About to hit fitness clubs across the UK, Les Mills Body Balance release 65 delivers a stunning return to form.
The previous class bombed after an unbroken run of twenty crackers.
Fiddly choreography combined with a poor music choice meant my participants encouraged me to mix it out quickly.
They’ll love this new class though.
Unfortunately Les Mills chose to run the Body Balance Quarterly Workshop at exactly the same time as the Body Combat masterclass. I had to choose between the two and Combat won by a coin toss. So the following first impressions come simply from watching the DVD.
The Tai Chi Warm Up feels ballet in style. We repeat two flowing moves throughout. It warms you up more than you think.
The Sun Salutations sees the return of the Shiva Move (albeit in reverse) and a sequence of wide leg folds provides variety.
Long tracks for the Standing Strength, Balance and Hips challenge our strength and stamina. A great cover version of the U2 song Ordinary Love too.
No planks for a change in the Core Abs track – but don’t worry it still hurts.
Oh look (side) planks in the Core Back track instead. The Core tracks have a country feel to the music.
Fabulous mellow music guides our stretching in the double Forward Bends and Hamstrings track.
I’m exited about Les Mills Body Balance release 65. It looks like a challenging but achievable work out (watch out for a couple of quite advanced Yoga Binds) set to a great set of tunes.
Now it’s your turn:
Are you a Body Balance instructor? What do you think of Les Mills Body Balance release 65? Please leave a comment or a link to your own thoughts.
Once again thanks to Simon Philp for pointing out the list. Check out his blog – you’ll find much more Les Mills stuff here!
With a month to go before the next round of Quarterly Workshops it might be early getting excited about a new release. But that’s a great track list. Can’t wait.
Now it’s your turn: What do you think of the Les Mills Body Balance release 65 track list? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
If you want more spoilers you can click on the links above to see the music on Amazon. They won’t be exactly the same mixes because Les Mills often edit the tracks, and some are Les Mills cover versions and not available commercially. But it will give you a good feel for what’s on its way.
Have you tried Les Mills Body Balance release 64 yet? What do you think?
Be warned – for the first time in 14 releases I am not giving this one a big thumbs up.
I’ve reviewed every release of Les Mills Body Balance from number 32 onwards. Up until now the only “dud”, in my opinion, was release 39. Since then I’ve almost become a stuck record in my praise of successive classes. Each one has eclipsed the last with its quality mix of music and moves.
Body Balance release 64 doesn’t continue this trend. I’m not saying that it’s a “dud” but it’s certainly the least impressive class in a long time.
Before I go into the reasons why let me just say that as an instructor I always deliver a motivational experience and I wouldn’t share my anything other than positive thoughts with the class.
I say this because there is a worrying trend within the so-called Les Mills “Tribe” at the moment. They only welcome positive opinions that tow the party line. They meet criticism with the suggestion that “It’s your fault. You’re not delivering the magic to your customers.” That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Apart from being a little grumpy that I’ve had to buy this track for the third time, I like this Moby song. It’s up tempo and the exercises are immediately tough getting us warm fast. Using a “sword dance” theme is innovative and interesting. But like many tracks in release 64 it’s “bitty”. For such a short piece of music we change stance eight times. Multiple directions confuse participants however well cued by the instructor.
Tai Chi should flow. This doesn’t feel like it does.
Sun Salutations – BlackBird – Perception Free
After the tough shoulder workout in the last sun salutations with its multiple Crocodile poses, we experience a gentler sun salutation sequence this time. That’s fine after the warming effect of the Tai Chi.
Les Mills encourage Body Balance instructors to use few words and to let the music shine. Unfortunately this version of an old Beatles song is an insipid dirge that fails to enhance the exercise sequence or motivate us to complete it.
Another dodgy cover version of a classic Oasis song which I’m not convinced has the right feel for a standing strength track.
I like the first sequence of poses as we flow from Triangle to Extended Warrior 2, building up to an Extended Lunge and finally take flight into Warrior 3. And challenges to our strength and balance come in the creative Wide Squat on Tip Toes sequence.
Then it’s as if the choreographers ran out of ideas or time. Repeating Warrior 2 (that’s what it says in the notes but on the DVD it looks more like a Sun Warrior to me) side to side feels tagged on and again, “bitty”.
Finally a stand out track. An epic feel to the music, a gorgeous flowing sequence from Tree, through Aeroplane and Star Pose, makes for a tough yet beautiful workout. Four repetitions of the sequence mean that we can fully explore these poses and grow stronger with each one. Who else gets a shiver down their spine as we “burst” into Star pose as the chorus crashes in?
Again though the last Star Poses feel as tagged on as the Warrior 2s did in the standing strength.
Hip Openers
Hip Openers – Part 2 (On the Run) – Pistol of Zodiac
There are lots of rude words in this song because you can hear the spaces in the singing where Les Mills have “beeped” them out. They’ve even given us an instrumental version as an alternative to make sure we don’t offend those people offended by “beeped out rude words”.
The exercises certainly open the hips and I always love to teach and do Swan pose. But changing from Swan to Kneeling Lunge feels awkward. Perhaps it would be better to push back into Down Dog and then step through into a lunge.
