Perhaps you have been down to the gym but found all those exercise machines a little daunting? It doesn’t help your confidence when there is some super-toned muscle-bound hunk running on the treadmill at break neck speed.
And let’s face it, running on a treadmill is quite dull isnt it? Lonely too, even with a personal trainer encouraging you on.
This is why I love group fitness classes. They aren’t dull at all. You feel motivated not only by the instructor but also by the other participants. There’s a social element as well as healthy competition.
The first class I ever went too was Body Pump over ten years ago. I remember being a reluctant attendee. My legs were on fire the following day with the sheer agony of delayed onset muscle soreness. But after a few classes I began to notice results – a difference to my physique and my stamina.
Soon after I discovered Body Combat, the martial arts based fitness class from Les Mills. I was hooked and eventually went on to train as an instructor. And yoga followed on soon after.
I now teach Body Combat, Body Balance, Hatha Yoga and Power Yoga in clubs around Edinburgh.
I love it more now that I did when I started and do you know why?
It’s not just the social aspect of the classes although I have made some really good friends because of it. It’s not just the adrenaline rush of 30 or 40 people shouting “Kiai” whilst performing a roundhouse kick, or the beautiful sight 30 or 40 people looking strong and proud in Sun Warrior pose.
No it’s the sense of achievement you can see on the participants faces when they master a move, meet a goal, or make a lasting change that benefits them physically. It’s an achievement getting slightly more flexible after each yoga class. It’s an achievement pushing their aerobic capacity in Body Combat.
For me as a group fitness class instructor, there simply isn’t anything better than seeing that look of achievement on their faces.
Whatever your fitness goals there is a group fitness class out there that will be perfect for you.
Your turn: What is your favourite group fitness class? I would love to hear about your achievements, or your stories about your favourite classes. Please leave a comment below and share your experiences.
It’s time for the summer class releases from Les Mills – including the stunning Body Balance release 61.
If you live in Scotland you will know the joke that “summer is the best day of the year.” Well this year we have had a glorious summer with clear blue skies and hot sun. I find great weather combined with the usual holiday season reduces class numbers considerably.
Body Balance 61 Cover
But not in Body Balance. Not this year. Classes remain packed. This is a testament to the continued excellent quality of the releases.
And Body Balance release 61 is yet another excellent class. It’s challenging, flows beautifully and once again has a great soundtrack.
So let’s have a look at the tracks.
Tai Chi Warm Up
Tai Chi Warm Up (Paris): This is a lovely opener. Delerium’s music suits Body Balance so well and this track is angelic and heavenly. I like the way that we build up the Tai Chi moves layering more flowing arms lines and finishing with the archer and circling of the arms. Even though the words are in French I find that I want to sing along.
Sun Salutations (Where Have You Been):They’ve added Sun Warrior pose into the sun salutation this time and it’s an obvious fit. Whilst I like the music when I listen to it on its own I am not sure it works for sun salutations. It doesn’t work for me for some reason.
Extended Warrior Pose
Standing Strength (Try): I’ve always thought that “rockier” tracks suit the standing strength tracks and Pink’s Try works well here. Nice to see triangle pose back again and I like the transition straight to extended warrior. I would have preferred to stay in the poses for longer but the music requires quick changes. Some participants have found twisted warrior one pose quite hard.
Towards the end there is a simply dreadful musical edit with silence for a moment which causes people to stop and look around confused. I know there are often issues with editing original artists music but that is a real hack.
Balance (Forever): I love the flow and the grace in this balance track. Dove wing hands, lovers hands, switching from eagle, to tree, to star and finally to warrior three is beautiful and surprisingly challenging. I’ve seen many wobbles from people during this sequence. And it’s always good to see dancer’s pose appear in the class.
This music was the cool down in the last Body Pump release and I have listened to it for the last 3 months waiting outside for my Body Combat class. It feels as if I’ve done this one for longer than I have.
Hip openers (Diamonds): For a man, cow face pose is not the easiest yoga position to get into. You only need to listen to Doctor Dave going on about the need to “re-arrange yourself” or “make adjustments” to understand why. On the DVD for Body Balance release 61 they teach us a new way of getting into cow face pose. For the first time in nearly ten years of doing Body Balance I can do it perfectly. And without hurting my bits either!
Working those core muscles hard
Core abs (Can’t hold us): Is this the hardest abs track ever? I’m sure I’ve said that before but this one hurts. Don’t those hovers with the knee drops look easy but then start to hurt after you’ve only done about four? On my launch weekend I taught this twice on a Saturday morning. When I went to teach it again the following day my abs were so sore I had to cheat. This is a track that gets results. Great music and savage exercises.
Core back (Lights): After the storm we have some calm. Cobras, upward facing dogs and some slow leg raises (which are deceptive and again created a real ache in the glutes for me the first few times I did this) and one of my favourites, bridge pose. I’m glad on this occasion that they decided not to take bridge higher to a full back bend. This was challenging enough after that core abs track.
Twists (Clouds): Short and sweet I like the twisted downward facing dogs. People have such a pained look on their faces in this pose.
Twisted Wide Legged Forward Bend
Forward bends/hamstrings 1 (Summertime Sadness): What a great piece of music. And we spend a very long time in various versions of a wide legged forward bend with an added twist. What a great long stretch we get from these poses. Great to sing along to despite being upside down.
Forward bends/hamstrings 2 (Lost): A slower tempo and quiet contemplative music allows us to sit on the floor and take ourselves slowly through a gentle, last, sequence of forward bends. After this we are certainly ready for some relaxation.
