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Archives for June 2007

Go Yellow!

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Go yellow - I’m now a body trainer!Finally, everything has fallen into place! For those that have been following my blog will know that I’ve been working as a Club Trainer (red shirt) at Zest for a few months now, and part of the process is that once you’re “ready” you switch over to running your own personal business as a Personal Trainer.

This has just happened for me……….TODAY!

At Zest we’re officially called BODYTRAINERS (yellow shirt) which is under the Les Mills personal training system. Essentially we manage our own business and we’re no longer employees of Zest (although I’ll still have my group fitness classes). This means we pay rent to be able to operate from within Zest. From now on I’ll be relying even more heavily on an accountant to keep me on track.

I didn’t think I’d feel much different, since essentially I’m doing the same job (minus the gym shifts), but I DO feel different. Maybe it’s just because of all the comments I got saying “nice shirt”…..lol. One girl that trains with me was doing a pump class and as I walked past the room she half dropped her bar and her mouth dropped open as she pointed at my shirt. I couldn’t help but laugh, although she should have been watching the instructor…….haha.

So after the first day……..I feel quite good 😉

BODYBALANCE 37

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We’ve been doing the new balance for a couple of weeks now, but I haven’t gotten around to writing about this release, so here it is now. As always, I love each release of balance. The longer I teach, the less I find stuff I don’t like, and that goes for all the programs. But balance is always just special.

1. This tai chi warmup is once again, something different, fresh and beautiful. I keep loving each release.

2. Absolutely in love with the song! Not normally my style of music, but this one just does it for me, and again Jackie has found something different to do with Sun Salutations while still being the same. Love it!

3. Initially I felt uneasy with the 2 different tracks for standing strength. It feels uneven and unsettled. But the more I teach it the more it feels right. I particularly love the first track, so much that I want to sing (oh, watch out!). Evanscence is good too, although it took a few classes before I realised that it was in combat too……lol. Couldn’t figure out why in balance I suddenly wanted to get more aggressive! 😆

4. I thought I was going to be over this song since it’s been in both combat and attack, but the difference mix…….I just love it. And lifting the heel while in tree pose, OUCH!

5. Love the choreography in this one. It’s great for the hips to spend so much time in half lotus. Although one of my hips is a bit dodgy for some reason at the moment. I have to initially demonstrate the new lower option for half lotus (that’s a step up from cross legged). The song? ……..meh

6. Once you get the coordination sorted out, this is an effective track. Not a great track for me though…….but not a bad one either.

7. Very different feel. Strange is the best way I can describe it. Definately very effective chorrey, but just…….odd.

8. Fairly standard twist track. Nothing stands out about this track.

9. Once again 2 pieces of music and a chance to spend a lot of time stretching the hamstrings. Not a lot of musical cues to guide us through the chorrey in the second piece of music, but somehow it just works. Love the standing split……one of my fav hamstring moves. This is one of the moves that gave me the fastest gains in hamstring flexibility all those years ago when I had extremely tight hamstrings……..I always like revisiting this move.

10. Meditation/relaxation – This very different meditation has been discussed lots on the forum and by members and the general consensus from members is that it’s great. Very different obviously, but when I’ve been teaching it I’ve been trying coach people to “think less about the sounds, and more about how it makes you feel.”

Overall another great release! 😉

Taking it easy…

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well I’ve had the flu this week, so needless to say I’ve been taking it a bit easier. It really hit me Tuesday and I only got out of bed once on Tuesday to feed animals and reschedule clients. Back into it Wednesday though which nearly left me gasping for air after combat. The rest of the week has left me pretty fatigued and I didn’t do quite all my classes. I passed on attack Friday night, but Saturday morning I taught attack with options (unfortunately the only other alternative is for the class to be cancelled). I find it so hard backing off while teaching. No matter how sick I feel, it’s my natural instinct to just push through it and go all out. I wore my heart rate monitor though to remind myself not to over do it. I was doing both full options and low options, so that it was still a proper class but while giving myself a bit of a break. Can’t believe it still smashed my heart rate quite considerably!

So, after going to dad’s for his birthday Saturday night, back teaching pump and balance this morning. Still tired, grrr, hate being sick.

One of the worst things is I’m one of those people that doesn’t look sick…….so this is quite a good thing if I’m trying to cover up a hangover or something, not quite so good if I need time off or a bit of sympathy, haha.

Typing this from the comfy of my bed, warm heated room……….early night, snoooooooze, and do it all again tomorrow….

Difference between styles of music…

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As told to me by Eryx on msn:

“Ah but it’s quite simple.  Trance is what it sounds like, music meant to calm you and put you in a trance… dance is techno with lyrics, slower tempo. techno is slower music without lyrics, or just one-liners or so. Happy hardcore is music at about 160-195 BPM that is very happy, trancecore is sped up trance-music, hard trance is slow trance with VERY heavy beats.”

First Frost

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We had our first frost this morning and the forecast for tonight is supposed to go down to -2C. I HATE the cold. I want summer back 🙁

For those that come from other countries, please note that we don’t get snow here, so temps like that is waaaay too cold for me.

Give me 40C anyday!

