Les Mills Kia Kaha : BODYJAM®

VIDEO SIZZLERS

susanrenata — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:27:00 GMT

Everyone at Les Mills loves talking about the programs (sort of an obsession really!) So big thanks to our ‘bright ideas’ department (aka Marketing) for coming up with a way to get others talking about them too.

We’re now doing mini-interviews about each new class straight after DVD filming and putting them up on the website when the classes hit the clubs.

Check out these “Video Sizzlers” – they’re a great way to find out what is hot in each new release and put a face to the names of the program creators.

Sus.

Counting Down To The Big Day

Kylie Gates — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:23:00 GMT

Excitement levels are rising around Les Mills as we count down to filming the next round of masterclasses on Sunday, August 13. As always, the new releases are the climax of months of work by the Program Directors and their teams. The new classes are looking brilliant in last-minute trials and we’ve got two milestones to celebrate this time – BODYPUMP® 60 and BODYCOMBAT® 30.

Joining Glen and Susan on the BODYPUMP® presenter team will be Ute Wagner from Germany and the three “original” international presenters: Emma Barry, Steve Renata and Pete Manuel. Helping Dan and Rach celebrate BODYCOMBAT® 30 will be Kili Marti from the US training team. (Kili is also BODYJAM® Program Coach in the US and has been working with G on choreography for the new class.)

As with the 3/2006 Release, the new classes will all be filmed on one day so it’s gonna be huge!!!!

Kylie

SE ELA DANCA, EU DANCO

gandalfarcher — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 16:41:00 GMT

I was dancin, she was dancin, he was dancin. Everybody in Brazil was dancin!!

The Bahia beats and the Funky Carioca had me learning Dance moves that will no doubt end up on the next Body Jam release! And when I saw the beautiful beaches of Recife, I just wanted to chill with a cold one, too bad we were all Jammin!

In Maringa they put salad on pizza..... and chocolate!! hmmmmm, don't know about you, but it was a little weird for me, chocolate on pizza! My Italian friends are not impressed. But they more than made up for their culinary experiments with a HUGE Body Jam class, with everybody screaming!! "Barulho!!!"

A magical afternoon cruised by at Lake Paranoa in Brasilia. Reptiles big enough to chew ya foot off. Did some mad music hunting in Sao Paulo with Sandro and Mayra. The workshop was so Hot we were melting! Body Jam 37 AND the Bonus Block, Damn Paulo! We worked hard that day! Your right Rach, Body Jam is SO HOT right now!

My best wishes are with you Brasil, the World Cup is gonna be yours!! Seeing as you thrashed NZ, and I can't support the Aussies (sorry mates) Go Brazil!!

DO CARALHO!!!!

G
Eu Sou O Cara

10,000 Clubs

lisaosborne — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 12:03:00 GMT

Wow – we made it! As of last week, Les Mills is officially in more than ten thousand clubs in 63 different countries!!! What an amazing effort for a small company from a small country at the bottom of the world!!!! Huge credit also goes to our Les Mills agents, trainers and instructors around the world and it was great news to see new clubs in Spain pushing us over the 10K line to 10,011.

Congratulations to Cesar and Carmen and also to Jordi and Alejandra and the training and sales teams – and to everyone else in our amazing “global family.” All the agents are meeting for a conference in Spain next week so what a party that’s gonna be!!! And the work doesn't stop here, guys. Next target is to get to 25,000 clubs and be a top five global fitness brand by 2015. No pressure!!!

Lisa

Japanese Visit Konnichiwa!!!

rachaelcohen — Tue, 30 May 2006 23:36:00 GMT

Mr. Shirato Takuya is in town with instructors and club owners from all over Japan and it’s fab – I have had a natural facelift take place from smiling for all the photos we have had taken!!

After a BODYCOMBAT class on Monday afternoon, we all jumped up on stage and had 15+ cameras thrown at one poor guy to take 15 photos of us all on the Studio One Stage.

