Millennium Park BodyCombat
What do you get when you combine a FREE Saturday morning group fitness class, a spectacular park, and one of the BEST mixed martial arts based fitness classes in the world? One heck of a good time! Dan and Julia Newgent presented BODYCOMBAT™
to hundreds of instructors, participants, and novices in one of the last free fitness experiences of the summer at Millennium Park.
Melanie Yabes of SCW Fitness had this to say, “People who never even did BODYCOMBAT™, let alone Les Mills classes were participating and from the looks of it were enjoying it. Originally a Pilates class takes place in that time slot and those expecting that class actually stayed for BODYCOMBAT™. Looking around I saw people of all ages- from 12 to 80 years of age. There was a lot of energy and enthusiastic participants. The setting was perfect. There were a number of people who traveled across the state to attend. All in all, I thought it was a truly successful event and would love to see it held in Millennium Park again!”
Lakeshore Athletic Club in Chicago jointly sponsors this incredible fitness experience every Saturday while the weather permits. Offering a free class to the masses who would attend is one way to generate excitement about an alternative to sedentary living. Events like this may be the best way to help non-gym goers sample what clubs have to offer today. The outdoor environment is unique and non-threatening…oh and it’s FUN!
The BODYCOMBAT™ team loved watching the punching, kicking, shouting and sweating of the crowd! This event was inspirational for all involved. We extend many thanks to all who participated and also to the staff who made it possible. After a previous “rain out”, this experience looked to be improbable. Dan and Julia, however, really pulled it off! Les Mills Midwest was happy to be part of such a creative approach to the fight against obesity and hope to be invited back again in the future!
BODYCOMBAT™ is the empowering cardio workout where participants are totally unleashed. This fiercely energetic program is inspired by martial arts and draws from a wide array of disciplines such as Karate, boxing, Taekwondo, Tai Chi and Muay Thai. Supported by driving music and powerful role model instructors, students can strike, punch, kick and kata their way through calories to superior cardio fitness. If you didn’t make it to the park, you should try this class ANYWAY, ANYWHERE!
Stay with the Fight! KIA ORA!
Influential Instructors Inspire Success
As you know, it can be the hard work and dedication of instructors that really drives the success of group fitness in a club. Instructors can be incredibly influential and motivating not only for participants, but for their GFM also.
If it weren’t for the vision and passion of two instructors, Sharon Neish and Sally Dryden, the Beach House Morayfield (BHM), Australia wouldn’t be offering three well attended BODYVIVE® classes per week to their appreciative members. 
The former GFM wasn’t excited by BODYVIVE® so Sharon and Sally decided to go and train and certify in BODYVIVE® anyway, so they could bring it to their local community – even if they couldn’t teach it at BHM! Yet following training, Sharon went back to the (now) former GFM and showed her the moves and the music and inspired the GFM to invest in the additional monthly fee in order to give BODYVIVE® a try.
Instructors lead the way
Sally and Sharon lead the way on organizing the launch of BODYVIVE®. One of Sharon’s first actions was to go and talk to Nadia who runs the sales team at BHM.
“I knew I had to get the sales team on board to help grow BODYVIVE® attendances or it would be a much harder task to make BODYVIVE® as successful as it could be in BHM. So, I established with Nadia that we had a gap in our offering at BHM for people who were unfit, rehabilitating, older or pregnant and yet wanted to exercise. During our chat, Nadia agreed that BODYVIVE® was a superb entry point for all of these people and would help the sales team both attract and convert prospective members in this niche much more effectively. It’s a win-win for us all. As a result, the whole sales team (six staff) advise BODYVIVE® as the starting point for exercising for anyone who fits the niche. For this market, I think that BODYVIVE® has a wider appeal than say, BODYFLOW®, Yoga or Pilates as mind/body doesn’t appeal to a big chunk of the population.”
Promotion started four weeks out from the BODYVIVE® launch. It was a separate event fromBHM’s quarterly Mega Launch for its other five LES MILLS™ programs and it went off with a bang! It only cost about AUD 300 for theparty including Sharon and Sally’s wages for team teaching.  The launch was marketed using a range of low or zero cost tactics. Instructors announced the launch and handed out guest passes in other GF classes. Teachers explained to attendees they were worth AUD 15 each and so to give them away to someone who really would want to come to the new program launch. (BHM has an announcements folder for GF to make sure that all instructors pass on consistent, unified messages to participants).
