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This month we’re feeling really inspired by all the instructors around the world who truly go the extra mile to make sure participants enjoy their LES MILLS™ classes.
We asked instructors to tell us how they go about creating great experiences for their members and their ideas impressed us so much we couldn’t keep them to ourselves, so here’s a sample of their responses.
Tanya Heller, RPM™ instructor at The Clubs at River City, Peoria, Illinois, offers her Monday night RPM™ class an extra incentive for joining her workout – it comes with a healthy dinner too. Tanya, a former Family Nutrition Coordinator, prepares a convenient, inexpensive, healthy meal for her class to sample after they ride for what she calls “Club Fed”.
“I love breaking bread with other RPMers,” says Tanya. “We not only eat but we feed off each other’s ideas for other healthy meals and snacks. Reservations fill up fast.”
Heather Stauffer, BODYPUMP™ and RPM™ instructor with Lifestyle Family Fitness in Charlotte, North Carolina, treated everyone in her class to a “Smoochathon” on Valentine’s Day and handed out lip balm to each participant as a reward for keeping all that Valentine’s chocolate from becoming extra love on their hips, thighs and booty.
Michael Daniels, State Trooper with the Michigan State Police, and his girlfriend Toni Lentini-VanderPloeg from Swat Fitness Club in Kalamazoo, Michigan, are helping people fall in love with more than just fitness – they team teach a "couples" class and encourage members to bring in their significant other. Afterwards, members are encouraged to join them at the energy bar for "happy hour" or a continued date night with discounts on protein shakes.
We’ve heard some great stories about what class members have done to thank instructors too. DeDe Cox, Group Fitness Manager at West Forsyth Family YMCA, Clemmons, North Carolina, says members actually took the time to hand write thank-you notes to the team of BODYPUMP™ instructors, when they celebrated the anniversary of the program arriving at their club. After teaching to a packed class of 60 at the birthday class, members and staff then surprised DeDe in the studio with a large cake, balloons and banner all singing Happy Birthday to BODYPUMP™!
And finally, we all know about BFF’s (Best Friends Forever) but Emily Oswald, Les Mills Instructor at Gold’s Gym, James Island, South Carolina, has EFF’s otherwise known as “Emily's Fitness Freaks”. What started out as a few class members who kept in touch by email has turned into a dedicated group of participants. “They are the enthusiastic group who will do the crazy finales and go wild over the fitness magic moments in new releases,” says Emily. “They meet each other at the gym and hold each other accountable if they don't show up - quite simply they are an amazing group of people who inspire me to be the best fitness instructor, role model and coach I can be!”
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For Elise Ho, her trip to participate in Les Mills’ Masterclass filming in Auckland, New Zealand was a very special experience.
Each year in Canada, GoodLife Fitness selects an Instructor of the Year. Last year there were 23 nominees out of 1400 instructors in the country, and Elise made the top five finalists. When Elise’s name was called out as the winner it was a dream come true. Along with her announcement included a free trip to Auckland to participate in the filming.
The highlights of her trip to Auckland included an excursion to West Coast’s Piha Beach which was hosted by Phillip Mills for all the overseas guests, getting to shadow BODYATTACK™ with Mark Sinclair and team teaching BODYATTACK™ with Lisa Osborne.
Needless to say, participating in the Masterclass filming was also a highlight. Day One saw the BODYJAM™ team take to the stage first with Program Director Gandalf Archer, NZ’s Chris Richardson and France’s Arnaud Clot-Godard. An out-of-this-world BODYSTEP™ team consisting of Program Director Mark Nu’u, Lisa Osborne, Sarah Robinson, Georgina Clark (all from NZ) and USA’s Nate Stokes was next. Following this was BODYPUMP™ with Program Director Glen Ostergaard, Head Trainer Susan Renata, Ireland’s Niamh McGuirk and Don Murphy from the USA. Fellow Canadian Maureen O’Hagan joined the BODYBALANCE™/BODYFLOW® team which included Program Director Jackie Mills, NZ’s Corey Baird and Christelle Sollier and Jan Roggeveen from the Netherlands (pictured - Elise is third from the left).
