Energy

Last monday BA was awesome!! I still can't believe how much energy there was in the room. After BC class, I went to change my clothes quickly. I already saw a whole bunch of people coming in and I told them I'd be back very soon. My collegue Bogdan was on his way as well. When we entered the room, it was packed with people. Everyone looked very happy and exited, which gave me even more energy than I already had. I did the introduction and people already replied really exited. Then we just turned on the music ..... it was absolutely great. Everyone was working so hard even the few people for the first time, really came along well! It felt so good afterwards and lots of people came up after class, that they really enjoyed it. Bogdan and I just looked at eachother and said ... Fitness Magic! We both love Attack and it's so cool that there are coming more and more people at the gym who share that passion. It's such an awesome workout!

Mega & Dance 4 Life

Wow, picture time!

Rach teaching BODYCOMBAT technique workshop



BODYATTACK & BODYPUMP





BODYCOMBAT Masterclass: Dan, Rach & Daniel


After hard work it's Party time: Dance 4 Life!!

Me, Josanne, Claudia






That's it for now. I almost have to leave to the gym to teach. 2 Classes will be team-teach. I'm can't wait for BA tonight. We had a great team teach saturday morning with BA, and we will do so again tonight!!!

The story of the Creation

When I was in New Zealand I really enjoyed all the stories about the Maori legends. One of them is the story of the creation. Especially now I have seen Tane Mahuta myself. Here is the story:
In the beginning there was no sky, no sea, no earth and no Gods. There was only darkness, only Te Kore, the Nothingness. The very beginning was made from nothing. From this nothingness, the primal parents of the Māori came, Papatuanuku, the Earth mother, and Ranginui, the Sky father.
Papatuanuku and Ranginui came together, embracing in the darkness, and had 70 male children. These offspring became the gods of the Māori. However, the children of Papatuanuku and Ranginui were locked in their parents embrace, in eternal darkness, and yearned to see some light. They eventually decided that their parents should be separated, and had a meeting to decide what should be done.
They considered for a long time - should Rangi and Papa be killed? Or shall they be forced to separate?
Finally, Tumatauenga, the god of War, said "Let us kill our parents". However, Tane-Mahuta, the god of man and forests, and all which inhabits the forests, thought that Rangi and Papa should be separated. He thought that Ranginui should go up above, to the sky, and that Papatuanuku should should go below, to dwell on earth. All the children, including Tu, the God of War, agreed with Tane.
Tawhiri Matea, the god of winds and storms was the only child who did not wish for his parents to be separated. He feared that his kingdom would be overthrown. One by one the children tried to separate their parents. Rongomatane, the god and father of cultivated foods, tried without success. Haumia Tiketike, god of uncultivated food also tried.
Then it was the turn of Tangaroa, the god of the sea, and Tumatauenga, the god of war, but neither Tangaroa nor Tumatauenga could separate their parents.
Lastly Tane-Mahuta rose. Strong as the kauri tree, he placed his shoulders against his mother Papatuanuku and his feet against his father Ranginui, and he pushed hard, for a very long time, straining and heaving all the while. Rangi and Papa cried in pain, asking their sons" why do you wish to destroy our love?"
After a long time Tane finally managed to separate Rangi and Papa, and for the first time the children saw the light of day (ao Marama) come streaming in. Once this happened, Tawhiri Matea, the god of winds and storms, and who had been against the separation of his parents, left for the sky to join his father. The turbulent winds and storms on earth are caused by Tawhiri Matea, in revenge for this brother's acts.
Now that the separation of Papatuanuku and Ranginui was complete, and there was a sky and an earth. However, there was just one missing element, and Tane decided to create a female. From an area named Kura-waka Tane took some clay, and modeled it into a woman. He then breathed life into it, and created Hine-ahu-one - the earth formed maiden.
Tane and Hine had a beautiful daughter called Hinetitama. When Hinetitama grew, she had daughters to Tane. One day Hinetitama asked Tane who her father was, and on discovering that Tane was the father of her children, she fled with shame into the night, to a place called Rarohenga, the underworld. From then on she became known as Hine-nui-te-po, the goddess of the night.