I persuaded them all to come back for the BODYJAM class that Chris Richardson and I team teach on a
Monday night – they loved it and had
a howl!!

I look forward to seeing them again next week when I travel to Japan to launch BODYJAM over there…BODYJAM is so hot right now!!!!

It’s hotter than WASABI!!!!!!

3/2006 Release - It's All Good

glenostergaard — Wed, 10 May 2006 16:15:00 GMT

No pressure – just the first time we have ever filmed all seven new classes on one day! And in a new studio!! And with the Les Mills New Zealand’s superquarterly going off on the same day!!! And with minor issues like having to carry 43 RPM bikes back and forth from their usual home!!!! And with this being my first class as BODYPUMP head choreo!*&^%$#@!!!!!!!!

The good news is that the 3/2006 Release filming just went off people! Studio One looked great. The presenters looked great. And best of all, the new classes are just fantastic. Watch out guys ‘cos these new classes are comin atcha and they are gonna blow you away with their energy and passion and unbelievable motivation.

Pictured here is the BODYPUMP presentation team of John and Peggy Cleland from Canada (these old friends of Les Mills were a delight to have in town and look great on the tape), yours truly and fellow kiwis Susan Tolj and Steven Renata.

Check out the pics of the other presenter teams.

Glen

Record Breaking IHRSA

emmabarry — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 05:49:00 GMT

The IHRSA25 convention in Las Vegas was the usual sensory implosion of business shifting from stocks to frocks and back again in the flick of a neon sign for four days solid. In its 25th year IHRSA broke every record: more people, more countries, more sessions and a combined attendance at the Las Vegas Convention Center in excess of 14000 people!

Without a doubt this was also the greatest IHRSA yet for Les Mills.

Over 300 people rocked to the rhythm of our morning classes with a record breaking 140 enthusiasts hitting a high with BODYATTACK™ – nothing, but nothing could contain the energy in the room. BODYCOMBAT™ and BODYFLOW™ also had knockout turnouts.

The booth team of Brent and Michelle, Josef, Lee and me was strongly supported by Joella (Mid-West), Kim (South East), Erin, Victor and Lynn (Mid Atlantic) and regularly frequented by the big guns of the industry. Never a dull moment and the undisputed place to hang out!

Non-stop program demos defined the 16 booth hours and saw a constant flow of admirers through. All in all a darned good show or to put it in business-speak: “the resource was operating at full capacity”

Convention highlights: hearing Deepak Chopra, Bill Clinton and Lance Armstrong speak AND watching Joella fall off the stage.

More pics here

A Day At The Beach

jackiemills — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:09:00 GMT

Finishing a new round of classes is a big relief for the Les Mills program directors – and a great excuse for a quarterly get-together and wind-down. So on completion of the 2/2006 Release off we went for a day of swimming, picnicking, walking and frisbee-ing at spectacular Piha beach near Auckland. This is one of the most beautiful spots in reach of the city and where Phillip’s dad, Les, has a lovely beach house - our base camp for the day.

Aside from yours truly and Phillip, the picnickers were BODYJAM ‘G’ with partner Ginny (and schnoodle Bentley); RPM (and BODYPUMP) Glen and Sarah; BODYSTEP Mark with daughter Kaylah-Blayr; BODYATTACK Lisa with Pita and son Jackson and BODYCOMBAT Dan and Rach – a full team except for RPM Dan who was off winning a bike race at Coromandel (see his posts below).

A great day out in a fabulous setting and a fitting celebration for another Les Mills release!!!!

In the photo above there's (left to right) Glen, Sarah, Rachael, Jackie, Jackson, Pita, Lisa, Phillip, Ginny, Mark, Bentley, Gandalf. More pics here.

USA Quarterly Workshops

Steve Renata — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 05:05:00 GMT

Kia Ora USA! Awesome quarterlies last weekend in Fort Worth and Baltimore and more to come this Saturday with a huge day lined up at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. It’s the first-ever quarterly run by the new Les Mills South East team and I’ll be there for the action, along with Les Mills master trainers Susan Tolj, Kylie Gates and “rockstars” from the US national training team.