Day 2 of filming started with the RPM™ team of Program Director Glen Ostergaard, Dan McDonogh and USA’s Heather Bedell. Next up was the BODYVIVE™ team of Program Director Susan Trainor, NZ’s Maureen Baker and Dr. David McKenzie and UK’s Kathryn Cullen. They were followed by an all-Kiwi BODYATTACK™ team of Program Director Lisa Osborne, Amy Styles, Grant Goes, Will Brereton and Bevan James Eyles. To finish off the 2/2008 filming round was BODYCOMBAT™ 40 – a very special tenth birthday release! Program Directors Dan and Rachael Cohen were joined by Hernan Lopez and UK’s Tanya Walker.
For Elise, who teaches at BODYATTACK™, BODYBALANCE™/BODYFLOW® and BODYSTEP™ at GoodLife Fitness Clubs in Markham, her trip to New Zealand was “everything I dreamt it would be and more”.
Fellow instructors from Toronto, Canada came as a team to support Maureen O’Hagan in the BODYBALANCE™/BODYFLOW® filming.
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One of the biggest events on the fitness industry calendar is the weekend shared by the FILEX convention and the Les Mills Asia Pacific Ultimate Super Workshop in Sydney, Australia. Held at the Sydney convention centre on April 17-19, and featuring Phillip Mills and all of Les Mills' Program Directors, it is a weekend not-to-be missed by anyone with any fitness industry involvement!
FILEX is a massive fitness convention that attracts more than 2,000 people from around the Southern Hemisphere under one roof for an awesome weekend of learning. It is certainly the flagship event of the Australian fitness industry and has been run by Network for the past 20 years. There are more than 240 sessions with 130 presenters covering a broad range of topics from Personal Training to Pilates and Group X to Business and Sales. LES MILLS™ highlights include Dan and Rachel Cohen presenting an awesome BODYCOMBAT™ session, Susan Trainor (pictured) and Aussie master trainer Dione Ware with BODYVIVE™, and Gandalf Archer with local legend Michelle Dean presenting BODYJAM™.
Phillip Mills will also be presenting two sessions, titled ‘Ultimate in Group Fitness Management’ and ‘Healthy People, Healthy Planet’.
The Ultimate Super Workshop is the biggest gathering of LES MILLS™ instructors in Australia. All eight program directors, along with the seasoned team of Australian master trainers and presenters, will be in one venue to launch their brand new releases – the energy is going to be explosive! The Ultimate Super Workshop is definitely the calendar highlight of all LES MILLS™ instructors in Australia, and is regularly attended by more than 1,000 people.
For more information on both the FILEX event and the Ultimate Super Workshop visit www.filex.com.au
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As part of our mission to inspire even more people to fall in love with
fitness, Les Mills has launched a hot new entertainment series that’s
only available on the web. The series follows the humorous antics of
two friends who join forces to get their reluctant friend Kim off the
couch and to the gym.
Click here to check it out, sign up for the
latest episodes and make sure you tell all your friends, family and
colleagues about it! (Watch out
for cameos by Rach Cohen and Gandalf Archer!)
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Tune in to the latest LES MILLS Bodcast to find out what the labels on your food really mean, be inspired by a BODYCOMBAT™ instructor who lost her husband in combat in Iraq five years ago and learn about what you can expect when you sign up for BOOTCAMP.
Les Mills BODYJAM™ Program Director Gandalf Archer talks about Dance4Life and why BODYJAM™ is the hottest dance class on the planet and stay tuned for interesting fitness facts! Turn It Up.
The bodcast is super simple to tune into - simply click here and download today!
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 Hearing about all the people who have changed their lives with Les Mills is one of the best things about this job. There are so many success stories out there and I was lucky enough to meet the inspirational Cassi Bussick at the latest round of filming. In December 2003 Cassi, who is 5’5’’ tall, weighed 230 pounds (104 kgs). After dieting on and off for a couple of years, she joined Double Diamond Athletic club in Reno, Nevada and gave BODYPUMP™ a try. Cassi was hooked however two weeks into her new exercise regime, Cassi was diagnosed with a brain tumor which was removed in March 2006. This was the wake-up call she needed. Cassi got back into BODYPUMP™ and is now a fan of all LES MILLS™ Programs. She’s lost an amazing 100 pounds (about 46kgs) and is now a BODYPUMP™ instructor. Click here to read her story…
Cassi (pictured right) traveled to Auckland, NZ with fellow instructor Shalie Thorwaldson (who teaches all eight programs), to take part in the 1/2009 filming. Being in NZ was a dream come true for the pair who were thrilled to be invited on stage during the week to teach some BODYPUMP™ tracks with NZ instructor Susan Fowler. A number of other international instructors made the long trek to NZ and it’s just so awesome to have them there.