The GF team also put up posters around the club which they created using the free imagery available on eClub www.lesmills.com/eclub and produced on the club’s color laser printer. The club’s plasma screens in the welcome area also promoted that BODYVIVE® was soon to arrive with the launch dates. The event was also highlighted on the club’s website and reminders regarding the event were sent out to the club’s database by email and also by texting short, fun messages to recipients’ cell phones. Members had to book in to get a place a launch and there were 35 spots which were all taken!
The launch class was a big success and was followed by coffee and cake in the cafe where virtually everyone stayed and enjoyed giving feedback to the instructors.
“It’s become a bit of a ritual actually. After BODYVIVE® classes, people go and grab a coffee and have a chat. It’s great for that community feeling which is so important to us at BHM,” Sharon grins.
Click here to read more of this inspirational story.
Meet the Parents of…Grace Renata
Born: March 22nd 2008 at 11.13am by C Section (ARIES)
Weight: 3.12kg (6.8 pounds)
Height: 50 cm
This beautiful young lady is the offspring of two international fitness personalities. Not just any two fitness personalities, but two who work for Les Mills International AND will be IN CHICAGO for Midwest MANIA! Grace wants you to meet her PARENTS!
The family is currently living in the Netherlands based in Rotterdam. Steve and Susan Tolj-Renata are heading the European Les Mills International office. These professionals provide agency support for EU countries.
Steve Renata, featured in many previous rpm™ and BODYPUMP™ videos, conducts trainings specific to Group Fitness Management for PROFIT, Sales and Retention, business development and is an International Master Trainer. Steve will be presenting the Group Fitness Management Seminar at MANIA with Phillip Mills. He will also be featured in numerous Les Mills master classes!
Susan Tolj-Renata provides training support, market research and is an International Master Trainer. She is also Program Director and Head of Training for BODYPUMP™. She has been featured in a LOT of instructor DVD’s for BODYSTEP™ and BODYPUMP™ as well.
Susan has been a Les Mills teacher for 10 years. She has been teaching group fitness for 20 plus years. For the last 7 years she has been a trainer, traveling the globe as an International Master Trainer for 5 years. Her promotion to Program Director of BODYPUMP™ was 3 years ago.
Those credentials alone make you want to participate in her INTENSIVE class this year at the Les Mills Midwest SUPER quarterly at MANIA! The rest of her story, however, is just as interesting. Read on to find out a little more about this incredible lady, Grace’s mom!
LMMW: What got you started with Les Mills?
SUSAN: I was “spotted” at the gym by Mark Nuu (BODYSTEP™ Program Director) who asked me if I had ever thought about teaching BODYSTEP™? I said I was interested and he put me in touch with the Les Mills AK (New Zealand) GFM who gave me a class straight away. Not long after attending my first ever quarterly workshop as a “presenter” I knew my heart was in Les Mills and this incredible fitness family. A short time later I was given the opportunity to present BODYPUMP™ on DVD with Mike McSweeney (the original Program Director, developer and choreographer) and the rest is history!
LMMW: How many DVD (kit) releases have you been in? Which ones?
SUSAN: My first DVD presentation was BODYPUMP™ Release 48. WOW (no one likes counting back huh?) I helped on and off during the 50’s (50, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58) and then when Glen (Ostergaard) and I were appointed the “caretakers” of BODYPUMP™ we both started on Release 59. I continued on with DVD presenting right through my pregnancy so you see a really big belly in Release 66. I am based in Rotterdam until October so I am taking a break from DVD’s while I am here. Be back strong on Release 69!
LMMW: Susan, what is your role as Program Director and Head of Training for BODYPUMP™?
SUSAN: My job is to ensure that the ongoing (quarterly) education material supports each new release and that teachers are getting sufficient information they need to provide members information to make sensible decisions about their workouts. It is especially important with BODYPUMP™ where you have so many options and choices to make. Resistance training is so beneficial for your body and it’s important to arm teachers with technical information to help them educate their members. I also helped develop the initial training module for new teachers. I also look at what is happening around  the world with fitness trends and feedback to Les Mills International (about) any new ideas happening in the world. And the best bit is to visit countries and work with trainers, teachers in training sessions or at quarterly workshops like MANIA.
LMMW: What brought you to the USA several years ago?
SUSAN: Les Mills International wanted to work directly with the wonderful USA market. We wanted to make sure clubs and instructors knew we were committed to helping businesses grow and so we sent up a team of our best workers across the whole business to help in the transition from the previous distributors. We wanted to meet and work directly with our customers and meet face to face with as many people as we could to secure a healthy relationship for the future. The parent company wanted to give our American family faith that Les Mills International programs are the best in the world and worth fighting for.
