vive-14.html","title":"Body Vive 14"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"6"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-2090546678729160630"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-11T20:45:00.000+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-11T20:54:00.715+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Balance 48"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Balance"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Balance 48"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThursday 29th October - 8:00pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eFinal filming of the day, and with Gandalf winding up Body Jam by being 'At Peace', it set the tone for Balance quite nicely.  Once the flowers were placed on the stage, and the candles were lit...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e...I buggered off downstairs to take a shower.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e(Sorry!)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI missed the beginning of the filming, and I'm not a regular Balance participant so I can't really give any unique feedback on this release - and when I asked every Balance participant What They Thought, all they said was, \"It was AMAZING\".  So all I can tell you is that Body Balance 48, according to people who actually do Balance, is amazing!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe presenting team for this release are Corey, Dr Dave, Jackie and Christelle - when Missy and I were talking to Dr Dave after class, we commented on the clothing that the team were wearing and how they all looked great and Dr Dave spluttered and said, \"Oh yes, we all look fantastic in our puke green SACKS\".  Ahahahaha, someone was clearly a... 'fan', of the clothing :-D  I thought they all looked great, though Dr Dave did tell us that he had been sick and had lost a lot of muscle weight leading up to the filming and the clothes were too big for him (hence the 'sack').  There was a lot of illness in the filming teams this year - Mark Nu'u said at one point that the Step presenting team were 75% flu ridden, poor things.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI always find that the filming bloopers in Balance a bit more unusual than any of the other filmings.  The rest of the filmings, as soon as a mistake as made and the music cuts, everyone groans, or cracks up laughing.  In Balance, everyone is so At Peace, that they kinda just look at each other questioningly if they even notice that a mistake was made.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere was one blooper that did make the Balance participants giggle though, since it was transitioning between tracks, and the sound wasn't right and the trap ended up sk-sk-sk-sk-sk-sk-sk-skipping at the beginning of it as the sound crew rushed to get it into the right place.  The Balance instructors all had a rather irritated expression when they came out of their pose and were preparing to transition, which made everyone on the floor laugh.  It was a nice little moment; refreshing for a Balance filming.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAgain, I'm really sorry that I can't offer more - even if I were able to tell you about which tracks were in the release, I honestly can't remember any tracks that were in there.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut again, *every* Balance participant I spoke to said it was an amazing release.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Vive 14\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-2090546678729160630?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/2090546678729160630/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d2090546678729160630","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/2090546678729160630"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/2090546678729160630"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-balance-48.html","title":"Body Balance 48"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"2"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-7669532736490822841"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-10T08:00:00.000+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-10T08:00:02.817+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Jam"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Jam 52"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Jam 52"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThursday 29th October - 6:40pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eJammers, behind Combatters, are the second most aggressive filming participants.  For that reason, I absolutely love October-November filmings, since this was by far the least populated quarter for filming participants.  I thought it was a fluke last year that when BJ48 was filmed that there were less people around which made filming incredibly awesome on the floor.  October-November is like the 'Anti-GFX', which I don't consider to be a bad thing, since everyone is so much more relaxed and friendly!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI took my space in the front row, and I was feeling a bit uncomfortable since a Pump participant hadn't finished putting away her stuff (*gulp*) and she looked down at me a bit strangely.  I was like \"Uh...\", not really knowing what to do.  I was worried that she might get aggressive with me being in the front row near where she had been for Pump... though I had rightfully claimed my spot for Jam.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThen, she said to me with a smile, \"You getting ready for Jam?  Do you mind if I leave my stuff here so I can get changed and come back and Jam with you?\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOh MAN!  People, people, people!  \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eLEARN\u003c/span\u003e \u003c/span\u003efrom this! \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e THIS \u003c/span\u003eis how you make friends and have a good time with everyone!  \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 102, 204);\"\u003e\u003cu\u003eThere is NO NEED to be so aggressive on the floor\u003c/u\u003e\u003c/span\u003e - we are all smooshed up against each other anyway, so there's no point in being rude and possessive.  I was *more* than happy to babysit her bottle and towel while she went and got changed out of her Pump clothes and into her Jam gear.  This is someone that I'd had no interaction with before, and I was saving her a spot in the front row after exchanging only one sentence with her.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere was deliberately a longer space of time between the end of Pump and the beginning of Jam - Dan Cohen told everyone that we could take our time with getting changed, though heck, even though one person had been lovely with regards to space on the floor, I knew if I left, someone else would take my place.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe were sitting around, talking, chilling, filling up the time before the class started. One of the participants started doing some break dancing and he was freaking AWESOME!  All of the Jammers burst out into applause, and we even saw Ginny Crocker's head stick out from behind the stage to see what all of the commotion was.  Dan Cohen muttered, \"He's *all right*....\", bahahahha can anyone spell J-E-A-L-O-U-S? ;-)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHere's where the contrast between the friendly Pump girl and your regular aggressive filming participant kicks in.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMissy was next to me, and she was intrigued by the break dancing, and temporarily left her spot (but was right next to her spot) to give herself a bit of room to try out some of the break dancing moves she'd just seen, and within seconds, a Jammer swooped from the second row into her spot.  I didn't even have time to blink before her spot had been stolen.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOh MAN! People, people, people! \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eLEARN\u003c/span\u003e from this! This is \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eNOT \u003c/span\u003ehow you make friends and have a good time with everyone! \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 102, 204);\"\u003e\u003cu\u003eThere is NO NEED to be this aggressive on the floor\u003c/u\u003e\u003c/span\u003e.  I really was not impressed.  I said, \"Missy, heads up\", and Missy looked at where her spot had been not 2 seconds ago and was speechless.  Jace was behind me, and Missy went in next to him, but heck, I didn't exactly go into the filming feeling particularly happy after that!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn fact, I made my point to try and 'push' this girl out of her stolen spot.  I wasn't particularly physical or anything like that, it's not like I shoved her or said anything to her.  I just stood with my legs much further apart than they needed to be, giving her less room.  Then when Hector slotted in next to me, there was even less room for her, and she got squeezed back into the second row.  Not without a fight though, there were moments when she stood her ground and her foot and my foot were grinding up against eachother as we were both like There Ain't No Way In Hell I'm Moving From This Spot.  For the rest of the filming, she continued to try and get into the front row, and honestly?  There was *way* more room in the front row than there had been for other filmings.  If she had been friendly like the Pump girl had been, we would've welcomed her to Jam alongside us.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut enough of this jabbering.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe presenting team this time around was Gandalf (of course), Rach, Vanessa - the Aussie who is a trainer in Hong Kong - and we welcome the beautiful Ginny Crocker back onto the presenting team.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen Dan announced for them to come onto the stage (since unlike other programmes, the Jam presenting team don't come out for team photos before the start of filming to have a greater impact), it wasn't the entire team that came out, but just Gandalf.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHe walked over to the corner of the stage, where there was a small electronic box on the floor which he picked up and started doing the 'It's Body Jam Time' rap into.  But!  It wasn't the standard It's Body Jam Time rap which you saw in BJ44 and BJ45.  It was a slow-jam style rap, and the electronic box that he was rapping into, was a modulator, like the ones made famous by T-Pain, Akon, and Lil Wayne; the ones that electronically modify your voice.  In fact, G introduced himself in the rap as 'G-Pain', which I absolutely CRACKED up laughing at - absolute genius!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFor those of you who have been crying out for something different in Body Jam compared to the Warmup-Latin-House format that has been prevalent for releases from BJ41 onwards, your wait is over in BJ52.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd that's about as much info as you're going to get out of me about BJ52! :-P\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe team were wearing these awesome sleeveless white \u0026amp; blue hoodies - so the whole 'look' of the filming was very similar to what you saw in BJ47, only a bit more 'gangsta', if that makes sense.  Although for the second half of the class, Rach 'loses her shirt' and does the remainder of her class in her crop top, flaunting her freaking awesome body in front of us, goddammit. *mutter, mutter, snarl, growl...*\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs I've written about Step, Pump and Jam, I have to say that the filmings for all three went pretty smoothly.  There wasn't much that went wrong in the Jam filming - the only glitch was at the end in getting Gandalf to do his LesMills.com spiel.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAt the end of the groovedown, we were all sitting on the floor, and he babbled about it, and then thought it was all done and dusted.  He shifted himself around so he was sitting cross legged, and that moment one of the filming crew rushed up to him to ask him to do it again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eInstead of doing it the way he had just done it, he placed his hands in a mudra type position, exactly like the girl below.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/mudra.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn a soft spoken, calm, and gentle voice, he said, \"Thank you for your time with us tonight, just chill, relax, and you will be at peace like me.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEveryone on the floor burst out laughing, it was like the Anti-Gandalf was onstage in front of us - we had never seen him so calm before!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen the filming crew informed him that he didn't mention anything about LesMills.com in that segment, he had to refilm it again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"Thank you for your time with us tonight, please leave your feedback on lesmills.com/blah, and you will be at peace with...!?!?!?!?\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe cracked up again, since 'at peace \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003ewith\u003c/span\u003e me' is not the same as 'at peace \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003elike\u003c/span\u003e me'.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThird time, “Thank you for your time with us tonight, please leave your feedback on lesmills.com/blah, and you will be at peace like me. *slow inhale, slow exhale, and the class cracks up laughing*.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahhahahahaah!  That Gandalf, he's an awesome genius-slash-maniac.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFunnily enough, it was a suitable way to end BJ52, since BB48 was about to be filmed.  Nice way to integrate two completely disparate filmings to flow nice and seamlessly.  I like, I like a lot.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs I made my way to the back of the room, again, all I had in my head was one question. \"What on EARTH is BJ52+ going to be like?!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Balance 48\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-7669532736490822841?