Look out for great new classes and education sessions that’ll help you pack classes at your gym. And check out the great range of branded clothing our new US supplier is bringing to the gig.

As the saying goes, you’re either in or in the way! Don’t miss out. Lets get together in Orlando and turn it up!

Stay pumped.

Virtual Bodyjam

gandalfarcher — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 21:34:00 GMT

It’s a world-changing interactive experience! VIRTUAL BODYJAM is the amazing new computer game that Les Mills have invented to promote our real-life program.

Anyone can play – just go to www.virtualbodyjam.com and get ready to strut your stuff!

Players create their own character and challenge me or other players to a dance-off. So as we say at Les Mills: give your mouse a workout and log onto Virtual Bodyjam. It’s going off dudes!

BODYJAM 37 Is In The Can!!

gandalfarcher — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:13:00 GMT

Great outfits. Great choreo. And great vibes in Studio One at Les Mills Auckland last night for an awesome new class jammers are gonna love.

Joining me onstage to rip up the dance floor and finish off our best release yet were Kylie Gates, our regular BODYJAM guru, Monica Baroni, the sexiest French gurl I've seen this week, and the ever versatile Rachael Newsham.

We got some authentic African dance, some Club Latin for all you mambo lovers, and the hottest style of dance to come out of Jamaica, Ragga!!

Plus, check out the bonus Jazz-Rock choreography – it’s a block of extra moves to mix into the first or second half of your BODYJAM class. Some great new music and some classic tunes from back in the day…

Our new class wrapped up the filming of all seven Les Mills classes for another quarter. So stand by people – the 3/2006 Release is coming at ya!

Peace

More pictures here...

2/2006 Release Filming

Steve Renata — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:04:00 GMT

Filming the 2/2006 Release happens soon and topping the list of highlights has to be BODYPUMP 58. A massive chapter in Les Mills history ends with this final release from the BODYPUMP guru Mike McSweeney and helping to celebrate Mike’s huge contribution to Les Mills will be a presenter "A team" of Alani Mala, Shaun Egan and Susan Tolj. If you want to book a barbell, turn up early - this release will be going off!

Meanwhile, joint RPM Program Directors Dan and Glen have put together a release that will have participants flocking to your studio. Arthur (the Flying Dutchman) Riker is coming along for the ride so watch out for an action packed delivery of coaching concepts and an awesome cycling experience.

Rumour has it the other new classes are also among the best ever from Les Mills and that’s great news for the big group of Frenchmen who’ll be in town for the fun. More than 60 are heading south for the week so watch out for them on the next round of DVDs. Fortunately, we'll have some Brazilians and Canadians joining the visiting party to keep the excitement level under control (just joking guys!).

Here's the filming dates for anyone else who happens to be in town (Auckland, that is) and wants to join the demo classes at the Les Mills gym.

Tuesday 7th February - BODYCOMBAT 28 @ 5:10PM
Tuesday 7th February - BODYBALANCE 33 @ 7:10PM
Wednesday 8th February - RPM 30 @ 2:30PM (by invitation only due to limited bike numbers)
Wednesday 8th February - BODYPUMP 58 @ 7:10PM
Wednesday 8th February - BODYSTEP 64 @ 8:30PM
Monday 13th February - BODYJAM 37 @ 5:10PM
Monday 13th February - BODYATTACK 53 @ 6:10PM

Long Beach Gang

rachaelcohen — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 14:47:00 GMT

California..no doubt about it..!!

Long Beach was the venue for our latest quarterly, and we lapped up the LA lifestyle...work hard/play hard..