Relaxation/Meditation (This is Our Tale): We finish with a lovely calming piece of music which sounds to me live waves lapping up on the shore.
Jackie and Diana Mills have given us another stunning Body Balance class. I am enjoying teaching this and the feedback from my participants has been a great big thumbs up.
Your turn: Do you agree with my review of Body Balance release 61? Do you think it is challenging enough. What are your views on the core abs track? Is it the hardest ever? Please leave a comment or post a link to your own reviews.
I get angry when I hear people refuse to try yoga because they think (or someone told them) that yoga is a religion (or has religious overtones). I despair when I read about churches kicking yoga classes out of their halls and community centres because they think it offends their own religious focus.
It would be such a shame if people miss out on yoga’s physical benefits because they hold or have listened to these ill-informed views.
I have followed a legal case in the USA in the San Diego-area. A family had sued the Encinitas California school district for what it saw as government sponsorship of religion for its yoga classes. This is clearly complete nonsense I read with delight that a judge ruled on Monday that whilst yoga might have spiritual overtones – yoga is not a religion. And there is nothing religious about the way it’s taught in the Encinitas district. Common sense prevails in the USA.
It is important to note however that although yoga is definitely not a religion, it is a way of life for many people. For them it includes elements beyond the exercises and breathing techniques we focus on in yoga classes. These other elements are probably the ones that wrongly create the religious perceptions and concerns.
There are eight elements to yoga. In most western classes, or modern interpretations of yoga, we take part mainly in the third, fourth and fifth elements.
These are the eight elements of yoga:
Yama
This means restraint. Yoga is about restraint from unhealthy actions such as cheating, stealing, and violence.
Niyama
Niyama means observance, or being content, pure, tolerant, remembering and studious.
Asana
Asanas are the exercises that most people recognise yoga for. The poses have names such as warrior 2, downward facing dog, frog, tree and teachers will often use their Sanskrit names like Utanasana.
Pranayama
Pranayama are breathing techniques such the complete yoga breath.
Pratyahara
This is the moment before meditation begins, effectively preparation for meditation. It means the withdrawal of the mind from the senses.
Dharana
Dharana is concentrating on one object for a length of time.
Dhyana
This is meditation, the other yoga element that most people recognise. It involves the ability to create an image of an object, place or person and becoming immersed in that image. Or it could simply be clearing the mind of all thoughts.
Samadhi
Finally samadhi is realising your own nature, or becoming more self-aware.
I do not believe that any of these elements would be at odds with any religion a person may have. They are life choices in the same way as following a certain type of diet, or committing to an exercise routine agreed with a personal trainer.
It’s a different way of looking at yourself and the world. These elements can improve quality of life, regardless of your race, religion or profession. And of course you can find classes involving only the exercise element and nothing else – or classes that embrace all 8 elements. It’s up to you.
For me personally, yoga means stress reduction, better sleeping, better posture, greater flexibility and muscle tone, improved energy levels and other things I have written about in earlier yoga posts. Wouldn’t it be a shame to miss out on this simply for fear that yoga is a religion?
Perhaps those who pedal the myth, or those who close down community classes don’t really understand what yoga is about. If they put their prejudices aside and tried to understand it for what it really is then they might find that their main excuse for avoiding it is not an excuse at all.
Your turn: This is a tricky subject. Do you agree with the US judge? I know some will disagree with my view. Some might take a deeper spiritual view of some of the elements but I still don’t think that makes those that claim yoga is a religion right. What do you think? Leave a comment. Share your thoughts. Let me know.
After the sweaty excesses of the Quarterly Workshop for Body Combat 56, I staggered out of Virgin Active at the Omni Centre in Edinburgh and found sanctuary in St. Andrew Square for a couple of hours. It was lovely to sit on the grass in the sunshine people watching as my muscles recovered from all those “matrix kicks”.
But soon I was heading back to Virgin Active for the Quarterly Workshop for Body Balance release 61. Our trainer was Kathryn Cullen, a very witty enthusiastic lady who had us all in stitches during the education session. As the only male instructor at the session, I wasn’t as interested in her stories of the perfect bodies of some International Master Trainers she had met recently, but the ladies seemed to appreciate her graphic descriptions.
Here are my first thoughts about Body Balance release 61.
Screenshot from the DVD Masterclass.
The class begins with a stunning piece of music by Delerium (featuring Aude Feuilerat) called Paris which sounds almost angelic. We build up a lovely tai chi sequence layer by layer until we finish with a very beautiful flowing set of moves. A great start.
Pink’s song Try is very aptly named for the standing strength track. You will really have to try hard to get through a tough set of poses including triangle, extended warrior and sun warrior.
If you have tight hips from running then you are going to love the hip opener track. The combination of cowface pose and modified half lotus is exquisite, almost pleasureably painful. I know us guys find cowface pose difficult for obvious reasons but stick with it. Flexibility will come.
The core abs track is a great bit ouch. This could be one of the toughest ever.
I like the way we use upward facing dog and bridge pose to extend our backs in track 7. We do it slowly and I found this a refreshing change from the more recent full back bends we have had to contend with.
Once again we have two forward bends tracks amounting to nearly nine minutes of hamstring stretches. I love the focus on the wide leg forward bends in the first one and then the seated bends in the second.
It seems that we have another tough but lovely release. I can’t wait to learn this and launch it to my classes over the next few weeks.
Your turn: Are you a Body Balance instructor? Do you agree with my first impressions of Body Balance release 61. Share your thoughts. Leave a comment. Participants let me know what you think of the class once we’ve launched it.