LMMW: What was it like coming over to the USA to help re-launch Les Mills? How was life in California?
SUSAN: Really exciting. Based in California and traveling almost every weekend to different parts of America to train thousands of new instructors and present at incredible quarterly events like MANIA and meet so many passionate people who share the same focus and drive to get people in the world healthy and fit. My first (new) possession was a wall map of the USA I pinned in my work cubicle so when instructors and GFM’s phoned me I could easily pinpoint where they were calling from…soon enough I could pick it up from the accent…I challenge anyone to a quiz on American Geography now! I love the sunshine, the big cars (although we had a Nissan sentra!!!) the laid back spirit of the people, the coastline (especially the Ventura Highway), the shopping malls, the Californian red wine, margaritas, Mexican food…well the list goes on. 
LMMW: Are Les Mills instructors all over the world the same?
SUSAN: Yes I believe so. People are all different and our programs allow you to bring your own spice, flavor and personality. Like I said before we all share similar ambitions to help people get fit and live healthy lives…for longer. We all seem to share the same “buzz” when the music starts and exercises start pumpin.
LMMW: What is unique about Americans?
SUSAN: Oooh – that’s a tough one. Taco Bell? IHOP? Ha. The wonderful people I met in the USA all seem to share a genuine concern for the issues in your country, which for us the main one is Obesity. So there is a real sense of national pride and I have to say y’all (Southern accent) are just the best hosts.
LMMW: Where do you see Les Mills International going in the USA?
SUSAN: I see the USA sitting alongside the other countries of the world. Growing steadily and really succeeding in getting people off their sofas and into the Group Fit studios…class by class. It’s a real team effort, club owners with direction and passion, sales teams, marketing whizzes, instructors with endless energy, club admin staff who love their jobs, cleaners who take pride in a pristine club, members who commit to their own health and fitness. We all have a role to play to make the dream come true.
LMMW: How did you land in Rotterdam? How are you enjoying your time in Europe?
SUSAN: Les Mills International set up a European base here in Holland and Steve and I were sent to front the office. We share  skills that add value for our agents. Europe is fast and furious and so diverse and we love it. The European cultures have so much incredible history that it is quite daunting to visit some of the places we do. New Zealand is only 200 hundred years old. A very young country, so it’s really exciting to visit cities with histories of wars, famous artists, inspirational leaders, architects and people of the land.
LMMW: Since this is REALLY about Grace, how did the two of you meet and fall in love?
SUSAN: (We) Knew each other at University (20 years ago…) and had met from time to time when we were working for Les Mills. (We) Always had fancied each other but circumstances never allowed us to fall in love until the end of 2005 after our USA tours when we had both returned to New Zealand. NOW MARRIED WITH A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRL!
LMMW: We are SOOOOO excited to have you come to Midwest MANIA! How do you feel about coming?
SUSAN: This will be my third MANIA and the events are fabulous! Lots of teachers that really enjoy sharing what we do with each other. I have never visited Chicago and am excited to learn about the history of the city. I see how cold it can get so (we) will be packing a warm jacket, hat and gloves for sure…
Don’t worry Susan. October isn’t THAT cold! Thank you for sharing the story of your wonderful journey with us. CONGRATULATIONS on your success and also on that amazing little girl of yours!
We hope you will join us for ALL the events at Midwest MANIA this year and the Les Mills Midwest SUPER quarterly. Please note something very special for certified BODYPUMP™ instructors. Twenty instructors, INTENSE training, 2 opportunities, 4 hours, making the good even better with Susan Tolj-Renata, for the first time EVER in the Midwest! Sign up for the BODYPUMP™ INTENSIVE today!
Want to meet Steve in a small group setting? Sign up for an RPM™ master class or come for FREE to the Group Fitness Management Seminar. These are very special opportunities to learn from the world’s elite! We hope to see you there!
BodyJam Intructors
You Have Been Heard!
 Those of us who teach the energy packed, party class BODYJAM understand the variety of participants this format attracts. Experienced dancers, night club patrons, novice exercisers, and even teens are drawn to this experience for a variety of reasons. Instructors have sometimes struggled with the pace and complexity of this class when large numbers of new comers arrive in a prime time class. Les Mills has heard you!
Beginning with BODYJAM release 47, the class will be available in two distinct levels of difficulty. Instructors will receive very specific instructions as to the appropriate time and manner in which to implement the more complex option. The choreographer of the program has worked to maintain the integrity of the format while reaching out to a more diverse group of participants.