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/7669532736490822841/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d7669532736490822841","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/7669532736490822841"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/7669532736490822841"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-jam-52.html","title":"Body Jam 52"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"2"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-1397203773631233452"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-09T20:00:00.003+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-09T22:02:05.164+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Pump 73"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Pump"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Pump 73"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThursday 29th October - 4:40pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eI've really liked how Les Mills has started scheduling the equipment-based classes first for the last few quarters.  At GFX it was absolute genius having Pump be the first filming of the quarter, with everyone's weights pre-set up, since it would have been absolute chaos having all of the internationals clamouring for weights.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAgain, the filming wasn't as packed as previous quarters - simply because it is typically quieter at this time of the year, and also because it was still before 5pm, when most members were still at work.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe presenting crew this time around was a 5-strong team with flair and flavour from different parts of the world.  Susan Renata (from \u003ca href\u003d\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumeu\"\u003eKumeu\u003c/a\u003e), Glen Ostergaard (from \u003ca href\u003d\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motueka\"\u003eMotueka\u003c/a\u003e) - which are enough of a distance from Auckland Central in their own right - Yannick from France, Sara from Spain - who is partner to Oscar, who presented in BS79 - and my favourite international presenter on the Pump team this time, Cesar from Argentina.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn fact, in the only Pump rehearsal that I saw, I found myself staring at Cesar, thinking constantly... \"Far out... I KNOW this guy!\"  I couldn't think of where, though!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt came to me later.  Check out this photo I took of Gandalf after the BJ49+ filming.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/Cesar.jpg\" /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/div\u003eDoes anyone know what he was doing in Auckland at the January/February filmings?  I don't remember seeing him in any of the other programmes, but that could just be my faulty memory at work.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere was something strange about this Pump filming... there was a lack of energy, lack of buzz.  Yannick was struggling with the gloves that the men were wearing - he dropped the bar at the end of the back track, and during the bicep track (which was one of the tracks that he presented); he really did struggle.  It was only during the triceps track that the energy in the room temporarily rose - though this was testament to how awesome the triceps track was.  Even knowing this, when the team practised the release during the week, there was more energy.  I felt like something was not quite right... the speakers weren't turned up quite so loud, or *something*... there was just a lack of energy which I couldn't explain.  Even Glen didn't seem like his normal self up on stage this time.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThat all changed when Cesar came to the front to teach the shoulder track.  Right from the beginning of the track, he owned that stage, and he owned that track.  He definitely impressed, and it was only a shame that he presented tracks towards the end of the release.  I'm not just saying that because my friend Isi is Argentinian, I honestly believe that Cesar was the standout international presenter on the filming team this time around.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHow is Body Pump 73?  It's a good release, though as an RPMmer, I found a *lot* of overlap of tracks used between Pump and RPM.  Though let's be clear, that's not an overlap with 'RPM46', but 'RPM'.  Several tracks had me going, \"Oo! Oo!  This is an RPM track!\", some of them from really old releases, but all the same, RPM tracks.  Unless your RPM instructor regularly uses old releases, you may not be affected so much by this release - though Jaci at New Lynn does regularly use a lot of old releases, which is probably why I'm a bit sensitive to this release.  I will say it is a miracle that there has been so many Pump releases where Glen has been program director for both Pump and RPM where there hasn't been such a stark overlap - if anything, I find that Combat and RPM share tracks (though never in the same quarter), so hey, it's a surprising thing. (and again, I'm probably being sensitive since through Jaci I'm exposed to RPM tracks going back right from RPM 1 through to the current release.)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMy favourite track by far is the triceps track.  Chest track is difficult, I actually cut my weight down for the filming since the first time I tried the track with my regular chest weight, I couldn't finish it.  A great track for developing your strength.  The other track that would probably be a favourite of mine is the shoulder track as well.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis is going to be a popular release when it hits the globe, though due to the nature of the song selection, I do have some concern that it might get 'old' faster than other releases.  If I were a Pump instructor, I *might* be tempted to mix this one out faster because the tracks currently in there are getting a lot of radio airplay at the moment.  I'm not saying that any of the tracks are bad, since that's not the case at all!  I'm just aware of when these releases will go out to gyms, and the songs in there will no longer be current and will have a shorter lifespan as far as member acceptance goes.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAck, I'm sounding very negative!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI don't mean to, since it's a good, solid release.  The first time I did it, I was definitely sore!  Expect a lot more sore bodies in the months to come with this release :-)\u003cbr /\u003ewhen it hits the world.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Jam 52\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-1397203773631233452?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/1397203773631233452/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d1397203773631233452","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1397203773631233452"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1397203773631233452"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-pump-73.html","title":"Body Pump 73"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"2"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-5743611578897894510"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-04T19:30:00.004+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-04T21:10:14.858+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Step 79"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Oct-Nov 2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Step"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Step 79"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThursday 29th October - 3:10pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eWhile Body Step 79 was the first filming of the day, it wasn't the first class that I attended that day.  My beautiful friend Missy (she's the one in black with the BV11 team in \u003ca href\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/STA46692_1.jpg\"\u003ethis photo\u003c/a\u003e) had arrived in the country the night before - we were a couple of screaming goons at the airport when we caught sight of each other! - and I was hella keen to get her into a Jam class as soon as possible.  The BJ52 filming was later on in the day, so Gandalf's lunchtime class was being covered by my favourite instructor in the world Carla. We did the bulk of BJ51, which Missy and the other international visitors hadn't seen before.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut this isn't a post about Body Jam, it's about Body Step.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe presenting team this time around was Mark Nu'u (of course), Sarah Robinson, Lisa Osborne, Georgina Clark, and Oscar Fernandez from Spain.  Oscar is definitely a favourite here in A-town and across the world, he's the fourth highest contributor in the LesMills.com community.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/Oscar.gif\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHigher than Susan Renata, even!  The only one in the top 5 outside of New Zealand, even!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe girls were wearing these awesome red and white singlet tops, and Mark and Oscar were wearing rather hot looking sleeveless grey tops.  Check out the photos of the crew on \u003ca href\u003d\"http://pjnz1216.blogspot.com/2009/10/les-mills-bodystep-79-filming.html\"\u003ePJ's post\u003c/a\u003e of the filming.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs a side fact, all of the stuff that all of the presenting teams - only one of which was Body Step - were wearing were from the new Les Mills clothing range.  It's not open at the moment, but soon you'll be able to go to a clothing section on the LesMills.com website and be able to purchase the gear that the team are wearing.  I've already got my eye on a few pieces that I would like, but it'll be open in early 2010, so don't go rushing to the site to try and buy stuff yet!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhile it's unfortunate that I missed out on the beginning of the Body Step 79 filming (Missy and I wandered down the road to Nike Platinum in Victoria Park Market to see if we could get some nice gear for the Body Jam 52 filming), we did see the majority of it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe last Step filming that I saw which I liked the look of so much that I wanted to join in was BS76 (funnily enough... Georgina Clark and Sarah Robinson were also presenting that release, two of my favourite Step instructors...!  I know that Judes will agree with me (for at least 50% of the favourite instructors maybe :-D)), and while BS77 was beautiful (the breast cancer release) and BS78 was a great release... BS79?  Freaking awesome.  It was the first Step release since BS76 that I've wanted to get onto the floor and join in.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhy didn't I?  Well, I rolled my ankle twice at the last filming and left early, and I didn't want to damage it knowing that I had still had Pump and Jam to attend.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOne thing that we noticed about this quarter - and yes, this same quarter last year - is that there were less internationals.  The floor for Body Step wasn't full, and it meant that everyone appeared much more comfortable and had more room to move.  The participants on the floor seemed to move in an incredible unison, it was sensational to watch not just the presenters, but the crowd also.  Like I said, I was very much tempted to join in.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere are some great tracks in there, I found myself throughout the release going, \"Oh I LOVE this song!  Oh I LOVE this song!!!  Oh MAN, is this for real!?!!?\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn fact, at one point, Grant Goes was standing in front of me watching the filming, and a song I liked came on.  I, rather loudly, said \"NO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!\", and Grant turned around and gave me a bit of a stern look.  Whoops!  I was caught up in the excitement, I tellz you!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFunny moments?  The BS79 filming went quite smoothly from what I saw, though I did miss the beginning of it.  Sarah Robinson did tell us afterwards - and worse still is that they didn't give her an opportunity to re-film it - that she apparently said \"Move your \u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003ecorners\u003c/span\u003e to the \u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003etoes\u003c/span\u003e of your Step.\"  Bahahahahahah, oh dear!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFrom the feedback I've gotten from people who regularly do Step (as I am as Non-Stepper as you can get), this release flows nicely from track to track and doesn't feel fragmented or disjointed.  And hey, if I, as a Non-Stepper was drawn in to give it a go, imagine the impact it's going to have across the globe.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn fact, I'd go as far to say that clubs looking to entice members into taking up Body Step to use this release - maybe make a launch class for BS79 free to all non-members to get them into it and having a go at it.  Have giveaways, or maybe try an outdoors BS79 class (if it's practical or possible).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTo Mark, Kylie, and everyone else who worked so hard on this release - good job.  The effort certainly shows, and this release is going to be WILD when it hits the world.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Pump 73\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-5743611578897894510?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/5743611578897894510/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d5743611578897894510","title":"7 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/5743611578897894510"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/5743611578897894510"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/11/body-step-79.html","title":"Body Step 79"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"7"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-1044427783190161294"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-23T23:00:00.006+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-23T23:14:51.022+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming Schedule"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Oct-Nov 2009 Filming Schedule"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"It's less than a week till filmings and so far, the only new choreography I've seen is one runthrough of BJ52, four tracks of BC43 - though I've seen RPM 46 several times now, and it is the program I'm the most excited about even though it's the filming I'm least likely to attend!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf you're interested to know, here are the times for this quarter's filming classes, in colour coded prettiness.