A big thank you also goes to our international presenters who contributed to the amazing energy of this fantastic round.
Taking to the stage for BODYATTACK™ was Program Director Lisa Osborne, Giles Bryant from the UK, Grant Goes from NZ and Sara Amorim from Portugal. Creative Director Emma Barry led the BODYBALANCE™ team featuring Dr David McKenzie, Corey Baird and Christelle Sollier – all from NZ – and Ann-See Yeoh from the UK. BODYCOMBAT™ Program Directors Dan and Rachael Cohen heated things up with Vanessa Livramento from Portugal and Toni Giannini from Brazil. Rachael Cohen also joined the BODYJAM™ team led by Program Director Gandalf Archer and featuring Philip Harrison from the UK, Mysti Taguba Oglesby from the USA and Ginny Crocker from NZ.
BODYVIVE™ celebrated their tenth release with Program Director Susan Trainor, NZ’s Maureen Baker, Pete Manuel from Australia and Susan Laney from the USA. RPM™ raced by with the powerful team of Program Director Glen Ostergaard, NZ’s Sarah Ostergaard and Australia’s Meg Chalker.
I must say – it’s good to be home and introduce everyone to Grace (who is already a natural on stage). It’s awesome to get back into the filming process and I was part of both the BODYPUMP™ and BODYSTEP™ Presenter teams. In BODYPUMP™ I was joined by Program Director Glen Ostergaard, Alexandre Veret from France, Alani ‘Storm’ Mala from Australia and Matt Thraxton from NZ. I took to the stage in BODYSTEP™ with Program Director Mark Nu’u, Lisa Osborne and NZ’s Sarah Robinson.
Susan Renata
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 The life of a Les Mills Program Director is certainly hectic and in the last couple of months, I’ve seen my fair share of the world! My travels started at the Can-Fit-Pro/Goodlife Convention in August with my partner in crime, Rach, and fellow Program Directors Glen Ostergaard, Lisa Osborne, Mark Nu’u, Susan Trainor and Jackie Mills. BODYPUMP™ and BODYCOMBAT™ were super sized with over 800 instructors in attendance. Poughkeepsie, New York, USA was the next stop. The US/Canada Trainers’ Summit was opened with the LES MILLS™ Haka and it was an honor to be the Kaiako (Leader) for the first time – it’s a great feeling bringing our LES MILLS™ culture to the world. Les Mills North East did a great job with the summit which was held at the largest Gold’s Gym in the world. We attempted to unofficially break the Guinness Book of Records for the most participants in a weight training class – 722 people rocked the house in BODYPUMP™ (see pic). It was truly a highlight of my trip teaching BODYPUMP™ and BODYCOMBAT™ to so many people! On the last night of the summit we were hosted by the USA Trainers on board an old steam ship. There were a few formalities such as the ‘Bloody Mary’ court session which of course wound up being an unforgettable evening (literally). With a bit of downtime we tasted good ol’ New York cuisine from the Hard Rock Café and liquid from the New York Gods – Budweiser – while girls did the “Sex in the City” thing and spent a lot of money. While Rach and Susan Trainor went to Phoenix, Arizona; Mark N, Lisa O, the IMTs Dr Dave, Steve and Susan Renata and I went to Super Saturday in Sweden. Super Saturday is Les Mills Nordic’s largest quarterly workshop with 900attendees. A big thanks to Petter from Sweden for looking after me until 4.30am and yes, I did get in the taxi at 6.30am! I continued on to my home country, the UK, to do Quarterly workshops – upskilling instructors and trainers – with Steve, Susan and Dr Dave. The UK team bought me a birthday cake and I spent precious time with my Mum and family. When I was in Sweden I was lucky to have them sing Happy Birthday in their native language, it was the funniest thing! I’m now back in Auckland getting BODYCOMBAT™ 39 ready for filming on November 3. Over and out – Dan
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 Share your favorite LES MILLS™ program with the world by posting the new widget on your social networking pages! As well as showcasing your favorite program, the easy-to-add widget also links to the LES MILLS™ class locator, Learn the Moves and all eight inspirational program videos. It includes a description of each program so all your mates can read about what LES MILLS™ offers AND includes some of the motivating images from the latest inspiring campaign. Putting the widget on your social networking pages is just so simple – five clicks and you’re done. It’s also available in FIVE different languages. Don’t hesitate – click on the image to improve your look today with Les Mills, the world’s leading group fitness programs! Turn It Up!
