Interview with Otto Prodan

Sarah Shortt (SS): Hi Otto! How did you get into fitness?

Otto Prodan (OP): Growing up in Brazil, I was very overweight. And kids can be mean. They made fun of me, so I literally stopped eating, lost heaps of weight, and went from one extreme to the other. At the age of 15, I started going to the gym to help me find balance. I had a personal trainer and he made me warm up on a bike which faced the group fitness studio. Watching the classes, I thought ‘That looks fun.’

I started arriving earlier and earlier every week just so I could watch the classes. I used to finish school, go straight to the gym, and sit on the bike for an hour watching BODYATTACK™. I did that for three weeks. And then one day I decided I was going to do the class. I remember looking at my watch 20 minutes in and thinking ‘Oh my gosh, it never ends.’ But when I finished the class, I knew right then I wanted to teach.

After that, I was always the kid in the front row. I never skipped a class. If we went on holiday, I made sure we were back in time to attend Monday 5.30pm. I became obsessed with it, and the Instructors noticed. When they were preparing for new releases, they would invite me to join them in their mirror work, and soon I had learned all the choreography organically.

When I turned 18, I wanted to study fitness at university, but my dad was very against it because in Brazil it’s difficult to make a good living. He told me to do something else and in the end I studied geology. But I was very unhappy.

I still get self-conscious and compare myself to others. And sometimes I will make myself feel small. I tell myself: “Oh, I’m not as good as such and such person.”

SS: What prompted your move to New Zealand?

OP: I hated geology. And I wanted to drop out. My dad suggested I come and study here because my sister was living in New Zealand. He thought it would be good for me to study geology here because there are volcanoes and stuff, but I just wanted to come here for Les Mills.

The first thing I did on the day I landed was go straight to the Les Mills Auckland City gym. I went up to the front desk and asked the receptionist, “Does Lisa Osborne teach here? Because if she doesn’t, I’m not joining.” And she looked at the clock and told me that Lisa was teaching a class right then. I went to the class, and I was totally starstruck.

I continued my studies in geology, but I was still very unhappy. I went to the gym every day to fill my cup. Eventually, I got in touch with the GFM Chris Richardson. He put me through Initial Training for BODYSTEP™ and BODYATTACK and teaching became my priority.

English is my second language, so I had to overcome the communication barrier. I put a lot of effort into it. I never wanted to teach an average class – I always wanted to teach the best class ever. Two days beforehand, I would be practising for hours in front of the mirror. I put a lot of time into scripting. I spent so many nights learning choreography until midnight, and then I’d wake at 7am and go over the choreography again and again until I got it perfect.

It never felt like work to me because it was my passion. I decided that fitness was going to become my full-time job. And I still have the same passion I had when I first discovered BODYATTACK at 15 years old.

SS: In Advanced Training, we talk about teaching from our strengths. What is your strength?

OP: I am a coach. And that comes from being curious. If I see someone doing a backbend, I'm like, ‘Wait, how do we get to that? What muscles are we using?’ I have quite an analytical brain, and so it will go to: ‘What are the joints doing? What muscles are we using? What do we need to stretch here?’

I never want to be that technical coach that people can't understand. For example, in yoga, there's a lot of technical language and things that are not explained well. When I start teaching yoga, I want to coach people in a way that I wish someone had taught me. Keep it simple. I like using little tricks that nobody teaches you – that you don’t know about until you feel it in your body. I share those tips with my class to help them get a deeper experience of the movements.

I joined the gym in a very, very vulnerable time of my life. I went from being overweight to very underweight. Looking back now, I think I had an eating disorder. I was also having problems at home because my dad had found out I was gay. I didn't want to be home, and the gym was my happy place.

SS: What’s the biggest challenge you encounter when teaching?

OP: I still get self-conscious and compare myself to others. And sometimes I will make myself feel small. I tell myself: “Oh, I’m not as good as such and such person.”

For example, my first experience of filming BODYBALANCE™ was in L.A. for LES MILLS LIVE. Being in a room full of people who have been doing BODYBALANCE for years was really intimidating. All the Presenters were doing the splits and back bends and all these beautiful poses and I thought ‘I can’t do this.’

SS: And how did you get over that?