BODYCOMBAT 32

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BODYCOMBAT 32I’ve surprised myself quite a lot and discovered that I’m actually liking release 32 a bit more than I thought I would! I taught it in my class for the first time tonight, but not the entire class. I got Brandon (a fairly new instructor that hasn’t taught on his own yet) to help me out, since I’ve been so under the pump lately.

He did quite an amazing job. Certainly did a great job of track 4, which isn’t an easy track to teach when you’re new. I SMS’ed him this afternoon and said “wear black”, cuz while I was getting my hair cut I decided on a spontaneous Matrix style theme. I flattened my hair, got the black sunnies and wore a long trenchcoat jacket (not for long though, lol) kinda in Trinity style theme. Forgot to get piccies so I’ll have to put Brandon up to it again and we’ll get photos next time 😉

The class went ok though. I didn’t know my chorrey as well as I’d have liked. I was supposed to have an hour prior to my class to go over my chorrey again, but cuz I had a training session with my friend that ran a bit longer, I ended up with only about 15 mins to go over chorrey…….not enough 🙁

I seriously felt my butt in the conditioning track……..owwww. In the inital training assessment I had with a friend of mine who’s using me for her Cert 4 assignment, she decided to find out my 1RM on the leg press and chest press, so when I got to the conditioning track in combat my butt was seriously shaking with fatigue!!! arrrrrgggggh.

It was freaky though a new member had a free pass to try out the gym and would you believe she’s done my class before at another gym years ago. She recognised me and after she said I did remember her………and would you believe it I actually remembered her name!!! Can’t believe I managed to recall that……my memory surprises me sometimes!

  1. Love this warmup, especially the upper body. The lower body part almost sounds too much like the last one, but it’s ok.
  2. Wasn’t sure about this song initially, but it works. It’s grown on me and I quite like the track. Love the new switch knee 😉
  3. Think this is my fav song musically, don’t like the double bobs much somehow? But the rest of the chorrey is great. 
  4. Intense track. I’ve overheard this song on the radio a bit too much, but again it’s grown on me anyhow. Definately great progression in preparation for the next release. Maybe difficult for newbies to join in at this point?
  5. Initially cheesy song, but this has also grown on me. I had a lot of fun teaching this track tonight, in the notes it says “Level 1 – excitement” and I was like “what the?” So I made my own fun out of the different levels. Level 1 = happy, Level 2 = serious, Level 3 = ……….kinda forgot at this point, so we just started working hard, lol.
  6. hmmm, ok I’m over pink, they’re trashing this song on the radio especially since her series of concerts here. But otherwise it’s an ok track.
  7. Definately another grow on me track! Initially I wasn’t wrapped, but now I’m loving it. From the smile on Nat’s face I think she loved it too………especially the speed up bit 😉
  8. Another radio song, and love the build up and fun to finish this one off with
  9. ok, just a suggestion guys, while this release is out don’t try and find out your 1RM on the leg press before doing combat………just don’t…. 😯
  10. The katas in this release are not my fav katas, but this cooldown rocks anyway!

Alexander coming to Oz

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Alexander, one of our trusty moderators is coming to Australia in August! More specifically…..Adelaide. 😉

So this means in August Sofie and I are going to have a dutchie scrutinising our classes, and we can show Alex how Les Mills is done Ozzie style!

The good news is Alex will actually be staying with me, mostly, I think? lol, can you tell lots hasn’t been planned yet? I’m cleaning out the stables and getting them ready for his arrival….haha 😉 If anyone has any suggestions or ideas on where to take a dutchie on holidays they’d be appreciated. I think Alex might be lucky enough to experience an Adelaide workshop aswell……or maybe that’d be a good time to make the effort to go to Melbourne or Sydney for a workshop?

Checkout the countdown in the right column 😉
(currently disabled – I broke my blog trying to get the date right)

PS: I wasn’t joking about the stables

PPS: ok ok, I WAS kidding….alright!

Vote for Les Mills!!!

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Les Mills has entered its program video clips in a contest being run by the IDEA Health and Fitness Association. Check out the clips on the contest page and vote for your favourite. You can vote as many times as you like (once a day max) until the competition closes on June 20 and it would be great to get your support.
The links directly to each LM program are:

BODYJAM
BODYCOMBAT
RPM
BODYSTEP
BODYPUMP
BODYBALANCE/FLOW
BODYATTACK

Vote for your favourite, and then keep voting!

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Balance after BODYPUMP 62 launch

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After the bodypump launch I had my usual (non-launch) balance class. Only one of the members that dressed up for the pump launch stayed for balance, so I took that opportunity to get piccies after the class.

But I didn’t wear those shorts for balance though! 😛

After pump launch

BODYPUMP 62 launch

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BODYPUMP 63As mentioned in my blog the theme for our BODYPUMP62 launch was Tiaras/feathers/leather/lace with an optional gold coin donation to the Cancer Council. I haven’t yet checked how much was donated from the class, but it was great to see quite a few members put something in. Some didn’t actually bring purses in with them and apologised, but I know the thought was there.