We finish with Modified Half Lotus and Side Bends and if you have tight hips you will feel these moves. Ouch.
A tough abs track with a challenging Firefly Pose with Plank Pull Back gets the sweat pouring from my forehead on to the mat. I like this track but again people have said they find it too “bitty” and “busy”. There are multiple changes of position from lying prone, to plank, back to lying prone, to plank, lying on our sides and finally finishing in a hover.
Personally I don’t feel it’s the multiple changes that are a problem, but the speed with which we have to do them. Some participants are missing half the exercises because they can’t switch quick enough. I can cue the transitions early but that interrupts the flow as well.
A welcome return for the Side-Lying Scissor Legs move. The Pilates Swimmer Sequence burns our glutes. Amazing how such a slow move can have such an instant effect.
We finish with Bridge Posewith Leg Extensions which are among my favourite yoga poses. But I’m worried about the Full Back Bend with Leg Extension option. Advanced Yoga moves like this need careful coaching and there just isn’t time to do this safely. Very few people can do the move anyway – perhaps one or two in a class of thirty. Those that can do Full Back Bend look fantastic but they can “intimidate” the majority.
We finish the back track lying on our backs but this twist track starts in child’s pose necessitating another awkward transition. A very short and fiddly twist sequence set to a truly bizarre song.
It makes me laugh though because although the song’s called “Tennis Court” several of by participants don’t hear, “Let’s go down to the Tennis Court” they think its, “Let’s go down to Tesco’s.”
In my opinion this is the poorest twist track we have ever had.
I knew this great song would appear in Body Balance eventually. We revisit the Tai Chi moves and flow through some exquisite forward bends including the Wide Leg Forward Fold Twist providing a deep intense stretch.
The hard work in class comes to an end with this short second hamstrings track. All we have time for is a Forward Fold, a chest and shoulder stretch that feels weird in a seated position, happy baby pose and finally the beautiful Extended Butterfly Pose.
Relaxation / Meditation – Sacred Group/Breathing Space – Sacred Earth
Giving us a song to listen to in the relaxation phase is certainly different to the usual instrumental that we instructors can talk over. At first participants welcomed this change but after only a few classes they are asking me to miss it out. You can’t however skip to the second, more tradition instrumental section, because it’s all one track on the CD. So if the song has to go the beautiful haunting piece of music that follows has to go too unfortunately.
Body Balance release 64 is a mixed bag. Awkward transitions, or too many quick changes make it feel “bitty” and some of the songs this time are poorly chosen or bad cover versions. I guess that after 14 outstanding releases one that was less impressive was bound to come along eventually.
Here’s to hoping that number 65 starts another unbroken run of belters then.
Now it’s your turn: A less than positive review will always polarise opinion. Do you agree with my review of Les Mills Body Balance release 64? If you don’t let me know why? Please post a comment or leave a link to your own review.
There are usually only two reasons why men come to yoga classes. First it’s because their wives and girlfriends drag them in kicking and screaming. This group tends to start the class looking sullen with their arms crossed defiantly in front of them.
The second reason is that a doctor or physiotherapist recommends they attend to help recovery from an injury.
Despite their initial reluctance I find that once a bloke has been to a yoga class the chances are he will come back again. Because he will feel the benefits of the strengthening and the stretching and how it compliments his pumping weights and his running. He will see the improvement in his flexibility and his posture almost immediately. For single guys there’s also the added bonus of the 80/20 ration in favour of the girls.
But let’s face it 20% men and 80% women is not really a fair balance. What can we do as yoga teachers to encourage more men to attend our classes? What can the yoga community do to overcome the perceptions some men have that yoga is a “fluffy” experience, full of easy exercises, chanting and lying about breathing.
In my recent Group Fitness Over Coffee podcast I spoke to Ann-See Yeoh who is an experienced yoga teacher and group fitness instructor , and asked her advice. She recommended two courses of action.
Firstly to run men only yoga classes. She did caveat this expressing disbelief that men wouldn’t flock to a class full of women wearing yoga pants. But in her experience men only classes are a good way to allow participants to relax, feel less intimidated, and to learn the basics before moving on to a mixed class. Also in a male only class you can de-emphasise some of the elements of yoga that some men feel is “fluff”.
Some of the vocabulary that we use as yoga teachers can seem quite flowery.
We speak about energy flowing from limb to limb. You hear talk about golden cords extending out above our heads straightening our spines. This imagery is lost on many male participants.
If you focus purely on describing the physical exercise they will feel more comfortable. This might go against some traditional yoga teaching thinking but is that a problem if more men ultimately come to our classes? It also means not using the yoga names for poses such as Warrior Two and its Sanskrit equivalent Virabhadrasana Two.
Whilst yoga’s made up of the eight limbs, focussing on three of them; the poses, breathing, and a little meditation, we can make it more accessible initially. The other five can follow on later.
By the end of 2014 I hope that my ratio is closer to 50/50.
Now it’s your turn: Are you a yoga instructor? What have you done to make yoga more attractive to your male participants?
If you are a man looking to start doing yoga, what are your concerns? What would you like to see done differently?
Please leave a comment and share your thoughts or link to your own blog.
If you disagree with what I’ve written please let me know why.