OP: I told myself: "I’m here for a reason. I was selected to be in BODYBALANCE because I bring something to the program. Diana [Archer Mills] believes in me so much that she’s put me in the filming team, and I should back myself. Maybe I can’t do the splits, but I’m bringing something unique and different."

I go back to my strength. I’m an individual that brings something to the team that nobody else does. So maybe somebody else has something that I don’t. Rather than berating myself for not being as good as that person in that particular area, I go back to my strengths, teach from there. And that helps me to not feel so small.

SS: You’ve worked with a lot of great mentors. What’s the best advice you’ve ever had?

OP: It came from Tau Siolo, and what he said helped me to switch from constantly seeking external validation, to going more internal:

“You could have this beautiful apple and there's going to be someone out there that doesn't like apples. You know, someone out there likes peaches and that's absolutely okay. You don't need to please everyone as long as you're happy with your effort.”

SS: You’ve been teaching for over a decade now. What tips do you have for longevity?

OP: Don't try and do too much. I've always tried to just do a few things really well, so I don’t lose the passion or just end up teaching really average classes because I’m so tired from over-teaching.

Be true to who you are. When you really love teaching your classes, the members feel it. And when the members feel it, other people see it too. And if you're teaching a class that you don't enjoy, or if you're not vibing the program, let someone else do it. Let someone else have the opportunity. I've done that a lot.

SS: Oh, really? You’ve dropped classes?

OP: When I started, I was teaching 20 classes a week. And I was on airplane mode. And one day it just clicked. I was like: "You know what? I'm tired of hearing my voice on the microphone". I was like: "Man, I'm losing that passion". And I went from teaching 20 classes a week to teaching eight.

I felt bad. I felt really bad because I connected with all my classes, so I felt like I was letting the members down. And also letting management down. But it was the best decision because I went back to teaching with full energy. Full passion.

Less is more. Make sure you do your own training on top of it all to keep learning and keep growing because it’ll keep your coaching fresh. It’ll stop you repeating the same stuff all the time. Now I’m down to five classes, and I’m excited for every class.

When I teach my classes, I want people to have that same feeling that the BODYATTACK Instructor gave me. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter your fitness level. It doesn't matter what's going on at home. You can come here and have a good time and feel good in your body. No judgement.

SS: What would people be surprised to learn about you?

OP: I'm very shy. Very, very, very shy. If you put me in a room with more than three people, I disappear into my shell and I find it really hard to come out of it. I've always been that kid who picks up a book and goes into a room by myself and just reads for hours.

I need my own space to recharge. I find it really hard to go out with my friends when I'm tired. I bail on a lot of social occasions. And I'm very socially awkward sometimes. I’ll say things that may come out as inappropriate because I just don’t know what to say. I will put myself out there because I need to make new friends, but I find it really hard. Being at the L.A. filming was cool, but it was a bit overwhelming because I'm not used to being around a lot of people.

SS: And what has fitness done for you personally?

OP: I joined the gym in a very, very vulnerable time of my life. I went from being overweight to very underweight. Looking back now, I think I had an eating disorder. I was also having problems at home because my dad had found out that I was gay. I didn't want to be home, and the gym was my happy place.

When I went to that BODYATTACK class, the Instructor made me feel seen, made me feel like I was okay. That I belonged. I didn't feel like I belonged in the school. I didn't feel like I belonged at home. I wasn't feeling good in my body. And I was being told that what I was doing was wrong. But in the gym, in that class, it didn't matter and the Instructor didn't care. I was being encouraged to be myself, to be as flamboyant as I liked, to wave my hands in the air and enjoy myself. I felt like I could express myself in a way I couldn’t in other parts of my life.

Through my Instructor journey, I’ve grown as a human. When I first moved to New Zealand I was told: “Just be yourself”. Like that’s so easy. But it can be a hard thing to do when I’d always been told “Don't act this way. Don't say stuff this way. Don't sound this way. Don't move this way.”

When I teach my classes, I want people to have that same feeling that the BODYATTACK Instructor gave me. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter your fitness level. It doesn't matter what's going on at home. You can come here and have a good time and feel good in your body. No judgement.

Otto Prodan is a Les Mills Ambassador. He currently teaches LES MILLS TONE™, RPM™, LES MILLS CORE™, LES MILLS THE TRIP™, BODYBALANCE™ and BODYSTEP™. Originally from Brazil, he's now based in Auckland, New Zealand. Follow Otto on Instagram

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