Johannesburg - Time was when you went to the gym for a workout session or a Pilates class. Simple. Nowadays, you go to the gym to do a full-on choreographed production worthy of a turn on Fame. And best you’re dressed for the part, in black designer gear and tattoo-adorned muscle.
In June, I visited S.W.E.A.T. 1000 in Morningside, a South African concept that uses specialised treadmills inclined to 30º, blended with floor work using resistance bands and other high-intensity exercises meant to burn 1 000 calories in an hour (thus the name, which means “specialised weight endurance aerobic training”).
It’s a one-hour action-packed class in which the instructor comes up with different moves each class, to music compilations that get regularly refreshed.
Well, now there’s a new, just-as-thrilling fitness class concept on the block, called the Les Mills programme, launched recently at Planet Fitness health clubs.
Les Mills International is a New Zealand company and the largest provider of choreographed exercise-to-music fitness classes, distributed to health clubs in 80 countries around the world, with South Africa joining as the 81st.
The modern fitness industry is increasingly populated by beefcakes who also happen to rock a bit of fame. A good example is Les Mills, a retired New Zealand athlete, who competed at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games over two decades in shotput, discus and weightlifting events.
And S.W.E.A.T. 1000’s Steve Uria spent 22 years in the US and trained numerous movie stars for physically challenging roles.
So dance moves, matched with the latest music tracks and sprinkled with a bit of star power, are the key definers of new age fitness sessions and, I have to admit, the recipe works.
The Les Mills class I attended was led by a specialised Les Mills instructor from the UK, Dave Cross, who pushed the group to the limit physically and vocally through a headset mic. He’s eye-candy, walks the talk, talks the walk, and can even sing the words to some of the music tracks he plays – in tune. He should be auditioning on Broadway.
And he’s typical of Les Mills instructors, who are cherrypicked and intensively trained in all the choreographed moves, which are refreshed every three months along with the music.
The Les Mills programme offers three different workouts.
The Bodypump is a barbell workout using all the principles of weight training. It strengthens and tones the entire body.
Bodycombat is an energetic martial arts workout where you get to unleash all the day’s frustrations by punching, striking and kicking, Bruce Lee-style, to music that just makes you want to do it for another hour.
The Grit series, including Grit Strength or Grit Cardio, is a 30-minute high-intensity interval training sessions – using barbells, plates and the bench – designed for small group training. Your metabolism apparently stays in overdrive for hours afterwards, so it’s ideal for fat burning.
Next year, another three Les Mills programmes will be introduced to South Africa.
“Each of these workouts offers different benefits, and they are suitable for people of all fitness levels,” assures Cross.
But having observed a class that incorporated elements of the Bodypump, Bodycombat and Grit Cardio, I can think of a handful of people who wouldn’t have kept up, including myself, even to music as arousing as The Haka.
I posit that Les Mills is targeted largely at the young and body conscious, epitomised by the lean, fresh-faced Niamh McGuirk Lubbe, Planet Fitness’s national group fitness manager, herself a UK Les Mills instructor who was here for the launch events.
“The Bodypump sessions (designed to burn up to 560 calories) are by far the most popular Les Mills classes worldwide,” she says. “We have 5 million people doing Bodypump weekly. Grit is the ‘cool’ programme, popular with the teens and early twenties market, people who are fit but want to push it further.”
The science behind Les Mills programmes is based on 12 years of industry research, so you’re getting a highly effective and safe workout, she says. The company also conducts its own research, for example, its investigation into the impact of the Bodypump programme on bone density, and upper and lower body strength. This study will be completed in January.
In all, there are 10 Les Mills programmes, including a yoga fusion class, Sh’bam, a simple dance workout, and Bodyjam, a salsa-style dance workout.
These may find a more mature market when they are eventually introduced to South Africa, once the three launch programmes are established among the fiercely energetic wannabes in a Bruce Willis flick.
In other words, the Les Mills workouts are undeniably exhilarating and sexy, and if the bodies I saw are true to the results you can expect, you can happily go shopping right now for a new summer bikini or tight T-shirt, because it would be a sin to cover up. A tasteful tattoo is all you need to finish off the Les Mills look. - The Star
* Les Mills training is available free to Planet Fitness members. Visit www.planetfitness.com
* S.W.E.A.T. 1000 – www.sweat1000.com