Live your life...

Make it happen
If you wait for things to be perfect, you'll be waiting a very long time.
Instead, go ahead and fill your life with as much love and joy and goodness and positive experience as you can imagine. There are plenty of reasons for not taking action, and numerous things that can go wrong. Be wise, careful, and reasonable to be sure, but don't be afraid to joyfully live. This very day is overflowing with wonderful possibilities. Take hold of the best of those possibilities, and dive deeply into their richness. Let go of your concerns about what others would think. Let go of your far-fetched worries about what might could go wrong. Fill this day with the unique energy that is you. Make a positive and glowing contribution to the world that comes straight from your deepest purpose.
Today is a day to learn, to explore, to build and teach, to love and enjoy. Everything you need is here, ready for you to make it happen.
R. Marston

Mega Quarterly

Wow, that was a great quaterly last weekend. Dan, Rach & Emma came over. Dan & Rach ofcourse did BC. Dan also did BP and Rach BJ. Unfortunately I didn't get to go to Dan's BP, as I also had to do BC workshop and both were at the same time. Rach did the BC workshop. It actually was a technique training and it was quite intensive, but good. I think everybody had to wake up a bit, but by the end everyone was awake. It was good fun. After BC workshop, I went straight into BA masterclass. BA55, great again, and I'm looking forward to start teaching it. I think this time we will lauch pretty late at the club because of christmas etc, so that'll give me a lot of time to learn it. Then it was time to go right into BP class. Again a good release. My butt was sore of the lunges the next day. Awesome shoulder track and absolutely great squat track, it just love it. Well, I think I actually love the whole release and I think my class is going the love it as well. After BP I had a short break, went to put my stuff in our hotel room and then went on to BC class. Wow it was crowded. I didn't really expect something else, as Dan & Rach were doing the afternoon presentation, together with Daniel. It was superb. And special compliment to our own trainer Daniel, as he did excellent next to Dan & Rach. He is really powerfull and a great presenter as well, would love to see him once in the DVD :-) After the classes it appeared to be very busy at the info stand and DVD handout, so I help out for about 2 hours. Then it was time to change, go to dinner and get ready for our Dance for Life party. Dresscode was white. It was really cool to see most people wear white. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time. I think I wnet to the hotelroom at around 3. Unfortunately I woke up at 6.30 (did feel too much of a hangover), and wasn't able to go back to sleep again. Just stayed in bed for a while and then 9.30 Bodybolance with Emma. Last week I heard I can go to Bodybalance Module training in January. Looking forward to that. After BB I watched BJ class. I could start to feel my head from the alcohol and not enough sleep, so just watching it was good for me, since I'm not much of a jammer anyways. It just so cool to see and our 4 presenters looked awesome! On sunday I also went to Bodyvive workshop and Masterclass. I had fun during the masterclass, but it's not really my thing. I think it's a very good programme, but not if you're a really fit person. But that's not the goal of the programme so that's good. It's fun to be working with materials like the ball and the tube. Oh Wow, those abs... I could feel those a lot.... I also think it's good that it easy to join the class, for anyone. Simple moves, easy to follow and fun. Working together and working on your own. People can work on their own pace and train with more or less resistance, just as they wish to. I know it will be launched at our club, but I do not have an idea when.
After all of this, I was exhausted , but still had to drive home. I was glad I had 2 collegues with me, as it was 1 1/2 hour drive back home. I fell asleep at 7.30pm last night ...uuuuhhh
Well I'm of to the gym to teach. My first monday since I'm back from NZ. Looking really, really forward to be teaching BA again!! BC and BA will both be team-teach tonight. Cool!!
Get show some pictures of the party of saturday later.