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ctable border\u003d\"0\" cellpadding\u003d\"5\" cellspacing\u003d\"0\"\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ctd colspan\u003d\"2\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTHURSDAY 29TH OCTOBER\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"background-color: rgb(202, 207, 207);\"\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" width\u003d\"80\"\u003e3:10pm\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" width\u003d\"100\"\u003eBody Step 79\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"background-color: rgb(211, 1, 1);\"\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" width\u003d\"200\"\u003e4:40pm\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" width\u003d\"300\"\u003eBody Pump 73\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"background-color: rgb(255, 252, 0);\"\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" width\u003d\"200\"\u003e6:40pm\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" width\u003d\"300\"\u003eBody Jam 52\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"background-color: rgb(180, 244, 167);\"\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" width\u003d\"200\"\u003e8:00pm\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" width\u003d\"300\"\u003eBody Balance 48\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ctd colspan\u003d\"2\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eMONDAY 2ND NOVEMBER\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"background-color: rgb(63, 188, 255);\"\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e2:30pm\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eRPM 46\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"background-color: rgb(218, 190, 248);\"\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e5:20pm\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eBody Vive 14\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"background-color: rgb(244, 204, 23);\"\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e6:40pm\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eBody Attack 68\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"background-color: rgb(57, 85, 57);\"\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e8:00pm\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eBody Combat 43\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\" align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ctd colspan\u003d\"2\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTHURSDAY 5TH NOVEMBER\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr style\u003d\"background-color: rgb(255, 252, 0);\"\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e1:30pm\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd style\u003d\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eBody Jam 52+\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAhahah that table is the opposite of pretty.  Oh well, it was fun to write the code for, and now you have the times for all of the classes, woohoo!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-1044427783190161294?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/1044427783190161294/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d1044427783190161294","title":"1 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1044427783190161294"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1044427783190161294"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/10/oct-nov-2009-filming-schedule.html","title":"Oct-Nov 2009 Filming Schedule"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"1"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-9033401224890984320"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-20T17:30:00.001+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-20T17:39:39.841+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Vive"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"A Vive by any other name"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I am not a regular Body Viver by any means.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThough this is a post that has needed to be written for a while.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI've done two full Vive classes before today, both being filming classes - the filming for Body Vive 11, and Body Vive 13.  I thoroughly enjoyed both; and the atmosphere of the BV11 filming in particular was absolutely electric.  In some ways, it exceeded some of the passion and energy I've felt at a Jam filming.  Oh yes, I did just say that.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBody Vive is stereotyped as a easy, gentle class that is for the older generation and those who can't handle a 'true' fitness like Body Attack or RPM.  Quite often, I hear scoffing around the gym at someone admitting that they've done or are going to do a Body Vive class.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEven though I am not a regular Viver by any means, this upsets me.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI did my third Vive class today - and I was totally keen to when I saw the name of my lovely friend Amy (also known as 'Legz')  covering for Mark Nu'u on the timetable.  She's also covered Carla Fitzsimons and Susan Trainor's classes while all of the program directors and international presenters have been over in Brisbane for a trainer's meet that they're having.  I bumped into Amy earlier in the week and told her that I was going to go to her class, and she was INCREDIBLY excited.  She surprised me by saying, \"Noone EVER comes to my Vive class!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAfter doing her class today, I really cannot understand why.  She's a fantastic instructor, and Vive is a fantastic program that totally kicked my butt.  My heart rate was elevated, I worked up a sweat, and my muscles burned during the strengthening tracks.  I really was wobbling once the class was done, and as I sit here, I'm thinking, \"I'm in for a sore day tomorrow..!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThough how many people turned up for Amy's Vive class?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e5.  And one of them apologised during the class and left early, so for the majority of it, it was 4 participants.  The one who left looked like a regular Viver since she had invested in an official \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.lmclothing.co.nz/ProductSingle.aspx?ProductID\u003d357\"\u003eLes Mills Body Vive top\u003c/a\u003e, so something must've happened to pull her away from the class.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAmy was a fun, engaging instructor, and she even gave specific attention to something I'd mentioned casually about how when I'd done Vive in the past, I'd felt that the Vive tubing was going to slide out from underneath my foot and whack me in the chin.  The instruction that she gave me made a MASSIVE difference to the way that I performed in the resistance tracks, I didn't feel like the band was ever going to slip out from underneath my feet, and as a result, I had a wicked awesome workout.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI had a great Vive workout, and given that I'm recovering from an injury, the nature of the moves in the choreography were perfect for me.  Worked me hard, whilst not being hard on my ankles.  It couldn't be a more suited workout.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYet again, I've said, I'm not a regular Viver.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat are the factors contributing to why I am not?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003eNot enough classes to attend at not enough times.  Most classes are during the day, or late at night.  During the day, I would have to have a flexible workplace.  At night, I am more likely to do other classes and go home earlier.  It's hard because if you swap out a popular evening class with Vive, there is a HUGE fear that that class won't attract the same numbers as previous evening class did. At the same time, I don't think a class is ever going to be popular if you don't put it at a popular time.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003ePoor mix of instructors.  At New Lynn, only one instructor teaches Vive.  I don't know her personally, and a lot of people have told me that her other classes are fantastic, but I've done Balance with her and quite frankly, I'm freaked out enough to ask, \"Is there anyone else...?\".\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eThe music.  This is the same reason why I don't really attend much of Step or Attack.  I prefer the music selections used in RPM, Body Pump, Body Combat and Body Jam.   That's just my preference.  I love the odd track here and there, but more often than not, I will probably not rush back to a Vive class to listen to the music like I do for the four that I've listed above.  I've gotten some great music ideas for my own personal music library from those classes, and so far, Vive has inspired me to get 1 track - Billy Idol's 'Mony Mony' from BV11.  Now, it is impossible to please everyone and I am but one person.  So someone else might think that the music is absolutely not a problem - or even, it is a refreshing change from the head-banging doof doof music that you get from the other classes.\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003eNow.  None of the reasons why I can't get to Vive are because 'it's too easy'.  In fact, as a complete workout system, Vive is probably the only program that combines all of cardio, strengthening, lengthening, and balance.  Before Vive was introduced, you would have to combine multiple programs to experience all of these components.  Cardio from either Attack, Step, Jam, Combat or RPM.  Strength from Pump.  Lengthening and Balance from Balance/Flow.  Vive gives you all in the one workout.  I really do think it is an incredibly well rounded program.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRPM and Jam are still very much my two favourite classes, without a doubt.  I'm not being paid by Les Mills to write this, and in fact, I'm not even being asked by a Vive instructor to write this.  I'm writing this on my own steam and own beliefs.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI just think that 4 participants in a great fitness program with a great fitness instructor is a bit of a crime.  And if saying my say about it makes at least one person have a more open mind about the program?  \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThen the objective of this post has been fulfilled.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-9033401224890984320?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/9033401224890984320/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d9033401224890984320","title":"6 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/9033401224890984320"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/9033401224890984320"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/09/vive-by-any-other-name.html","title":"A Vive by any other name"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"6"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-545442430718354613"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-13T17:15:00.000+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-13T17:29:45.937+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Jul-Aug-2009"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Jul-Aug 2009 Filming Posts"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"It's taken quite a long time for me to get this together, though I've finally gotten all of my posts for this filming written out.  The only releases not included in this lot of posts are the posts for Body Attack 67 and RPM 45.  I have, however, had the opportunity to see RPM 45 twice since it has been filmed by doing the wonderful Sarah Ostergaard's RPM classes, and I can say that it is AWESOME.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI'm going to take this opportunity to again thank my wonderful friend Patrick and his contribution to this blog via the \u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/09/body-balance-47.html\"\u003eBody Balance 47\u003c/a\u003e filming post.  It was great to be able to offer the readers of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com\"\u003eC\u0026amp;E\u003c/a\u003e something for that filming class even though I wasn't able to attend myself.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-pump-72.html\"\u003eBody Pump 72\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-vive-13.html\"\u003eBody Vive 13\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-combat-42.html\"\u003eBody Combat 42\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-step-78.html\"\u003eBody Step 78\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-jam-51.html\"\u003eBody Jam 51\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/09/body-balance-47.html\"\u003eBody Balance 47\u003c/a\u003e - Guest post by Patrick\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/09/body-jam-51.html\"\u003eBody Jam 51+\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ul\u003eI'm so sorry that it has taken so long for me to get these posts written - and it's quite shocking that this last post has gone up well over a month over the actual filming took place.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI'm having a hard time fitting in blogging with the way that my lifestyle has changed over the last few months, and it's not because I'm fed up with blogging that I've had a hard time fitting it in.  I'm not going to abandon this blog, no way. \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut if I'm quite for a while, leave me a comment.  Ask me how I'm doing.  I'll do my best to write at least a short post every now and then with the goings on at Les Mills.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHope you enjoy this lot of filming posts from the July-August 2009 quarter.  I'm very much looking forward to writing about the next lot of filmings.  Very much.  And I'll do my best to ensure that it won't take over a month to write THOSE posts, yeesh!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-545442430718354613?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/545442430718354613/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d545442430718354613","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/545442430718354613"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/545442430718354613"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/09/jul-aug-2009-filming-posts.html","title":"Jul-Aug 2009 Filming Posts"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-1979799393229755552"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-06T19:17:00.004+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-13T17:11:58.900+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Jam"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Jul-Aug-2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Jam 51"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Jam 51+"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"There was only one full rehearsal of the BJ51+ release before the actual filming itself.  Rumours were rife about who was presenting, as Dutch presenter Danny hadn't been made aware of the Jam+ filming date and had booked his ticket to go back to The Netherlands the day before.  If Danny wasn't there, who was going to present on his behalf?  