Les Mills always encourages instructors to use the continuing education included with new releases. We also know from experience that when the opportunity to attend an education session live is available, you should take it. If at all possible, BODYJAM instructors should make every effort to attend the upcoming quarterly that will feature release 47. Come and see the result of your feedback and commitment to the program. Your input is appreciated and has resulted in a dramatic change to a program we love that will hopefully attract more participants to BODYJAM. KIA KAHA!
Prairie Athletic Club Provides an
Extreme Challenge
During an Extreme Winter!
By Joli Guenther, MSSW, NASM-CPT
 Les Mills instructors know that participating in the Les Mills program specific Challenges is one of the best experiences of the initial training module. A motivated group of fitness instructors in Wisconsin's Prairie Athletic Club wanted to give their members the same feeling of achievement. As Kim Ireland, one of PAC's group fitness leaders tells the story, "all of the instructors were participating in a Challenge of our own one day, and I thought, Why not bring this opportunity to our members who are always looking for the next big thing in fitness? And why not use our Les Mills Program as our core material?"
During the month of December, members and non-members were given the opportunity to sign up for the limited 20 slots available for the seven week Les Mills fitness Challenge that began in early January. Each week during the Challenge, designated leaders within each program worked to facilitate a new Challenge each week. Challenges were based on the initial trainings experienced by each Les Mills instructor and included a Challenge for each of the Les Mills Programs offered at PAC. In order to keep participants guessing, the focus of the Challenge was not announced ahead of time, ensuring that participants were motivated and ready to experience the full range of Les Mills programs. The final Challenge offered was a full mind-BODYFLOW™ experience. We ended with a guided meditation emphasizing the gains of participants and ways to integrate their new experience into challenges they might confront in the future.
Making the Challenges work for participants required some alteration from the structure of the Challenges offered during training modules, especially in the level of supervision given to participants.. When station formats were used, generally one instructor was assigned to each station to ensure the safety and effective technique of participants. This guidance was especially valuable for participants who were inexperienced in a particular week's focus class. Another key to ensuring success was partnering veteran participants with rookies, giving members a chance to show off their own strengths and to form new friendships during the experience. The core group of Challenge instructors learned to appreciate which participants needed to be pushed and which ones needed support.
The call for numerous instructors and facilities during an incredibly busy time of year required enormous support from both Group Fitness Management and the  management of PAC. Group Fitness Manager, Melissa Sebastian, provided program support and outreach that ensured buy-in among club members, fitness instructors, and management. To offset the cost of multiple instructors and to keep motivation high, Challenge Participants paid a small training fee upon committing to the program. Additionally, the Challenge was promoted within the club through frequent announcements before and after class, signage, and email notifications. Community outreach in the form of press releases and advertisement created an even broader base of support.
The rewards for both participants and instructors were substantial. Participants reported gains in stamina, both physical and mental, and increased motivation for their fitness lifestyle. They also enjoyed the opportunity to try programs they might not have experienced and to receive the benefit of closer attention from some of their favorite instructors. Extreme Challenge leaders reported getting to know their participants better and strengthening their relationships with some really dedicated class members. All in all the Les Mills Extreme Challenge was a success on many levels. We are anxious to do it again!
Congratulations on your success PAC! We are glad you have found such a unique way to create interest in the programs and broaden the appeal and base of support for them in your facility! Keep up the good work. If you have a story about your facility’s creative marketing of the Les Mills programs, please submit them to editor@mw.lesmillsusa.com.
About the author: Joli Guenther is a certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor at Prairie Athletic Club. She is certified in BodyFlow and BodyAttack and is pursuing BodyPump certification. Joli also works as a Masters Level Social Worker and Mental Health Therapist and provides consultation services and training to corporations and individuals.
Bring on the Bodcast!
The latest LES MILLS® Bodcast is ready for downloading today and to make things super simple for you a page has been created on lesmills.com just for the podcasts. Check it out!
In this Bodcast LES MILLS® Trainer Matt Thraxton talks about the benefits of a Personal Trainer and what to look for when selecting one, Program Director Lisa Osborne talks fluro leotards, jazzergetics and why you should get into BODYATTACK® and LES MILLS® Creative Director Emma Barry fronts up to the Coaches Corner talking 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.
Your feedback is appreciated. Let us know what you like, what you don't like and what you'd like to see more of. We really value your opinion so click here and let us know what you think. Be loud and heard!
Water, Water, Water!