I went all out myself for this theme and some of the members all got into it and dressed up or wore tiaras. It was great. Me? What did I wear? ahem, well I wore the shortest shorts I’ve ever worn ever 😳 Actually it was a skort, but anyway, I wish there wasn’t a mirror behind me in this class! lol

BODYPUMP 62 launch

I took tracks 1-5. The warmup is a fraction tricky with slightly odd timing, but nothing like the last release so it was all cool. The music tastes a little bit like cheap candy to me, but it’s still ok.

Love the squat track. Everyone knows the song, great sing along factor……“You don’t want anyyyyyyone, don’t tell me………..this is BODYPUMP!”

Chest – the song is great, groovy track. Think I can go up in weight on this one. But, it was damn hard learning it after having the song in combat. I don’t mind it when they reuse tracks, but it’s DAMN HARD when the put all the choruses in different places. I wasn’t sure when we just did singles or when the single bottom pulses followed the singles. Listened to it over and over to get it, and thankfully nailed it in the launch.

Back track, how many shoulder rolls are there? Had to listen to this one aswell a few times more than I normally would have to for a back track just to figure out the shoulder rolls. Love this one though, love when you do the rows. Need the music pumping louder than my ipod will allow though. Need to feel the beat vibrate through your body 😉

Triceps are still a killer. My triceps were still aching and this track is relentless! After the pullovers, then the overhead extensions……….but I heard some groans when we dropped for the tricep pushups. I love that little surprise at the end 😀

Ivica took over the class for the second half of the class. Biceps is an ok track, it’s kinda growing on me although it does somehow feel out of place.

Lunges, insane, just insane! If you didn’t lift enough weight in squats it doesn’t matter. These will CANE you. Backward stepping lunges off the bench…….OH THE BURN!

The track for shoulders doesn’t really motivate me, but it’s nice to have the new (old?) move in this track. Although it’s been in pump before I haven’t actually taught it before.

Love the track for abs. Most of this track was a bit of a blur for me though, since I was actually more busy trying not to stab myself with the coins from my clothing, and making sure my skort didn’t end up TOO short 😳

Cooldown is a nice enough track. At least it’s not a horrible opera song, so it’s just-another-pump-cooldown. 😉

Pump Team Teach

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Had an amazing time in my pump class this morning. An instructor friend from Melbourne (Wayne) came over to Adelaide for the weekend and pumped with me 😉

It was fantastic to be able to have a fun, relaxing team teach without some of the political issues that go on, or the stress that is usually associated with launches (learning chorrey!!!). Since we don’t launch until tomorrow night we did shared a mix for the class, which worked out quite well, since I’m at the point where I can’t mix any more mixes between now and tomorrow night!

I started off the class with tracks 1-4, no newbies and I’m pleased to say that the technique from everybody in the room was pretty damn good. There was an attack training going on though and so we had to wait for Dean to clear out the room before we could set up. The tricep track Wayne took was ok, but he smashed our arms with the bicep and shoulder tracks! OWWWWW! I actually hit muscle failure with the last rep in shoulders. That’s never happened to me before…….I felt my technique waver and I refused to let my posture go just to get the bar up. I felt my posture waver then, then the bar wavered……and all I could think was “thank gawd I haven’t got the mic!” Any more reps and I would have had to drop the bar and grab the plates!

Lots of fun and from the sounds of it I think the guys in the room enjoyed the male presence. 😉
I enjoyed the team teach and Wayne is just such a cool guy. This is how team teaching should really be!

Todays tracklist:

  1. Love Changes – BP61
  2. Walk On Water – BP61
  3. Smooth Criminal – BP44
  4. Pray – BP49 Best of
  5. Sexyback – BP61
  6. Spirit In The Sky – BP56 bonus (I forgot how hard this one was!!!)
  7. I Want You – BP57
  8. Pretty Vegas – BP59
  9. Hips Don’t Lie – BP60
  10. So Far Away – BP60

Gotta get back to learning BP62 now for the launch tomorrow night!

Soy Milk

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I think Wayne and Emily have fully gotten me onto Soy milk. I’ve always been kinda funny with milk…….I’m very very fussy and although I have it in cereal these days (muesli) I just tolerate it rather than like it. Emily is vegetarian so we bought some Soy milk and I was keen to try it. Sometimes milk these days has a tainted taste. No one seems to notice it but me, but when it’s like that I feel like throwing up as I have a mouthful of it. The milk is fine, but I just can’t bear it!

Sooo, while Emily was here I tried a small amount in my muesli and the first thing I thought was “hmmm, it tastes like chaff” (chaff is cut up horse hay, and since I have horses I’m used to the smell and it’s quite pleasant). Chaff kinda goes with muesli ok, so it’s all good 😆

That was Sunday, but then this morning before my 6am pump class I had cereal again, and the initial shock of “what IS this?” taste had gone away and I think I actually liked the taste better than milk.

We also some chocolate flavoured Soy milk and I’m completely addicted to that now!

Soooo, I’m happy to say that I think I’ve just made the switch from milk to Soy! It won’t stop me from having dairy on a general basis, like in boost juice smoothies or whatever. But I’ll just eat it at home 😉