Ever since BJ48, the presenters for both the Jam and Jam+ filmings have been the same.  Conversations with Gandalf beforehand revealed that he was going to be the only presenter for Jam+.  Why?  Because the presenters don't get paid extra for the additional filming, so Gandalf took it on himself to present the Plus for this release solo.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe first major difference in the Jam+ filming is the bonus warmup track.  Gandalf had been wearing a purple t-shirt with the text 'I'm Bad You Know It' written on it.  For this track, he wore a different t-shirt.  It had, 'Dance 4 Life' written on it, which of course, lead to the dawning realisation that Oh My God This Is The Dance 4 Life Release!  The last release that was Dance4Life was BJ47, and the warmup for that release was the Dance4Life track.  This time, it is a combination warmup and isolations track, and it's a stark contrast to the warmup for the normal release.  It's a track that I would consider to be uber weird, where you can get inside your own head and connect with the music.  I normally don't include my personal opinion of releases on filming posts, but the first time I tried this warmup, I didn't like it.  I didn't like it because it was so dramatically different from any other Jam warmup I've done before.  It took a couple of goes at it before I began to approach it the same way I would a track 6 in RPM (pace track), where you connect with the music, disconnect yourself from the world and get inside your own head.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe second major difference in the Jam filming is that Gandalf announced that it would be short, and there was a chance that it would end early.  In all of the filmings that I've been to, even the ones that ran quite smoothly never finished on time.  So that Gandalf would be so bold to say that this filming would end early was rather bold.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd soon, it was clear why.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere has been a LOT of discussion on the LesMills.com forums about how instructors everywhere were at their wits end with frustration over the \"+\" button on the Jam DVDs.  The first time this was introduced was in BJ48, where the filming team attempted to refilm just the + parts of the choreography to try and trim down the amount of time spent at the filming.  This was a huge flop and the filming took three times as long as it was scheduled for.  Ever since then, the Jam and Jam+ filmings have been two, full separate classes, despite the fact that for the Jam+ choreography, only certain segments were used in the final DVD, behind the + button.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBJ50 went back to the original presentation of how the two different versions appeared in BJ47, one full set of filming footage for BJ47, and another for BJ47+, and with that, there was widespread relief amongst most of the BJ instructors across the world.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhile I haven't spoken to anyone who works at either LMI or LMNZ, I have the gut feeling that the + button is going to be making a return, based on the way that the BJ51+ filming took place.  In the latin block, the + part of it appears toward the end of the block.  So, we only filmed the end of the block.  This is very similar to what happened for the BJ48 filming, where only the + parts of the choreography were refilmed to appear behind the + button on the DVD.  Again, I haven't had any confirmation from anyone who works in Les Mills New Zealand or Les Mills International about this.  This is just my gut feeling.  In my head, I just don't see how they could use the footage that they have to create two full versions of the choreography on the DVD.  In short, I think in this release we're going to see the return of the + button.  I've only seen a couple of snippets of Jam DVDs, and I can see how frustrating it would be when trying to learn the choreography - especially if you want to convert put it on your iPod and thus, only have access to the base version; and when practising at home where you'd need to have the remote in your hand while dancing to make sure you hit the + button in time to get to the + choreography.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf my hunch is right, I'm disappointed for the Jam instructors out there.  Especially with the 'false alarm' where BJ50 provides you with two full versions and thus leads you to believe that there will be two full versions from the subsequent releases.  Again, I haven't had any official word from anyone.  This is just my logical deduction from what I've seen - don't take this as an announcement on behalf of Les Mills or anything like that.  Just my logical conclusion.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNow, onto the filming.  I've mentioned the Dance4Life bonus warmup.  The second track of the release is the cardio block.  I'm going to slightly spoil the choreography here because sadly, the choreography I spoil will probably never be seen again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSay what?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGandalf had only had one full runthrough of the BJ51+ choreography before the filming as there was one day between the 51 and 51+ filmings.  Because Rose, Patrick and I are Gandalf stalkers, we followed him to his New Lynn class to check out the Plus choreography.  Gandalf had been practising some of the plus choreography several weeks ago, but I hadn't seen what was new for the cardio block.  The first time I saw it at his runthrough at New Lynn, I went, \"NO WAAAAAAAAY!!!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMy favourite addition was the inclusion of an armline which is similar to the pop and lock in BJ47's old school hip hop, and the circle clap in BJ41's old school hip hop (ahahah, it didn't actually occur to me that the two similar moves were both in old school hip hop blocks).  The base choreography has a 1-1-2-2 type of cue to introduce it, but the plus was completely different.  Rose and I almost wet our pants when we saw the new plus armline, it was that awesome.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAt the filming, Gandalf precued the block and started with the 1-1-2-2 move.  To which, Patrick next to me said, \"Wrong-Wrong-Choreography!\", automatically assuming, like myself, that he'd actually just gotten the two versions in his head.  Unfortunately, it was not the wrong-wrong-choreography, but the armline was completely removed from the plus version.  I'm quite disappointed that the armline didn't make it into the choreography, and we will never know who made the decision that it should be removed.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe only refilmed the last couple of minutes of the latin block as the plus choreography only appears towards the end, and because I'm in the front row and there were less people around at the filming, there are probably some real STUPID images of me that'll end up on the DVD.  Towards the end of the track, the cameraman came right up in my face, and instead of doing something cool-looking, I had a big-ass grin on my face and  gave a double-thumbs up.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eKinda like this.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/ThumbsUp.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eJust replace that with my ugly mug and that's what's going to go out to the world.  Good gawd.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe final block of the class was filmed and we did it top to bottom as there is quite a bit of plus choreography that can be incorporated.  Unlike the house block of BJ49 where the difference between plus and base was literally between a knee or a kick, there is significant difference between the BJ51 and BJ51+ choreography.  In fact, one of the BJ51+ moves was left out - one that Patrick and Rose had been practising to try and get right for the class (so imagine how bummed they must've felt when it didn't make it into the filming!), but even without that move, there is still more than enough plus choreography to play with.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe class did, as predicted, finish early since there was no need to do the full latin block, recovery or cooldown.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI hope that the fact that the way that the BJ51 filming took place, leading to the possibility of the reintroduction of the + button on the DVDs doesn't drown out the impact of the release.  BJ51 is an incredible, INCREDIBLE release - and in all honesty, I think I'm going to make it my goal to do my module on this one.  I was kicking myself for not doing it on BJ48, one of my most favourite releases, though I think now I have another chance through BJ51.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt's a good release.  SO good.  I'm really really excited about this one, and am irritable that it's going to be another three months before I get to do it again.  Great moves, great music, great presenters. A great all round Jam offering.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-1979799393229755552?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/1979799393229755552/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d1979799393229755552","title":"5 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1979799393229755552"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1979799393229755552"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/09/body-jam-51.html","title":"Body Jam 51+"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"5"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-6948419885360377828"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-05T18:30:00.001+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-05T18:30:00.304+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Balance 47"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Balance"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Balance 47"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cstrong\u003eMonday 3rd August - 8:30pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003chr\u003eI unfortunately was not able to attend the Body Balance 47 filming, though you guys shouldn't be disappointed, since it's given you a great opportunity for you to hear the musings of my wonderful friend Patrick.  He is currently trained in Body Jam and Body Vive, and is looking ahead to doing module training on Balance and Step.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHe's a passionate Les Millser, and a great friend of mine - so I was thrilled when he accepted my invitation to write a guest post on the Balance 47 filming.  Without further a due, I hand it over to him.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003eI have been given the great privilege of contributing to Raina's blog in regards to the most recent Balance filming, and it's funny because I'm not sure how to begin. OK, from the beginning it is, or at least part way through the story...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis happened to be my second filming trip of the year (I live in Melbourne, Australia, so it's generally a 3.5 hour trip to Auckland on average). My first trip happened to be back in May this year for the GFX Festival, which was an unreal experience in itself. This trip was even better!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBack to the main topic though... the Balance filming! To be more specific, BodyBalance 47 (or BodyFlow 47 for our North American neighbours). This particular release was quite interesting... for starters, it marked the first time in a while that there were no male presenters! Yes you heard right... no Dr Dave, no Corey! Instead, you had 3 wonderful and strong ladies in Dr Jackie Mills, Kylie Gates from Australia, and Peggy Cleland from Canada. And these aren't just your standard presenters either!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eJackie is, of course, the Program Director for BodyBalance and has been since the very beginning. Kylie is the Training Director for Les Mills Asia Pacific (which encompasses Australia and South East Asia). And Peggy is the Head Trainer for BodyFlow for the whole of North America. So you would expect that these ladies know what they're doing. And yet the one thing that strikes you about all three ladies is just how down to earth they are. They do not act like they are better than anyone else, they're just human like everyone else. And that humanity and compassion shows through a lot in Balance 47.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis was the 5th filming class that I did for this particular trip (after having done Vive, Combat, Step and Jam). Needless to say, I was in need for a bit of physical release and calm. And nothing does that better than Balance :)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn terms of the release itself, the main difference that people will find between 46 and 47 is its focus. With 46, the focus is on strength and athleticism. But 47 changes that focus to strength and grace. Do not be deceived though into thinking that it means that 47 is easier. Far from it! I personally did this release twice before filming night, and some parts I still found particularly challenging at the filming itself. A lot of strength is required (complete with the low options, of course), but it is also about maintaining the pose and showing the grace that comes along with it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe music for this release is just exquisitely beautiful, and Jackie has done an awesome job yet again with the track selection. The choreography is beyond what I've seen in a Balance release thus far.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eJackie started off with the Tai Chi warmup which is almost environmental and energising in its mood, and sets the scene for what is to come. Peggy then led us into Sun Salutations, which in my opinion are more challenging than the ones in 46. A few little things to push even the more hardcore Balance participants and instructors alike.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eKylie then did Standing Strength, which was also quite tough. Jackie then took us through one of the hardest Balancing tracks I have ever done, and this one will take a lot of practice! Peggy then took us through both Hip-openers and Abs, and all I can say in relation to the Abs track is MEGA-OUCH!! Get ready for an Abs track that is guaranteed to give definition in all of our tummys!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eJackie led us through Twisting Poses with a very majestic sounding track. And wait till you see some of the poses she has for us this time! My first reaction was:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e“Surely she does not expect us to do that?!”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAll I can say is, thank god for the low options!