The day ran from the crack of dawn, until 6.30pm..yet it felt like we had only been there a short time. People flew in from all over the states, some gorgeous gals all the way from Austin,Texas, also a couple all the way from Ottawa in Canada..(think they came to thaw out??)...in fact too many places to recall..we went the distance of the day and , the obligatory beers afterwards..(this was really hard to do of course! :-)

So, a flight or two later and here I am in Austin Texas - yeeeeeeeeeeeha!!!

The BODYJAM module is packed..and the gym that is hosting us , Golds at Round Rock have had a very well entertained free weights area for the past couple of days let me tell ya!! We make no bones about having a good time in BODYJAM..

QW workshop on Sunday and I'm really looking forward to seeing the guys, I met, back in June and August QW...only it was much warmer back then...random weather here right now..

Here's a quick piccie from Long Beach.. that's me (front and centre as usual) with Emma next to me and Steve, Rodney, Karen, Heidi, Stephan and Joella.

PS. Em and I did not have a chat about becoming pink ladies, honest ;-)

Catch up with ya soon..

Rach

Off da hizzle fo shizzle

gandalfarcher — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 05:04:00 GMT

Have just wrapped up an amazing trip through the Netherlands and Sweden. Started off in Amsterdam with some sight-seeing, shopping and more sight-seeing…. Then off to a brilliantly organized Super-1/4ly in a town outside of Amsterdam that I still can’t pronounce properly.

400 and something instructors turned up for BODYJAM on the first day, 250 the second day! Wow. Everybody going the right direction at the right time with a spectacular performance from Hector and Brigitte. They insist I pushed them around while on stage, I feel I was merely directing them to the correct position.

A Buffalo Court Session at the Bling Bling party ensured everybody felt a little dodgy for Sunday. Fantastic DJ playing every track off our next release!

Then off to Stockholm and Hello snow. Hello 3 layers on top and a Jacket. Hello Rach and Misty and Sandro and Phillip and Jesper. And Hello to another 600 instructors screaming about BODYJAM! Off da hizzle fo shizzle.

Rach and I ran the new BODYJAM module, 20 new instructors absorbing the info in true Les Mills style. Some great talent shining through at the end of the third day.

And then we polished it all off with a night on the town, starting with a cocktail party and ending up at a very happy, happy club. Everybody having a turn on the podium!!

Thanks Sweden!!

More pictures here...

US Quarterly Workshop Update

rachaelcohen — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 01:09:00 GMT

Hiawatha say's...its cold up here people!! No wonder Minneapolis has 7 miles of shopping 'skyways'. They connect every building that has shopping type shops in it, for us mere humans not built for the cold!!

Yup, that will be the Brit complaining about the cold again...Hello, its me..up here in northern mid west of America, Minneapolis!!! Preparing for the QW workshop this weekend - and quite frankly re-aligning my personal thermostat to suit the demands placed on it over here...

What is making me laugh though, is the fact that if and when it gets this cold in the UK, the nation goes into shut down...haa haaa, trains and cars and all that kind of stuff breaks down. NB. The Scottish of course are a 'wee' bit more conditioned so they tend to carry on.

However as I now live in the land of the long white cloud, Aotearoa, I have not been subject to such cold conditions, other than a visit or two to the local tourist attraction, 'Minus 5', where the bar is made of ice, and everything inside it is frozen, apart from the vodka!!!

So, what's new...well a whole group of BODYJAMMERS is what's new, in and around the Wisconsin area!!! Myself and Brooke (LMNA BJ Trainer) just trained up a fantastic group of instructors in our latest addition, BODYJAM!!

We had such a good time with these guys, too many to name you all:-) I have to say, that I had some really cool people walk in the door intrigued by our new dance sensation class, and dance their way back out (literally) days later..to the latest tunes on our radio stations..

So much so, that a couple of the ladies just emailed me: on their drive back home, the music from the course was actually following them all the way home on the radio!! To the point, they actually tried to eject what they thought was their CD..when it actually wasn't!!!

After Minneapolis, our next stop is Portland, Oregon...maybe we'll see ya there..