Ray

Yeah I’m a Freak!!!

Full Schedule is now posted on me.com

http://ical.me.com/raymurdoch/GoodLife

REGULAR CLASS TIMES AND LOCATIONS

BodyPump Tuesdays at 615 am at Oxford/Adelaide -
BodyPump Wednesdays at 615 am at Sherwood -
BodyStep Thursdays at 430 pm at Oxford/Adelaide -
BodyPump Friday at 615 am at Argyle -

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19 Aug 2009

It has been a while since I updated. Things stayed the same but for the better.

We are off to CanFitPro this weekend. Basically a fitness conference for all fitness people from across Canada combined with an LMI day - a Super Q but bigger!!!! I leave in about 5 hours and will be back on Sunday. Lungs are feeling better so it should be an awesome weekend.

Looking forward to finally meeting up with Mark Nuu and Brent McLemore!!! Rach and Dan... well we ignored each other last year so lets see what happens!!! Perhaps I will drink with my right and see how long it takes you to catch me!!!!

Kia Kaha to all!!!

Ray



How has your year been? Here is mine so far!

RPM Training was the 3rd and 4th of January 2009. Great time and hoped to have my video done within two weeks. John Cleland was awesome!!!

On the 8th of January my wife is scheduled to have elective surgery. The surgery is cancelled just as my wife is being wheeled into the operating room.

January 11th I rush to Toronto to rescue a puppy that had been bred at a Puppy Mill and sold by a Pet Store. She is 5 ½ months old, is adorable and we bond immediately. She is the one pictured laying on my legs.

My wife’s surgery is no longer elective and we rush around on the 15th of January to have her to the hospital. The surgery goes well but I am now running back and forth to look after the new puppy, my old girl Allie and my cats. I have now taught RPM exactly four times.

January 19th my wife comes home and I have to take time off work as she can do nothing. On the 26th of January the puppy starts to have Epileptic seizures. Very bad for a six month old dog. The seizures continue to happen every 9 hours. We start her on Phenobarbital, 60 mgs per day. The seizures continue but mildly so we up the dosage to 120 mgs per day (on the advice of the vet) and the seizures stop. On 2 Feb the puppy attacks my wife and severely bites her arm in a number of places. The puppy then turned on me and I was able to get her crated. It is called sudden attack syndrome and is caused by the epilepsy. My other dog and cats are now terrified of this dog. The pheno is increased to 210 mgs per day. The dog cannot live very long with this dosage and must be euthanized. By law we have to wait 15 days. She becomes a very sweet dog on this dosage but still has to be euthanized. The worst day of my life, 25 February 2009 I lost my little 7 month old Emma.

I have still only taught four RPM classes and the deadline for my video is 4 April 2009.

Because of the attack my wife’s condition gets worse and I take more time off work to help her. We are now into March and she improves. I go back to work. My grown up daughter gets very sick and stays at our house. I take more time off work to help as Judy is still slowly recovering. I applied to LesMills Canada for an extension for my RPM video, they grant one quickly to 22 May 2009. On 27 March my world returns to normal and I return to work and start to take RPM classes to get back to cycle shape to get my video done. Thanks goodness I kept teaching most of my BodyStep and BodyPump classes so I can get back quickly and get certified in RPM.

On Good Friday 8 April I am teaching a special BodyStep class. I have a minor head cold. Halfway through I feel it go to my chest. By Monday I am having trouble breathing. By Tuesday I am heading to the hospital with Pneumonia and Pleurisy. Bed rest for three weeks. I lose 20 pounds. Three weeks are over, I gain 20 pounds. The 20 I lost were muscle, the 20 I gained were not!! The 22nd of May is now gone, I have still only taught the four RPM classes in January. I let LMI Canada and GoodLife Fitness know that I would not be able to meet the deadline for the above reasons. They came back with an extension to 30 August. I quite literally cried. Their support is quite frankly amazing.

Today is the first of June. I am now back to my day job. I have been teaching Body Pump for a week and have just started back to teaching BodyStep. I bought a good spinning bike for home and will start back to practicing this week, then wait a week or two to attend classes. I expect that by the end of June I will be teaching RPM in preparation for my cert video.

Throughout this ordeal I have received calls and emails of support from instructors from around the world. It helped a lot. Thank you to all of my LMI friends from all over the world that have been so supportive throughout the past few months, without you I don’t know if I could have done it. We really are one tribe!!!!!

I cannot participate in my 200 km ride for cancer this year but next year I will!!!!

Updates to follow….


Over the years I have been involved in many different sports and many different activities to get or stay in good physical condition. The only activities that I can say have truly worked are the Les Mills programs. For me, Body Step is my passion and Body Pump is my second passion. Teaching these wonderful classes has taken me to a whole new level of fitness. I also enjoy Body Flow (Balance) and RPM. Who knows, one day I may teach these programs as well. My only disappointment is that I found these programs so late in life, but thank goodness I found them, or they found me!

In January 1976 I suffered a catastrophic knee injury while skiing. I spent many weeks in hospital, then wheelchairs then crutches and physio. It was a year before I could go back to work and school. The Orthopedic surgeon who performed the surgeries (five in total) stressed that I had to keep the muscles around the leg very strong in order for me to walk somewhat normally and that I could be looking at knee replacements by the time I turn 50. He went on to say that he was pleased to see that I was able to use the leg as they were close to amputating when they opened the knee and saw the damage.

I tried many sports including long distance cycling to keep the knee strong. Countless hours were spent weightlifting to keep it strong. It was never really great and I often walked with a limp or had a great deal of pain in the knee. I became very busy and for a number of years ignored fitness and lived on Advil.

In 1996 I started to put on weight and blossomed from my usual 165 to over 200 lbs. That was when the knee problems started back with a vengeance. In 1998 I decided enough was enough and enrolled in my local gym. For three years I attended faithfully, running on the treadmill and lifting weights. With this newfound fitness I decided I should be eating more. So, on September 9, 2001 I joined GoodLife Fitness in London at the tender weight of 245 lbs.

As we got to know people at the gym they suggested we try the classes. My wife tried Flow (Balance) and dragged me out; I enjoyed the class and attended when I could. She then tried Pump and dragged me out. I immediately fell in love with Pump and was hooked. We got to know one of the step instructors and she talked my wife into trying a class. She loved it; she tried to drag me out, no way. The usual excuses, no coordination, I will look stupid yada yada yada… Finally I gave in, the rest is History.

By attending the Les Mills classes, the support of GoodLife Instructors & Staff, and with a lot of help from Weight Watchers (a portion is what????) I was able to lose and keep off 65 pounds. My wife had similar results.

Thanks to BodyStep, Pump, Flow and the many dedicated instructors and trainers my life is changed forever and will be much longer because of it. I have dropped fifteen years in my real age and if it weren’t for the scar I would say what knee injury!

Thank you Les Mills and GoodLife Fitness