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eKylie took us to the end with one heck of a Forward Folds track. Very different from the one in 46. And finally, relaxation and meditation time (my favourite bit). The good thing about this one is that it will give our minds something to do.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd because this was the last filming for the night, everyone got free pizza and drinks in the studio afterwards. I had some great pics taken with the lovely ladies, but then my laptop decided to delete them when I tried to transfer them from my camera (URGH!!). I had a very nice chat with Jackie, and do hope that she comes across the Tasman one of these days to Melbourne for one of our quarterlies.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePeggy is also very endearing to talk to. She is also quite the dynamo when she wants to be though. I had the pleasure of being a few spots from her in the third row of the Combat filming a few nights earlier, and man she can kick and punch with the best of them!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd of course it was great to see Kylie representing Australia once again. She will push you to your limit, but she does it in a gentle and calm way, which was very helpful for this release!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis is a fantastic release overall. I will personally be doing my Balance module training early in the new year 2010, and this will be the release that I'll train on. You may even possibly catch me in the second row on the DVD when it gets released ;).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e- \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.lesmills.com/global/en/members/profile/jamfrog.aspx\"\u003ePatrick\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Jam 51+\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-6948419885360377828?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/6948419885360377828/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d6948419885360377828","title":"7 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/6948419885360377828"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/6948419885360377828"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/09/body-balance-47.html","title":"Body Balance 47"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"7"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-6516357082834759686"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-02T20:45:00.001+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-02T20:56:02.207+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Jam"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Jam 51"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Jam 51"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonday 3rd August - 7:00pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eAfter Body Step was over, the Jammers pretty much took over the floor and assumed their positions.  The front row, as always, was pretty crowded, and as this was the second to last filming of the day, the participants had figured out that being on one side of the room meant a higher probability of being filmed, which meant a HUGE cluster of people on that side.  My beautiful friend Louise saw the amount of people on our side of the room, and despite my desperate pleading, she said she'd rather be on the other side where there was less confrontation (waaaah!).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI had an odd moment where I looked to my right and saw mah boi Patrick, and looked to my left and saw mah gurl Rose.  Both of whom I'd been talking to for quite some time, through both the Les Mills Body Jam Forum, and through this blog.  It was a dream come true to have both of them there, either side of me.  I had to pinch myself to remind myself that I was awake, it wasn't a dream!  I was living it!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt was a long wait for us Jammers though, and ordinarily, Pete or Chris would do a reasonably professional job of telling the participants what the filming crew was up to, what was going down, how much time they were going to take before filming got underway, etc.  However, they left this job to Dan Cohen, who is the Anti-Pete, or the Anti-Chris when it comes to this sort of thing!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHe started rambling off a few random things - I don't remember much of what he said, just that it was kinda like, \"...right.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI don't know how many of you have seen the footage of the Jam release where Dan comes up onstage and tells All The Girls to say \"Wassup, wassup, wassup-wassup-wassup\" in a high pitched squealy voice, and then tells All The Boys to say \"Wassup, wassup, wassup-wassup-wassup\" in a low pitched voice, but he got us to do that to try and fill in the time.  Rose had told me earlier about how he had done this in an earlier release, and we pretty much turned and looked at each other all like, \"Not again!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHe then decided to natter on about how men can do so many more things than women can.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRight.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd yes, I am being serious!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHe pointed in my direction and said, \"Okay you, what sound does a gun make?\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAt that moment, some DUMBASS chick on the other side of the room said, \"\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 51, 204);\"\u003eBang!\u003c/span\u003e\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/stoopid.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBloody hell, woman, way to let the side down - a gun does not go BANG!  *facepalm*\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDan, of course, lapped this up, and did a demonstration of how OMG MEN know how to make the sound a gun makes.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBy this time, everyone on the floor was getting a bit restless - Dan is an amazing program director, but my god, he is not made out for time wasting.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHe continued to natter on, when suddenly, without any warning...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGandalf emerged from the side of the stage, holding a little wee surprise in his arms.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/IMG_1083.jpg\" /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e[photo courtesy of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://pjnz1216.blogspot.com/2009/08/bodyjam-51-filming.html\"\u003ePJ\u003c/a\u003e]\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBaby Geronimo!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e(admittedly, PJ took this photo after the class had finished, so Gandalf wasn't this sweaty when he brought him out)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEveryone instantly was like, \"Dan who?\" and were oooh-ing and aaaah-ing over Baby Geronimo.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt was also incredible seeing a new side of Gandalf - he said, \"I'm proud of him!  I made something worthwhile!  All this Jam stuff is a whole lot of fun... but HIM..!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eCarla and Dutch presenter Danny emerged from the wings to join Gandalf and Gio onstage, and to pose for a few photos.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat's been interesting lately is the debate on the Les Mills forums about how as a tribute to Michael Jackson, the Les Mills teams should include some Michael Jackson tracks in their releases.  After all, Gandalf was able to get a James Brown track into BJ41 in commemoration for the big soul brotha'.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eUnfortunately, Gandalf mentioned to us in an earlier class that the reason why there hasn't been any Michael Jackson in Body Jam is because the cost to purchase a license to use the song is too high. While it would have been a fantastic tribute to include a song in the release, it just wasn't possible.  For those of you who think, \"Hang on a minute... in the old style Body Jam format, there were Michael Jackson tracks!  So they have the license already, couldn't they just re-use those tracks?\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThat's not how it works.  Every time the rights for a track is purchased, it can only be used in the release for which it is purchased.  If exactly the same song is used in two different releases, two different programs, etc, the license has to be purchased multiple times.  For example, P!nk's \"So What\" was used in BC39 and BC69.  The rights for that song had to be purchased twice, since it was used twice.  Les Mills don't save any money by using the same song between different programs and different releases, but they do have the certainty of knowing how much a song will cost.  That certainty means a lot in times of global recession, having a limited budget, etc.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut!  While Body Jam could not afford to get a Michael Jackson track as a tribute to the man into BJ51, there was a tribute included.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe shirts that each of the presenters were wearing had a lyric from a Michael Jackson track printed on it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VEQoatrAXpA/SncAOpej2DI/AAAAAAAABGg/gwKQ_V1W7K8/s1600-h/IMG_1079.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/IMG_1079.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e[photo courtesy of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://pjnz1216.blogspot.com/2009/08/bodyjam-51-filming.html\"\u003ePJ\u003c/a\u003e]\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDanny was wearing a red t-shirt that said, \"I wanna rock with you\", Carla wore a green sleeveless top that said...  well, truth be told I don't remember what hers said, but it was 'Black or White' or 'Wanna Be Starting Something' - can anyone help my rusty memory out here?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFor those of you who aren't familiar with Danny, he's an uber funny presenter from The Netherlands - unfortunately you probably won't get The Danny Experience from viewing the DVD, but I absolutely LOVED him in regular classes.  He had everyone - Gandalf included - in stitches with the funny things that he came up with!  He must've felt right at home with Rose and The Netherlands People popping up in just about every Jam class that there was. (ahahah, that sounds like a band name from the mid-90s; forget Hootie and The Blowfish, Rose and The Netherlands People are the NEW black!)  He's definitely been my favourite international presenter since Phil Harrison in BJ48, hopefully I can get over to Holland and do some of his classes at some point; that would be awesome!  (hopefully he teaches some classes in English over there... hmmm...)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen the filming finally got under way, the energy in the room was plain awesome.  Gandalf presents the warmup and isolations track - more recently, I've been a fan more of the iso tracks than the warmups, but BJ51 is the reverse.  It's a slick, stylish warmup - the closest release I can compare it to is BJ46's 'Speed Up', but that's a very loose comparison.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNormally in each of my BJ filming posts, I think of the *fabulous* Ryan when I write about the Latin block.  When I did the latin blocks from - in particular - BJ47 and BJ50, I thought \"Oh MAN, Ryan's gonna enjoy this one!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe latin for BJ51 is on a whole other level.  Normally when I look at a new release, it's the house or cardio blocks that I'm itching to do again.  For BJ46, it was Tribal Explosion.  For BJ47, it was the Freaking Faking block.  For BJ48, it was UFOh.  For BJ49, it was Street Jazz, and for BJ50, it was Cardio Funk.  While I enjoyed the latin for both BJ47 and BJ50 respectively, it was not the one of the blocks that I was itching to do again - the release was still defined for me in terms of either the cardio, or house blocks.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eApart from BJ51.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe latin in this release is IN.CRED.IBLE.  Ryan, you are in for an absolute treat.  I'm writing this post filming, and there's not a single block in this release that I like better than the other - every single block in this release, I'm itching to do again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn fact, the first time that mah boi Patrick saw the choreography he went \"BEST. LATIN. EVER\"  Now that's his personal opinion, and there will be people who think that Ran Kan Kan from BJ38 will always be the supreme Latin block.  That being said, it is a block that has quite a bit of choreography in it to remember, is super intense, and super fun.  Heck, I'm getting excited right this moment just thinking about it.  When I have a bad day, I listen to some of the music from this latin block, and it puts a smile on my face.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe latin block in this release is actually the second block, the first is a single cardio track.  Danny teaches that track and the beginning of the latin block, then passing over to Carla during the block.  Carla suits this block down to a T, she was sizzling, and it was a WHOLE lot of fun.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eCarla also presented the recovery, though as she was introducing the block, Danny assumed a pose behind her.  Gandalf spotted him and went, \"Ahhhh!\" and assumed a mirror image of the pose on the other side of her.  Both of them looked absolutely ridiculous, which sent the participants floor into hysterics.  Danny and Gandalf were trying to keep a straight face, but they were giggling as well... meanwhile poor Carla was oblivious to what was going on behind her and a puzzled-slash-worried-slash-horrified look came across her face before she said, \"What.... WHAT?!\", finally whirling around to see Danny and Gandalf standing behind her.  We weren't laughing at you, Gucci!  We were laughing at the goons behind you :-D\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe last block in BJ51 is off the wall, and all the while, I'm thinking to myself, \"This is BASE!  Plus is yet to come!\"  The filming pretty much went off without a hitch, with the exception of one little glitch.  Gandalf turned himself around to teach a move with his back facing the participants.  He tried to do a stylish turn to return himself facing to the front, but in doing that, he lost his place in the music and started doing the wrong move.  When he realised, he put his hands on his hips and said, \"Oh BUGGER!\"  What you cannot understand from my typing it is how... 'proper' he sounded, he almost sounded posh!  I was like, \"Was that really Gandalf?!?!?!