Strength and Wellness in Numbers
Ahead of two Les Mills demonstration days this month, followers of the global fitness sensation explain its appeal.
After a long day at the office, Member Olga Grant pities the couch potato.
“You just want to go home and watch some TV and not think of anything,” says Grant, 43. “But in order to get energy, you have to give energy.”
If that sounds like the mantra of a run-of-the-mill gym rat, Grant insists she’s anything but.
“I want to work out and I definitely want to break a sweat,” she admits. “But I don’t want to be thinking the whole time, ‘Oh, it’s so hard. I’m so tired. I really don’t have time for this.’”
Rather than grinding through the reps on a machine or watching treadmill rubber pass beneath her feet, Grant’s heart-pumping method of choice is group fitness. And her class of choice is anything by Les Mills.
Named after the New Zealand Olympian whose fitness regimen undergirds its entire fitness philosophy, the brand’s classes can be found in most cities the world over. Though programs differ based on fitness goals, the 30-minute classes all combine elements of high-intensity interval training with animated trainers and a pulse-pounding soundtrack.
Over two days at the Club this month, the uninitiated can experience exactly what hooked Grant through Les Mills taster sessions with Club instructors and a Les Mills-certified master trainer.
The appeal goes beyond the physical, according to Les Mills Japan CEO and Member Stuart Farrell.
“Our research says the average visits per week of a [gym] member to the gym is 1.9 times,” he says. “If they do a group fitness class, it’s four times.”
A workout with others, it seems, has the power to unlock extra reserves of motivation that exercising alone rarely can. That’s exactly what Grant discovered after moving from Tokyo back to Amsterdam in 2003. The group of women she met at her Les Mills classes formed a bond that reached beyond the fitness studio.
“We wouldn’t go out and party,” Grant explains. “We’d say, ‘Hey, let’s take a Bodypump class, have a sauna, have some lunch and then we can make the Bodycombat class in the after-noon as well.’”
Les Mills places a particular emphasis on the professionalism of its instructors. Certified Club trainer Wiwik Hidayati explains how the development sessions with Les Mills master trainers have helped her craft more enjoyable classes.
“We’re not just correcting movements,” she says. “We’re making sure everyone gets the same experience.”
Whether it’s the connections Les Mills classes foster between trainers and students or the camaraderie students find among themselves, there’s no denying that there’s something in the water bottles.
“Community is a big word with Les Mills,” Grant says. “I think when you join these classes, you find out pretty soon what that means.”
Words: Owen Ziegler
Les Mills Demo Day
July 13 & 27 | 1–4pm