How many times have you heard, “You should drink ‘x’ amounts of water every day”; “You should drink at certain times”, and “Too much water can be bad for you?” And how confusing is it all?
To put a stop to some of the myths about drinking water we spoke to Anthony Wall in the latest Les Mills Bodcast (click here to download). Anthony (pictured) is a former top 25 sprinter in the UK, specializes in hydration in exercise and has been published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.
Diving straight in, how much should we drink?
There are lots of myths around how much water you should drink. There’s the 8x8 theory – you should drink 8 glasses of water, or two liters, a day. There are also a few equations out there you may have heard of – multiplying your bodyweight by a certain amount and drinking that amount of water.
 So let’s make it easy for you! Start drinking water as soon as you get up in the morning. If, about four hours after getting up, you go to the bathroom and your urine is clear, that means you’ve drunk enough water. If it is still somewhat yellow, you have to drink more water. That’s probably the easiest way to gauge whether or not you’re drinking enough water.
So what about drinking water while exercising? Should we drink before, during and after?
If we’re talking about your average gym-goer, you’re going to want to ensure you’re fully hydrated before you start exercising as research shows your performance is going to be much better than if you go into exercise two to three percent dehydrated.
During exercise you want to rehydrate for those same reasons. If, at the end of a workout you can maintain your hydration levels, you’re going to perform better and feel better about the exercise you do. There are both physical and mental components to rehydration.
Should I drink as much as I sweat?
If you look at some of the research that’s out there, guidelines suggest drinking one to two glasses of water for every 15-20 minutes of exercise. But it’s not always realistic to stick to these guidelines given different exercise activities and weather conditions. It really comes down to what is comfortable for you. If you can rehydrate before exercise and you can drink regularly during exercise, even if it’s just a few mouthfuls, you’re going to be better off when you finish exercising.
What else rehydrates you?
Your fluid intakes don’t just come from drinking. If you have a healthy diet you’re probably going to be getting about a liter of water a day from food intake. That’s something that a lot of recommendations don’t necessarily take into account. So a man should probably need to be having a total of two and a half liters a day and women a little bit less – about two liters of water a day. But that’s including a liter of water or hydration from your food.
How do I know if I’m dehydrated? Is it too late by then?
 The urine test, as discussed earlier, is one way to know if you’re dehydrated. It’s important to make sure you’re hydrated properly before you exercise because unless you are excessively dehydrated, you won’t know you’re dehydrated. The only way you can tell would be to measure your performance one day, do the exact same exercise the next day, and measure your performance in conjunction with how much water you’ve consumed.
What about putting salt in water? What difference does that make?
About 25 years people used to put a little bit of salt and a little bit of orange juice in their water and drink that back after exercising. Salt is one of the things you sweat out, as are other minerals like potassium, calcium and magnesium. But back then it was thought only salt was lost when you sweat so the idea of putting salt into water is based on that old theory.
If putting salt in your water helps it taste better and makes it easier for you to take in then its fine to add it, but aside from that, you’re not getting a big benefit from putting salt in your water.
It has been recommended that you have a salty snack after exercise as this helps turn on that thirst mechanism which, for many people, has been depressed.
What’s the single biggest misconception when it comes to drinking water?
Should you drink cold water or hot water? Physiologically there’s no difference. Cold water does exactly the same in your body as tepid and hot water does. However some people find it easier to drink tepid or hot water and say it’s better for you because it doesn’t give you headaches after hard exercise. But it really doesn’t matter what sort of water you’re drinking, so long as you’re drinking it.
Final words of wisdom…
There are a lot of different diseases or conditions that occur as a result of people being chronically dehydrated including urinary tract infections, colon cancer and certain pulmonary disorders. Dehydration is probably one of the easiest things to prevent. We all have access to water. Most of the time it’s clean and it’s fresh and we have the ability to have it whenever we want. If you can drink the right amount before you get down that road it’s going to be so much easier.
Team RPM Rides Again
Afterraising over $15,000 for Lance Armstrong's Foundation in 2007, Les Mills Team RPM will participate in its second annual Livestrong Bikeride raising money and awareness for cancer.
This year the ride takes place in Austin, Texas and consists of 90 miles of mixed terrain. The goal this year is to raise $50,000 with a team of 25 riders which includes RPM Master Trainers, instructors and friends and spouses.
The team will be doing a variety of fundraising efforts on their own to reach their own personal fundraising goal. Clubs and instructors throughout the US will be taking part in fundraising events.
Click here for more info.
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