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe groovedown is a fun, kooky one, along the lines of the cooldown from BJ45.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBJ51 was an incredible, phenomenal experience.  As it ended, the thought that went through my head was, \"And I get to do it all again in just two days time.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWith a huge smile on my face, of course.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGuest Body Balance 47\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-6516357082834759686?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/6516357082834759686/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d6516357082834759686","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/6516357082834759686"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/6516357082834759686"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-jam-51.html","title":"Body Jam 51"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"2"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-3268572498460337907"},"published":{"$t":"2009-08-30T13:30:00.000+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-08-30T13:37:08.365+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Step 78"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Step"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Step 78"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonday 3rd August - 5:30pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eThree filmings were scheduled for the Monday filming, Body Step, Body Jam and Body Balance.  I had taken the day off from work especially to participate in them, though spent most of the day with Rose and Patrick after having a nice long sleep in at home (ahhhh, the best sort of Monday morning ever).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe presenting team this time around was the sensational Mark Nu'u, Sarah Robinson, Susan Renata, Lisa Osborne, and guest presenter Vanessa Labort from the UK.  The team were decked out in brightly coloured tops - Susan and Lisa in pink tops withy itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny blue shorts, and Sarah, Vanessa and Mark were in blue tops with black shorts (not so itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny... I'm not sure how flattering that would've been on Mr. Nu'u; he's an attractive man, but good grief!)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VEQoatrAXpA/Snb-iXiQtSI/AAAAAAAABGA/RccAS8FcKw0/s1600-h/IMG_1072.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/IMG_1072.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e[photo courtesy of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://pjnz1216.blogspot.com/2009/08/les-mills-bodystep-78-filming.html\"\u003ePJ\u003c/a\u003e]\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRose, myself, and The Netherlands People were nestled in a corner down the back, and we were surprised when none other than Dan Cohen wandered on over and said, \"Could you set up a step over there, please?\", pointing to a empty spot on the floor near the side of the room, next to us.  He promptly followed this up with, \"Don't you DARE tell anyone I'm doing Step!!!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/surprise.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe couldn't believe it, not only was Dan Cohen going to be actually doing Body Step, he was going to be doing it next to us!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOur excitement was shortlived, however.  Someone else swooped on the empty step, and Dan was resigned to another spot on the floor, ah goddammit.  We were quite keen to be there in support of Mr Cohen and to catch him when he fell ;-)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnyways!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAfter the sound checks, the entire crew were ready to go, and everyone on the floor was pumped for the filming to start.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI tried to do the Step filming low impact, though I unfortunately didn't make it through the class.  Attack is a very good program to modify to be low impact, but with Step, it's not always possible.  I say this because with some of the moves, you rely on a burst of high impact-ness to propel you over the Step, and if you're doing it low impact - like I was - then your feet don't always make it over the Step and you end up tripping over the edge of it, or partially on the floor and partially on the Step, and in my case, I rolled my ankle a couple of times.  It was my right ankle, which is the non-injured one, so after twice it had been rolled, I abandoned ship.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFor the short time I was there though, I had a great time, and the filming was loads of fun. Body Step 77 was quite a moving and emotional release - being the Breast Cancer Awareness release.  Body Step 78 is a fun, energetic release, and it looks as though Mark had a lot of fun coming up with the choreography for this one.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHe was presenting one track and he said, \"How's my girls?\" looking around at the four women he was surrounded by, and then said, \"Every man's wet dream!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/whaaaaaat.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe stuff that man can get away with!  People think that Gandalf comes up with some weird, random, dodgy lines, but quite honestly, Gandalf only pushes the line.  Mark blatantly crosses it with some of the stuff he says; he is one cheeky cheeky man. (I will never forget the \"Save it for the bedroom!\" remark I heard once through the carpark at New Lynn while his class was going on, good grief!)  I have NO idea how on earth Mark manages to get that stuff through - Gandalf heavily moderates his cues when he's filming, but Mark seems to either maintain his dodgy quota or even exceed it.  Hmmm... I think because he had to behave himself for the Breast Cancer release, he maybe thought he had to double up the dodginess for this release to make up for it?  Who knows, huh?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe guest presenter this time was Vanessa Labort from the UK - and it's a shame you won't be able to see it very well on the DVD, though she has a MEAN tattoo on her leg.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VEQoatrAXpA/Snb-igYs0HI/AAAAAAAABGI/a1F0A_4qwb4/s1600-h/IMG_1075.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/IMG_1075.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e[photo courtesy of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://pjnz1216.blogspot.com/2009/08/les-mills-bodystep-78-filming.html\"\u003ePJ\u003c/a\u003e]\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eShe presented three consecutive tracks, and blew everyone out of the water.  I was pretty much relieved to be sitting out and watching at this point!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eLisa, as usual, was a fireball of energy and simply too adorable for words.  The Les Mills Whanau took up the majority of the first row, and my goodness, Sarah Robinson was giving them shoutouts a plenty.  If you're a Step instructor, listen out for this!  Mah Boi Patrick gets a shoutout from Miss Robinson, and many many times over, you will hear 'The Les Mills Whanau'.  For those of you who aren't in the know, 'Whanau' is the Maori word for 'Family', and it's a group that Fred started after the January/February filmings this year.  It started off small, with myself, Fred, and Nelly, though since then has exploded and gone absolutely hog wild with passionate Les Millsers.  It's incredible that even though the group is amazingly large, EVERYONE gets along.  You would think there would be at least a couple of personality clashes, but seriously, it's amazing.  And don't you ever think the group is too big to get in on the action, there's room for everyone, and you don't even have to be a Jammer or Stepper!  Just passionate about Les Mills :-D\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBody Step 78 is a great, fun, energetic release and it's going to go off across the world.  After the sobering - while not sombre, but definitely moving - release that was BS77, BS78 is sure to bring out the fun times!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Jam 51\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-3268572498460337907?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/3268572498460337907/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d3268572498460337907","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/3268572498460337907"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/3268572498460337907"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-step-78.html","title":"Body Step 78"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-1443718921591621492"},"published":{"$t":"2009-08-23T16:30:00.003+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-08-23T16:41:14.822+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Combat 42"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Combat"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Jul-Aug-2009"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Combat 42"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThursday 30th July - 7:40pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eI didn't participate in the BA67 filming, though I did watch it and it looked like a great time.  Nothing for me so far has topped the experience that was BA65 as far as Attack-ness goes, though it still looked like an awesome fun class.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAfter sitting around for an hour, my back and ankle settled down.  They were troubling me throughout the Vive filming, but I thought I'd play it safe and go low impact for Combat.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://nzglen.wordpress.com/\"\u003eMr. Stollery\u003c/a\u003e, myself, and a bunch of others in the Les Mills Whanau (Whanau being the Maori word for 'Family') nestled into a corner down the back (and amazingly, Emma Barry somehow ended up right next to me?!) to rawk it up for the final filming of the day.  Again, the front row was absolutely packed, so I was looking forward to being able to kick and punch to full extension without worrying about colliding with anyone, AND being able to be low impact without being concerned about getting in peoples way.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe presenting team this time around were Dan \u0026amp; Rach (of course), and Pernilla from Sweden and Angel from the USA. It doesn't show up in the photos as much, but Pernilla is an absolute hottie; so VERY beautiful, and has amazing Combat form.  I was lucky enough to attend a class where it was taught by just her and Angel, and I loved watching her rip it up onstage.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VEQoatrAXpA/SnG235xVxnI/AAAAAAAABEo/KOvEmdpdoM8/s1600-h/IMG_1065.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/IMG_1065.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e[photo courtesy of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://pjnz1216.blogspot.com/2009/07/les-mills-bodycombat-42-filming.html\"\u003ePJ\u003c/a\u003e]\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhile I do like the Muay Thai inspired shorts that they all wore, I must admit, in my hungrified state, they reminded me of the wrappers on chocolate bars.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/CombatYummyShorts.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut thenagain, like I said, I was rather hungry! (Does add a new meaning to 'wearing tasty outfits'.  Or was there ever only one meaning to that?)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI didn't attend the BC41 filming, but BC41 wasn't one of my favourite releases.  It's taken a while to grow on me, and even now, it'll probably take a few more attempts at it from some very good instructors for me to enjoy it as much as I did BC40.  BC42, however, I totally, thoroughly enjoyed.  The first time I had the luxury of attending a rehearsal for it, I was scouring the internet for the specific remixes of the tracks they used since the music energised me so much.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEven with doing the class low impact, it was a hard, HARD workout.  I was looking forward to being able to gobble food afterwards, since I didn't have any with me at the time (which is STOOPID), but not everyone was unorganised as me.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFred, Jammer/Attacker/Stepper extrodinaire (I really need to think of a shorter nickname for him...) was around the back, and in between tracks when the team took a break to reset, while the rest of us grabbed our drink bottles, Fred held up a clear plastic bag full of almonds and said,\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eAnyone want my nuts?\u003c/span\u003e\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/LOLWTF.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThat's not where it ended.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eGrab a handful of my nuts!  My crunchy nutritious nuts!\u003c/span\u003e\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAHHHHHH OMFG Stop the Madness! \u003ca href\u003d\"http://nzglen.wordpress.com/\"\u003eGlen\u003c/a\u003e, who was next to me raised an eyebrow and said, \"That's Fred, isn't it?\"  Heeeeee, yep, The Fred is famous, The Fred is legendary, he needs no introduction.  All who encounter him will immediately know who he is.  Anyone who comes up to me and says, \"Who is this 'Fred' that everyone keeps talking about?'\", I can say, \"Trust me, when you see him, you'll know.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEmma Barry saw the almonds and said to him, \"Wow, you're organised!\", though as the Dodgy Nut Puns continued to come out of his mouth, she too was like OmfgWhatIsThisGuyOnAndWhereCanIGetSome.  Imagine what the world would be like if we had some Instant Fred Potion where we could instantly Fredify ourselves.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnyway!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe energy for this release was fantastic, and all of the presenters were great.  There was a technical glitch in one of the tracks that had us standing around for a moment waiting while the filming production team sorted it out.  Rach showed us how to do a burpee and said she wanted us to try and do as many as possible in a short space of time - a minute or 30 seconds or something like that.  Right as she was about to get us started on that, the filming crew went, \"Right we're sorted!\"  Rach was so disappointed, but everyone on the floor was incredibly relieved!  Man, Adam made me do burpees and they're an absolute killer; I was already feeling shattered from Pump and Vive.  You could see the expression of \"Oh HELL NO\" spread across peoples faces as Rach demonstrated the burpee.  Thankfully the crowd got the second-to-last-laugh. (The last laugh comes later...!)  