Sunday 30 November 2008 – theme "Kiwi Xmas"

We had an action packed morning that was filled to the brim with hype and energy and enthusiasm in between.

Jess & Brenda started off the day at 8.30am with Bodypump 68, after singing Happy Birthday to our fellow instructor "Jess", who turned another year older on the day.

The warmup song "Perfect Day" was perfect to start with, perfect weather outside, perfect bodies in their sarongs (yeah right!), perfect ocassion to launch. A  full class came to do Squats, Back, Triceps and lunges and loved them all, especially the new lunge track.

9.00am Jam – Dwayne put on his twinkle toes and dazzled us with his fine smile and stylish moves. It seemed to be an easy release to learn all the moves and all of our pumpers stayed on and gave Jam a go and looked great doing it.  Great music!!

9.30am Balance – Graeme looked fantastic in his beach shorts and matching rash top (and don’t forget the hat!!) and calmed everyone down and lengthened us from head to toe with his amazing flexibility and inner core strength.

At the same time, RPM was happening upstairs and members were pumping their legs to RPM 41. Sue took them on a journey and although it was a small group (only 7 people booked in), the ride was awesome.

10.00am Step – Brenda was next with Step 74 and had great joy in showing members the new move in track 4 – the "revolving door". All of our members took up the challenge and mastered the move by the end of the track. We finished off wih a Xmas flavour and speed straddled to "Rockin around the Xmas tree", which was perfect timing as Father Xmas walked in to the GF room during this song and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. The children followed his every move (like the pied piper!) and followed him everywhere he went. He stayed for a wee while talking to the children, asking them if they had been good and gave them iceblocks and lollipops, much to the children’s delight.

10.30am Combat – Jess turned it up with her awesome combat tracks and picked the best songs from the release. Songs like "as cold as ice" were energetic and fired up!.

By this time, only our loyal supporters were still there (approx 12/13 members) exercising hard out and we completed the day with Bodyvive. Graeme & Brenda got the class interactive with the Vive ball and fun was had by all. We played with the Tubes and strengthened the upper and lower body, followed by the ab track and cooldown.

We could smell the sausages cooking on the bar-be-que and members and kids alike lined up for a delicious sausage in bread to complete the day. Charissa, you were a great cook – they tasted great, especially after 3 hours of exercise.!

I think Pam Evans & Karen were the only members that stayed the whole 3 hours (start to finish). Awesome Pam & Karen – you deserve a drink or two and didn’t Pam look splendid in her sarong!!

All in all, a great turn out to BodyPump at the beginning and it was only to be expected that numbers would dwindle as the day went on. Father Xmas made a real impact on the kids and he "ho ho ho ed " us into the Xmas spirit. The instructors dressed up and a few members dressed up (I saw a few bikinis on, under those T-shirts) and hats & sunglasses were galore.

An enjoyable day was had by all.

Thank you members, thank you staff and thank you Instructors for making the day so successful. Merry Christmas to you all.

Conducted at Peak Fitness & Health 2008

On the 17 September 2008, we held an "Information Night" for recruiting new staff to be Les Mills Instructors at Peak Fitness & Health. It was a good turnout.

We conducted the evening with a video of all the Les Mills programmes offered by Les Mills, – BodyPump, BodyStep, BodyCombat, RPM, BodyBalance, BodyJam, BodyAttack, & the New BodyVive.

This is what we did:

• Introduction – What is Les Mills – how it got started – the career opportunities available within the Les Mills Family, once certified.
• Trainees to speak on why they were there and what goals they had
• The benefits of being a Certified Les Mills Instructor
• Peak Fitness Staff all spoke about their experiences, their career and why they do it.
• The cost and financial commitment involved. How much Modules & other training, costs.
• The minimum requirements of staff at Peak Fitness & Health – what Peak expect of the staff
• Our 8 week proposed Training plan for trainees.
• Question time!

All members on the night (7 of them) wanted to take the next step and attempt the 8 week training process. We decided what programme to put them in and then the Head Trainer of that programme contacted the trainees and organised training with them. An envelope was given to them all containing an introductory letter,  DVD, CD with 2 chosen tracks, pamphlet on their chosen programme and a free pass to give to a family member or friend.

Over the next 8 weeks, trainees were given half an hour each with their trainer. The rest was up to them to practice and commit to the training required. Key elements like choreography, cueing and pre-cueing, technique, fitness magic were addressed.  We gave them feedback on every half hour session with them and goals to work on for the following week.

Presentation Night – Tuesday 18 November at 7.30pm

Fantastic. Every trainee that committed to the 8 weeks stood up and proudly presented their tracks. What an amazing night!. It was done very professionally and it was well organised, things went without a hitch. These trainees blew us away!. The high standard and quality of these athletes was astounding! The night proceeded  as follows:

• Step,
• Pump,
• Combat,
• RPM
• and finally Balance. 

We had 2 trainees for Bodystep, 1 trainee for BodyPump, 1 trainee for BodyCombat, 2 trainees for RPM and 1 trainee for BodyBalance.

The support that was given to each and everyone of these trainees was unbelievable and they thrived on the environment and atmosphere created. Our own staff nearly cried and felt extremely proud of their achievements. Charissa, Jess and Brenda were on a high all night as it just went perfect and the trainees were so good!

As a result of this successful night, all trainees want to continue their training and attend a Les Mills module in 2009 to become a certified instructor. They had a taste and now they want more!.

After discussions with Les Mills in Auckland, a Module has been organised for all trainees to attend and become certified in their chosen programme.

This module is being held in Hawkes Bay in April 2009, with the exception of BodyBalance. Peak Fitness continues to be in a very healthy state and are excited to have young blood (top quality) trainees joining our team. The only way is up (even higher than we are now!) and what an exciting time we have ahead of us.!