Back home

I'm back after a long flight home. I maybe slept all together for about an hour, which is not a lot in 2 days. I woke up Auckland time monday at 8.00am and right now it's Amsterdam time 10.00am tuesday, which means Auckland time 10.00pm tuesday. Well, just going to try to stay awake the whole day and keep myself busy to get in regular day routine asap. Keeping myself busy won't be a problem as I have lots of things to do. One of 'm is updating the pictures to my blog which I have promissed to do... so here they are.

BODYATTACK, last regular class before filming:


Filming Kick off: BODYJAM


Waiting for the BODYPUMP to begin: Portugal & Holland


BODYPUMP: Glen, Susan and Emma waiting


Chest track


Emma showing clean & press-deadrow combi:


After class: just 'cause Susan really likes her picture taken after class :-) ... not


BODYCOMBAT:


Fabio and me after BC:


My very last BA class, shadowing with Will, Nathan (had to leave early) and Oscar (Spain)


Well guys, this is it for now. My time in New Zealand was again one to remember 4ever!

Last day...

I'm a little sad to go home. I had such a great time again here in New Zealand. But then again on the other hand, it's nice te be amongst my family and friends again back home. I'm so lucky I was able to travel to NZ twice this year. The country is beautyful, the people are great and I got to learn a lot by spending time at LM. It was absolutely great to experience the filming, meeting so many people. When I get home I'll be able to start working on the stuff I have picked up at gym, by talking with the instructors/trainers and doing all the classes. It was great being able to teach and to shadow. I'm looking forward to the Dutch quarterly next weekend!

Paihia & Cape Reinga

Awesome. On friday I went up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Next time I defenitely want to spend some more time there. This time I didn't have much time left as I had planned a full day tour all the way to Cape Reinga, Top of the North. The trip to Paihia was alreay amazing, again beautyful scenery all around, Whaipoua Forest, with all the Kauri Trees. We arrived in Paihia at around 5pm. So I didn't get to see/do a lot there. I just went for a nice walk around the beach, climed over the rockt, trying to find may way around. Sat down a bit a tried to watch the sunste, but I got a bit to cold and there were to may clouds anyways. Saturdaymoring it was a 7am pickup to go to Cape Reinga. To drive was again very nice, thru all these little towns and harbours up to Ninety Mile beach. There we actually left the road and were racing down the beach. The tide was coming in, so we got to ride thru the water for a bit. Pretty cool. Then we arrived at the sanddunes. Got some sandboards and wnet to walk all the way up the sanddune. A hard walk but well worth it. The sun was coming out to, s it was actually a kind of nice out there. First time a went down on the board I found it quite scary. It was steep and I didn;t no what to expect. 2nd and 3rd time was great. After 3 time I was done with climbing up the hill in this very soft sand. It actually was quite a workout... 2 steps up and 1 step down. The we drove on the Cape Reinga, there where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. Then a little further in we had a lunch at the beach and the return trip went via another part of the Kauri tree forest. I also got a nice picture of a beginning of a fern ... you know that part that looks like a koru....

I actually got the Koru tattood on my foot a couple of days ago! Pretty cool he... NZ will always be with me that way :-)

Another filming evening

The kick of was up to Dan & Rach this evening, accompagnied by Oscar and Ivan. They looked cool in their kimono's. Just one part in the warming had to be done for a second time. Especially well done for Oscar from Spain, as he did a very good job teaching in english! After BC I decided to join the BB. I hadn't done BB for a while, but I think it's a beautyfull program and I'd actually love to teach it. Try to get some more info on it when I get back home as I really got inspired by today's class. I also think it makes a great combo with BA and BP to keep up your flexibility this way. Who know's what will happen in the future. I was really calm and relaxed after this class, so I decided not to do BS, but just watch it. They were wearing cool outfits, and were looking great on stage. Afterwards we had drinks and pizza and by the time we were going we ended up going to Denny's to eat. Well I only had dessert... uuhhhh... chocolate fudge cake and icecream... mjummie... good thing I have been working out a lot these days :-)
Well time to go to bed now!