Poor Rach though, she was so excited about getting everyone to do burpees at the same time.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAll throughout the last few tracks I was hanging out for the end.  During track 8, which Angel taught, I noticed that he started off some punches with the wrong hand, though the filming crew didn't stop the filming and reshoot it.  \"Hmm...\" I thought, wondering if they had another camera angle with which they could swap out the footage for.  We got through track 8, was absolutely buggered by it, then did our killer conditioning track and went KERSPLAT on the floor, almost passing out during the cooldown.  \u003ca href\u003d\"http://nzglen.wordpress.com/\"\u003eGlen\u003c/a\u003e promptly buggered off, as did a lot of the Combatters on the floor, with it being a weeknight and it being quite late.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI too, was tempted to leave until I heard a voice from one of the filming crew saying, \"Now we just need to go back and refilm that bit...\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/whaaaaaat.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI thought, \"No way.  NO. WAY.  We've cooled down, people!  WE'VE COOLED DOWN!!!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe team had caught the slip up with Angel's punch and needed that part refilmed, so we reset from the end of track 7.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDan and the team got into position like they'd just ended the track, and with equal intensity to the first time it was filmed, Dan exclaimed \"\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eWAAAAAAAAAAAAAOHH!\u003c/span\u003e  That was an \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eEPIC\u003c/span\u003e Muay Thai track!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThen we got into the track, and would you believe it, there was ANOTHER mistake.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eReset, again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eWAAAAAAAAAAAAAOHH!\u003c/span\u003e  That was an \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eEPIC\u003c/span\u003e Muay Thai track!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAgain, we got into the track, and again, would you believe it, there was YET ANOTHER mistake.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eReset, yet again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eWAAAAAAAAAAAAAOHH!\u003c/span\u003e  That was an \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eEPIC\u003c/span\u003e Muay Thai track!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe got into the track, and it all looked like it was going well.  It seemed like we'd passed the spot that needed to be refilmed, so Dan stopped and said, \"We got it?  Yep, we got it.  All good.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe music stopped, we hung around for a bit, and then... would you believe it, it turns out that we HADN'T gotten to the spot that needed to be refilmed.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe were told to reset again, and Dan said, \"How about we just keep going until you guys say we're cool, yeah?  ... But don't make us do the whole track!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eInto position once more.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eWAAAAAAAAAAAAAOHH!\u003c/span\u003e  That was an \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 255);\"\u003eEPIC\u003c/span\u003e Muay Thai track!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd away we went, all trying our damned hardest to keep up the intensity.  Though as time went on, and on, and on, and on we thought, \"Oh my god they're not making us do the WHOLE track, surely?!?!!?\"  I was barely clinging on, pretty much giving as much energy as I had, waiting desperately for that call from the filming crew to signal that we were there.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThat call never came.  We went through the entire track another full time, and when I talked to Rach later about it, she said that the team onstage had no clue that they were going to do the full track either - they were barely hanging on too!  What a bunch of troupers, they continued to rock it up despite it being so damn hard.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSo after all of that, I'm almost obliged to say that BC42 is a bloody hard release - though I don't think in a regular Combat class you'd be made to do a hard track 8 four or five times, yeesh!  Maybe my hardness perception of it is a little bit skewed after hearing of that ;-)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd yes, I was sore for DAYS.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Step 78\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-1443718921591621492?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/1443718921591621492/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d1443718921591621492","title":"6 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1443718921591621492"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/1443718921591621492"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-combat-42.html","title":"Body Combat 42"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"6"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-4352479394703376962"},"published":{"$t":"2009-08-20T19:30:00.001+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-08-23T16:41:35.713+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Vive 13"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Jul-Aug-2009"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Vive"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Vive 13"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThursday 30th July - 4:40pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003chr /\u003eAs I expected, and it is rather unfortunate, the room emptied after Body Pump as preparation began for the Vive filming.  In some ways, it was a good idea to have Vive after Pump, since the Vive participants are much more relaxed and there's far less competition for spots on the floor.  When Pump and Combat filmings have been back-to-back in the past, you find that the situation is one angry mob of people replacing another in terms of floor space.  With Vive, there was no hurry for people to get onto the floor, so the Pumpers weren't having to contend with evil looks as they tried to gather their bars, plates, steps and risers and get them packed out of the way.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn fact, it was even encouraged that other people help the Pumpers put their weights away, and would you believe it, it actually happened.  Those who didn't take part in the Pump filming obliged and were picking up other peoples bars, plates, steps and risers, it was fantastic to see.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMah boi Patrick assumed his spot in the first row, and given that I hadn't seen the choreography for Body Vive 13, and despite not knowing the choreography for Body Vive 11 I apparently am 'all over' the DVD (GAH!), I skulked back to the second row.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBefore getting into the whats-what of the Vive filming - with the floor cleared of all of the Body Pump stuff, it gave a couple of people the opportunity to come up to me and talk to me.  Even though I say here on the blog to 'Come on up to me and have a chat if you see me', I am ALWAYS surprised when people do that exact thing!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSo quite often, you will get my standard expression.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/stunnored.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI swear I'll learn sometime, honest!  I'll learn how to be an ACTUAL social human being rather than a stunned mullet when people OMG TALK TO ME WTF*SPLODE*\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFor all of you who spoke to me, it really was an honour and very humbling that you took the time to come and say hello.  It always will blow me away that people actually read, take in, and in some cases, look forward to my ramblings on here.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was very concerned when after I wrote about the BJ47 filmings in a LOT of detail and was asked not to write like that anymore that I would lose readers, and yes, I did lose some.  But there are still many of you that continue to read this blog even even when I can't share everything that I would like to share.  Thank you for always being there. :-)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut now, onto Body Vive!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs I mentioned before, Patrick placed himself right in the front row, being the super enthusiastic amazing fantabulastic Viver that he is.  Remember this!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe presenters this time around were the fabulous Susan 'Paris' Trainor, Pete and Japanese head trainer Michi.  If I've spent her name incorrectly, can you please let me know in the comments? I can't give away most of the details on what they were wearing because quite honestly?  I can't remember.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/Noooooooo.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI know, I know you're ashamed of me.  I'm ashamed of myself too.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBUT!  I do remember that Susan Trainor's cropped pants were an awesome shade of teal and when I saw them I went, \"WANT.\"  I've been salivating for a pair of cropped pants in that colour ever since then, but no luck. Waaaah.  Michi was wearing the same coloured top, and Pete sported his typical t-shirt-inside-a-puffy-vest look.  (Ahahaha, apparently I *do* remember some of the details of what the team were wearing.)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI'm not a regular Viver, so I can't make too many comments on how this release rates compared to others.  I will say though that I had an awesome time, and there's awesome music and awesome choreography in there.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSounds fairly generic, but here's the catch.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI personally felt like a lot more work had been put into this release to make it a more intense workout, whilst remaining low impact and fun.  There were times during the filming where the workout was so intense that both my ankle and my back started seizing up.  They turned out to be fine, but there are only two other classes that I get that equivalent feeling and they are Body Pump and RPM.  Anyone who says that Vive doesn't count as a class?  They ain't working hard enough.  Yes \u003ca href\u003d\"http://nzglen.wordpress.com/\"\u003eMr Stollery\u003c/a\u003e, I am talking to you specifically!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd like any hard class, it hurts something ridiculous when the presenting team make mistakes - particularly when you're dealing with the resistance tubes.  I cannot tell you the number of times that the team had to transition between tracks; I will forever have Michi's voice saying \"Feet inside tube!\" as a reminder of that release.  My thighs were absolutely burning by the time the track was finally filmed (and even then, they had to refilm a bit at the end since a mistake hadn't been picked up on).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe other thing that made me feel uncomfortable was how... 'volatile' the resistance tubing felt underneath my feet.  It kept sliding around, and at any given moment I was terrified that the tube would slip free from the safety of my feet and whack me in the chin, gah!  Thankfully, it did.  Regular Vivers - any advice on how you overcome this?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDoing this filming made me sorely miss my friends Missy and Jace whom I did the Vive 11 filming with - you SO should have been there with us, it felt wrong to not have you both there :-(\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was lucky that I had Patrick and DJ with me though!  Two fantastic guys, and DJ must've gotten a million-billion shout outs from the presenting team while the filming was in action.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePatrick, however, the poor lad, not only didn't get any shoutouts while the camera was rolling (but got a mention from Susan before the filming started), but he also got told by the filming crew to stand back a bit from the front row since his head kept on bobbing up into the frame.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/ExcuseMe.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt was a reasonable request from the filming crew, but unfortunate that Patrick just happens to be a bit of a tall lad.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI've only done two Vive classes and I've loved them both - especially when the class has the balls in hand.  More than once I had to run around to chase my ball since I'd been overzealous (or just plain clumsy) with some of the moves and literally, Lost My Balls.  Though I wasn't the only one!  All throughout the class there were balls rolling around all over the place and embarrassed folk scuffling around the edges trying to keep out of everyone's way and get their ball back.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere are a couple of tracks that mess with my head a bit.  One of them is a signature track of another program (so much that it's been used twice in that program in different releases - same song!), and the other track is in the STYLE of another program.  All through it I was going \"What the... I feel like I'm doing BodySomethingElse.\"  Patrick even warned me about it, but to a certain extent, I didn't believe him!  Serves me right, I should always trust Mah Boi.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eVive unfortunately isn't a particularly accessible class for me - many of the classes are held during the day and I would have to leave work and return back afterwards to do them, which is a real shame.  Because every time I do it, I am left in the same spot - thinking, \"I should do more Vive!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBody Vive 13 was no exception to that rule.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Combat 42\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-4352479394703376962?