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Hi everyone!
We’ve just completed the 4/2008 round of filming and boy are the presenter teams looking hot. International presenters flew in from all over the world to enjoy two weeks of Auckland rain but the wet weather didn’t phase them as they were too busy with rehearsal after rehearsal. The hard work certainly paid off as filming went off! RPM™ 41 lead the charge last Wednesday with Glen Ostergaard, Dan McDonogh, Paulo Behr from Brazil and Amy Styles from NZ. Next up was BODYSTEP™ 74 lead by yours truly. I was joined by Lisa Osborne, NZ’s Sarah Robinson and Craig Duker, and Joella Hopkins from the US of A. Following our awesome performance (which has a special Christmas treat) was the BODYJAM™ 47 team lead by Gandalf Archer. G was jamming with Rachael Cohen and Åsa Fornander from Sweden. High VIVE™ for the BODYVIVE™ 9 team who followed, which again included me in the line-up. Also taking to the stage was Susan Trainor, Maureen Baker, Dr Dave McKenzie from NZ and Lynne Brick from the USA. The second round of filming took place on Monday and a totally awesome BODYPUMP™ 68 team showed us how it’s done. Glen Ostergaard was joined by Emma Barry, Carole Dobson from Canada, Fredrick Andersson from Sweden and Frank Heinemann from Germany. The BODYCOMBAT™ 38 team consisting of Dan and Rachael Cohen, Hernan Lopez, who now resides in NZ, and Justin Sanchez from the USA smashed participants with their boxing theme. They were followed by Lisa Osborne and her BODYATTACK™ 63 team of NZ’s Mark Sinclair, June Anderson and Grant Goes, Masato Karimata from Japan and Karen Russell from Australia. BODYBALANCE ™ 43 restored the calm and finished off another successful filming round with Jackie Mills, Dr Dave McKenzie from NZ, Rene Thrasher-Duch from Canada and Kylie Gates from Australia.
Again, special thanks to all the international presenters who made the long journey to Auckland and worked so so hard!
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Listen up! There’s a new LES MILLS™ Bodcast available right now for
your listening pleasure. And to make things super simple, we’ve created
a page on lesmills.com just for the Bodcasts – click here to check it out! You can even click through to iTunes and download these podcasts onto your MP3 player. Awesome huh?
In
the latest Bodcast we talk to Les Mills™ Trainer Matt Thraxton about
the benefits of a Personal Trainer and what to look for when selecting
one, Program Director Lisa Osbourne talks shiny leotards, jazzergetics
and why you should get into BODYATTACK™ and Les Mills Creative Director
Emma Barry fronts up in the Coaches Corner talking us through the
origins and benefits of yoga. You’ll also learn about how much water
you should be drinking and when, hear an inspirational story from our
online community and pick up some handy fitness facts.
This is
one of two podcasts we're working on. The other one (coming soon) is
for those of you who want to hear about what happens "on the inside"
with Program Directors, presenters and instructors from around the
world!
Again, your feedback is appreciated so click here
and let us know what you think – what did you like, what didn’t you
like, what would you like to hear more of. Be Loud and Heard!!!
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Kia ora everyone!
If you’re in Germany this August make sure you get along to my RPM™ class at the Soda-Club Fitness Festival in Bad Zwischenahn, North Germany on August 9!
I’ll be joining Germany’s very own Master Trainer Wolfgang Schmidtberg to present two masterclasses at the cycling event, which is billed as one of Europe’s largest.
Festival organiser Ralph Butzin is a total fan of Les Mills RPM™ and told me he couldn’t imagine holding a consumer health and fitness event without inviting Les Mills to take part.