First day Filming

Awesome..... It's so nice to finally see how it all goes. Normally I end up getting the final thing at home, but I never experienced the making of. It's so cool to see that. The evening started of with Bodyjam. I don't do Bodyjam (unless I'd be able start of with a bottle of wine), so that made me able to see the class. It was packed with people, camera's and a bunch of photographers. There were 3 instructors on stage and Dan came up with them to start of with a rap. Pretty cool. I really enjoyed watching the whole thing. G. is an awesome dancer, but still he's there for the people in the class and not for himself. I think that is quite a gift as I have seen BJ instructors who were very good dancers, but really showing of on stage to show how cool and good they are and then end up forgetting about the people in the class. Half way down they stopped as they had to move the stage where the main camera was on, then they continued after about 5 minutes. I think it all went well, at least it looked great, as that's just all I can say about BJ.
When BJ was finished it was Bodyattack time. I took a spot at about the 3rd row, but b4 we'd started someone of LM pulled up to the first row. It took Will about 3 times to do the introduction, which was funny as he was all excited and talked so fast that he ended up messing up words. Finally we could start. Lisa, Will and Fabio looked awesome on stage. I didn't have time to make any pictures as I didn't want to miss anything of the class. Sorry you guys who weren't there. With track four they had a whole volleyball team up on stage, which looked good. After BA it was time for BP. Again I was put in the front row. I quickly changed my stuff as I was very sweaty from BA. This time I had my camera with me as I could put it underneath my step. Susan and Emma had an awesome tattoo painted on their calf. It took a while b4 we started, so I was able to take some pics with the portugese guys. The class went very well and I just love the finally they did on the shoulder track. I think I have a pretty good picture on that one. Ha... I just gave myself the opportunity to take that picture instead of doing the last few push-ups :-)
Sorry guys you'll have to wait for the pictures till I get home next week. It pretty expensive to have my photo's put on CD, so I will do it as soon as I get home. Only one more week.
Tonight will be the BC filming, and also BB and BS.

This morning I was planning to do the step/pump class, but there was a problem with the music, so they had to cancel the class. Too bad, as I was really curious on what that would be like.

From Auckland

After a long long drive with the bus from Wellington all the way up to Auckland I arrived there wednesday evening at 6.00 pm. The next day I went up to Les Mills. I still know my way around for a bit, so it was no problem to get there. I spoke to Susan the day before and she told me she was going to teach thursday at 1.10pm to try out for filimg classes. I hadn't doen BP for a while now, so I decided to be carefull with picking my weights as I wanted to do more classes that day. So I have hardly done BP60 (only few tracks) and now I am already doing BP61. I really like the song of the squat track (I am very bad with songtitles so I'm afraid I am not able to help you out on that one). The triceps is killing and so is the lunge track. Front foot on the step.... I thought it was quite challenging and I can tell you now... I can feel every single muscle in my butt (which is actually nice to know that I have some muscles there as wel).
I also did BC with Dan & Rach and BA with Lisa, Will and Fabio. There is a whole bunch of Portugese trainers. They are all very nice and we get along pretty well. So It's fun to spend some time with them.
Today I started with BP with Mark S. I really like him. Then I did BC with Joe. He's cool too. He actually called me on stage today with a couple of tracks which I hadn't really expected. He asked me if I actually wanted to teach a track is his class tomorrow together with one of the portugese trainers. Sure... I'd love to!!!!! Later I did BA with Lisa and Will. Then I actually wanted to join Dan & Rach's class. I managed to do so for 3 tracks, but then I was exhausted, so the rest of the class I have been watching. I could have pushed my self harder, but I decided it would be better not to, as I want to be fit for tomorrow's classes. Again BA, BC and BP.
Well I guess this is it for now. I'll try to take as many pictures as possible, but I probably won't be able to post them untill I'm home, unless I can find a place where they can put my pictures on a CD. Any suggestions anyone???