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/4352479394703376962/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d4352479394703376962","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/4352479394703376962"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/4352479394703376962"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-vive-13.html","title":"Body Vive 13"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"2"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-561590809646087510"},"published":{"$t":"2009-08-17T23:00:00.000+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-08-23T16:42:01.425+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Pump 72"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Body Pump"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Les Mills Filming"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Jul-Aug-2009"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Body Pump 72"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cstrong\u003eThursday 30th July - 3:10pm\u003c/strong\u003e\u003chr /\u003eWhen I put in my annual leave for this lot of filmings, I initally only put it in for Monday the 3rd of August and Wednesday the 5th of August, given that those were the days that the Jam and Jam+ filmings were scheduled to be.  The timetable had been forgiving to me thus far, and I'd been able to attend the Pump filmings since they fell in a Post-End-Of-Work time of the day.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen the timetable for this quarter was finally released, I started headdesking when I saw that Pump this time around was starting at 3:10pm!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/Gaffs/ARRRRGH.jpg\" /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was gutted that I wasn't going to be able to make it, and I hadn't been able to make it to many of the rehearsal classes for the release so it was looking like I was going to miss out on the Pump filming altogether.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThen when I saw that Combat was starting at 7:40pm, I thought, \"Hmmm....*maybe*, I can do the Pump filming, then go back to work, and come back again for Combat.\"  It meant missing out on Vive and Attack - though really, I wasn't planning on doing Attack anyway (too hard on the ankles), but missing out on Vive was going to be a bit disappointing.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePump was THE program that brought me into Les Mills, and Jam and RPM are the two programs that keep me coming back, so Pump will always have a special place in my heart.  I wouldn't have found Jam and RPM if it weren't for Pump.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn that regard, no way could I miss out on the filming.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs it turned out, I ended up working late the day before the filming so I ended up being able to do Pump and Vive and watch Attack anyway.  What luck!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI had only the chance to attend one rehearsal of BP72 before the filming, unlike BP71 and BP70 where I attended many many many rehearsals and had the choreography down to a fine art.  The other thing was my strength was way way down on what it had been in the past, due to the lack of practice.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNormally setting up for Pump is incredibly stressful.  It's a mad rush for spaces on the floor in any filming, but for Pump, it's especially crazy since the rush for the space on the floor is not the end of it.  You then have to go and grab your steps, your risers, your bar, your collars, and then whatever plates you need.  I deliberately grabbed less plates than what I needed just so I could get out of the swarm of people around the weights racks.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThat being said... there was something a bit different about this Pump filming.  GFX was exceptionally crazy last time around, with the line of people going out the door and down onto the street trying to get into the studio; yet the BP71 filming itself was laid back, relaxed, like a bunch of mates chilling out together like they were having a barbeque and a beer in the back yard.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThough this time, I was actually concerned about the mood.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMore to that in a minute.  The team that were presenting Pump this time around were fantastic.  One of the best Pump teams that they could ever put together. (Although I continue to hold out hope that one day I will see Amy Styles presenting Body Pump)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs per always, Les Mills were pretty strict about photos during the filmings.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VEQoatrAXpA/SnGrQYj233I/AAAAAAAABDY/Y4Spkibh-00/s1600-h/IMG_1032.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/IMG_1032.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e[photo courtesy of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://pjnz1216.blogspot.com/2009/07/les-mills-bodypump-72-filming.html\"\u003ePJ\u003c/a\u003e]\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTo the point where I didn't take any this time around.  PJ has a few up on his blog (of which I have sought permission to post a couple here), so I highly recommend you \u003ca href\u003d\"http://pjnz1216.blogspot.com/2009/07/les-mills-bodypump-72-filming.html\"\u003ego over and check it out\u003c/a\u003e.  Last time at GFX, we were told that our camera would be confiscated if we even brought it out, and I assumed it would be the same this time, so I didn't bother bringing my camera with me.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe Pump crew presenting this time around were Matt Thraxton, the Oh So Awesome GFM at New Lynn (whoop whoop!), Emma Barry, Susan Renata and of course, Glen Ostergaard.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv align\u003d\"center\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VEQoatrAXpA/SnGrQDwhm8I/AAAAAAAABDQ/_yfzNow46dQ/s1600-h/IMG_1012.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/IMG_1012.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e[photo courtesy of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://pjnz1216.blogspot.com/2009/07/les-mills-bodypump-72-filming.html\"\u003ePJ\u003c/a\u003e]\u003c/div\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe men were wearing rather ordinary outfits - Glen wearing a longsleeved black top and shorts, Matt with a sleeveless black top and shorts... the women, however, looked HOT.  Skintight black catsuits with yellow panels down the sides of their bodies, RAWR!  I was especially smitted by Emma Barry, I couldn't take my eyes off her, and I don't even swing to that side of the tree ;-)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe class started with a great warm up track - I admit, there was a period in Body Pump where I thought \"Now, which love song is going to be the warm up THIS time?\" Though for all of the 70s thus far, the warm ups have been great, and this release is no exception.  Susan presented this track, and she was her usual bubbly self.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEmma presented the second track, being the squat track, and it is a hard track.  Which is why when she made a mistake partway through, I thought to myself, \"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!\"  It's hard enough having to do it once, but having to stop and redo it?  Oy vey.  At least us on the floor can be grumpy about redoing Pump choreography; the presenters up onstage are sore as anything from all of the rehearsing, and then have to try and reinvigorate the AND themselves to redo the track with energy and enthusiasm.  Emma and the rest of the team were real troopers in this regard.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEven though the squat track brought out a few 'woohoo!'s from me and people around me, I was quite concerned that the buzz wasn't there.  I looked around thinking, \"What is going on?\"  It was very bizarre, I couldn't understand why the energy wasn't there in the room.  There was a fantastic team onstage, and a good turnout, even for early afternoon when most of the Auckland members were still at work.  The chest track came and went (hard, but it came and went), though the energy still didn't pick up.  I started to get really worried.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI really shouldn't have.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMatt Thraxton delivered the whopper of a back track, and the energy and buzz soared through the roof.  It was like a beast had been unleashed, someone had ripped the top open and it went ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHH and spread throughout the room.  Everyone noticed it, so much that the class broke out into applause as soon as the track was finished.  Way to go, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VEQoatrAXpA/SnGrFqdxDeI/AAAAAAAABCw/G6gzILd71Hk/s1600-h/IMG_1028.jpg\"\u003eMatty T\u003c/a\u003e, who to quote PJ, \"The guy who made Sunday no longer my rest day. Always a pleasure to see him around.\"!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e(well I lie, Matty T didn't make MY Sunday a rest day, though if he taught Pump at New Lynn instead of faffing around in town on Sunday I might be in there :-P)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe triceps was my favourite track in the whole release, though there is a super sizzling treat for you in the biceps track.  SUPER sizzling.  I don't know if the team had been practising it leading up to the filming, but I was absolutely slackjawed when they rocked it up for the biceps track.  I thought, \"Good grief, how long did it take them to do THAT?!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd no, I ain't telling you what it is!  You'll need to wait for the DVDs to see it :-D\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGoing back to the triceps track.  I had set my step up in front of the sound booth (my normal spot, since it's near the stairs to get out of the room.), and there's no chance of me getting onto the DVD from there; how I like it for Pump.  Because it is in front of the sound booth, it is on the side of the room where the camera men roam around getting shots of the presenting crew and of the class participants.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMore often than not, I freaked out as the cameramen stepped OVER ME OMFG, and definitely more than once, as cables dragged around, I would either get whipped in the face or end up with cable in my mouth.   From time to time I was more than tempted to yank the cable out of the power point, but man, I probably would've been banned from attending filmings forever-ever if I did something like that. (And goodness knows how many tracks we would've needed to re-film, ack.)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI'm glad that I was able to arrange my day to attend the Pump filming.  BP72 is a great release and you can tell that the team worked hard on it to ensure that it was a tough training experience for all of its participants.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI'm excited.  I'm definitely excited about this one.\u003chr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNext up...\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody Vive 13\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-561590809646087510?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/561590809646087510/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d561590809646087510","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/561590809646087510"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/561590809646087510"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-pump-72.html","title":"Body Pump 72"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-7614810152249609503"},"published":{"$t":"2009-08-09T19:00:00.002+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-08-09T19:04:26.782+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Announcements"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Hang in there...!"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Hang in there folks, only a few more days and I'll be able to blog properly about the filmings!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI've been having an incredible time with my friends Patrick and Rose while they've been here in Auckland - and while I'm missing Patrick; aka 'The Purple One', Rose is still here and I've been spending as much time with her as I can before she leaves me. (waaaaaah).  Carla and I have been trying to plot to kidnap her, though since she's been quality controlling the instructors for the BJ50 workshop which is coming up in the next couple of weeks, we haven't had much time to put together an evil scheme (booooooo).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut like I said, only a few more days and things will be... normal?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNo you're right, there's no such thing as a normal day for a Les Millser ;-)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThough the posts are in the pipeline - just know that!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-7614810152249609503?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/7614810152249609503/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d7614810152249609503","title":"1 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/7614810152249609503"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/7614810152249609503"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/hang-in-there.html","title":"Hang in there...!"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"1"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22331041.post-8383525102528481243"},"published":{"$t":"2009-08-06T06:50:00.000+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-08-06T06:54:33.093+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Announcements"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"What a ride!"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Yesterday, the Les Mills filmings for this quarterly concluded.  I had a ripper of a time, as per usual!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI attended all of the filmings apart from RPM 45 and Body Balance 47 - it'll be a while before I get around to writing posts about the other filmings, but don't you worry, I'll get there.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI need to grab some photos off people and get their permission to use them, and on top of that I actually need a decent amount of time in front of my computer to write the posts, but I'll get there!  Hang in there, it'll be worth it!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/22331041-8383525102528481243?l\u003dsweaty.mmmarshmallow.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/feeds/8383525102528481243/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d22331041\u0026postID\u003d8383525102528481243","title":"1 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/8383525102528481243"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/22331041/posts/default/8383525102528481243"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/what-ride.html","title":"What a ride!"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Marshmallow"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08229478994519987395"},"email":{"$t":"mmmarshmallow@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16757805516307444351"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"1"}}]}});