“It’s important to provide consumers with innovations coming out of new world countries like New Zealand. After the incredible performance in 2007 we realised that Les Mills are the leaders in Group Fitness offering a great solution for indoor cycling. It’s great to have the RPM™ team back in the Pelaton,“ he said.
We’ll be going hard - backed by a sound system with 25,000 watt power, 120,000 watt lighting and of course the top 40 playlist. And we’re expecting a great turn-out - RPM™ is now available in almost 2000 locations throughout Europe, and over 250,000 people take an RPM™ class each week.
Forget Tour de France, this is THE place to be. For more information on how to register go to www.nfa-academy.de
Turn It Up!
Steve
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Hi to all my BODYVIVE™ trainer/instructor friends and to BODYVIVE™ fans everywhere.
I’m rapt to let you know I’ve been appointed BODYVIVE™ Program Director, with a clear brief to continue the growth and development of this great program.
I’ve been Head Choreographer since early 2007 and it’s great to see the number of clubs with BODYVIVE™ now heading for the 2000 mark. I’m looking forward to hitting that mark and bringing BODYVIVE to many, many more people in the years to come.
Huge thanks to Les Mills’ Training Director, Maureen Baker, who’s done a fantastic job as BODYVIVE™ Head Trainer. Maureen is now going to focus totally on her global training responsibilities, although remaining an international master trainer for BODYVIVE™.
Thanks, too, to the BODYVIVE™ creator and Creative Director, Emma Barry and the technical consultancy team of Bryce Hastings, Lynne Brick and Cedric Bryant. They will all continue to help me in my new role.
And thanks to all of you for your contribution to our success so far.
See you soon!
Susan
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Check out our awesome new video showing how Les Mills inspires people to get out and get fit!
It's got all the elements - fun shots of the Les Mills Tribe at Global Summit, filming of the new releases in Auckland and some great quotes from people at the heart of Les Mills who've been inspiring people to fitness for years. It's inspiration in numbers, without a doubt!
The new video has been entered in a competition on "How You Inspire Others to Wellness and Fitness". Have a look at the video, feel the Les Mills buzz and then place your vote if you agree that the Les Mills Life Changing Fitness Experiences are truly inspiring others.
We'd love your support on this one!
Kia Kaha
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Can you believe filming for 3/2008 is already under way? Seems like only yesterday the Global Summit team were doing their best to bring down the roof at Auckland’s Sky City!
Glen and Sarah Ostergaard, and Dan McDonogh got things rolling on Friday, recording RPM™40 in Les Mills Auckland’s awesome new purpose-built studio for the first time. Apparently the atmosphere was amped and it’s no wonder - it can hold an amazing 62 bikes (when there aren’t any cameras in the way!)
Over in Studio 1, Gandalf, Carla Fitzsimons and Chris Richardson funked it up for BODYJAM™46 while Lisa Osborne, Bevan James Eyles and Nathan Jones led the BODYATTACK™62 charge. BODYVIVE™08 had a huge turnout up front with Susan Trainor, Maureen Baker, Mark Nu’u, Pete Manual and Australia’s Dione Ware looking fine.
Can’t wait for Monday when BODYSTEP™73 , BODYPUMP™67, BODYBALANCE™42 and BODYCOMBAT™37 - featuring our favourite newly-weds Dan and Rachael Cohen - get their turn!
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 Some people are lucky enough to find someone who lights them up every day…
On March 8 2008 our family and close friends joined us on the edge of the world (literally) - on the west coast of the North Island, New Zealand - to share a very special day.
The sun shone and our hearts sang (my legs wobbled)!
Dan looked so beautiful and smart, standing there in his suit and tie, smiling back at me as my legs seemed to move of their own accord down to meet him! (I’ve experienced adrenaline before so many times but let me tell you, this was the crème de la crème of adrenaline. Grade A, make you move mountains kinda gear.)
Chris, our best man was by Dan's side. Little Jackson (Lisa O and Pita’s little boy) was our ‘little’ best man, and he carried the rings. Claire, our Maid of Honour, flew from the UK to be there too.
The day was perfect. This kind of high cannot be bought. We are blessed with it.
Arohanui
Mr & Mrs C.xx
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