Program Director Lisa Osborne, who has put together 60 releases since 2002 q
BODYATTACK:
A GROUP FITNESS
LEGEND HITS
A CENTURY!
In the ever-evolving world of Group Fitness, you
know you’ve got something right when you’re
hitting milestones in your fourth decade, writes
Marie Anagnostis.
t strikes terror into the hearts of
those who have never tried it, and
a sense of twisted excitement in
those that have – including a band of
instructors whose passion would take them
to Amsterdam to simply do a class.
We’re talking about BODYATTACK ® – a
class that combines athletic movements like
running, lunging and jumping with strength
exercises such as push-ups and squats.
For those new to the fitness industry and
not yet initiated in the ways of the ‘TR1BE’
of Les Mills instructors, let me explain:
Les Mills is pre-choreographed group
fitness to music, and every three months
trained instructors purchase quarterly
resources featuring a new playlist of music
and choreography. These resources are
sequentially numbered, and the reason that
I
46 | NETWORK SUMMER 2017
people travelled 36-hours to do a BODYATTACK ® class in
Amsterdam was because it was the milestone filming of
BODYATTACK ® 100.
The (round) stage was set for filming in Amsterdam and
you better believe people travelled a long way to be part of the
event – much to the confusion of the young guy working at the
venue’s café, ‘So you came all this way to do a fitness class?’
Well. Yes.
The line up outside the historic Amsterdam Gashouder to get the
prized front row positions started long before the scheduled time,
with the colossal venue filling up quickly with participants ranging
from BODYATTACK ® tragics to the simply curious.
The spectacular setting took our breath away before
BODYATTACK ® could, the ornate circular structure of the Gashouder
building an unlikely backdrop to the sweaty hot mess that was to be
BODYATTACK ® 100. The circular stage smack in the centre of the
venue, the rig of dazzling lighting, and the sound – the sound you
could feel in your bones – combined to amplify an already electric
atmosphere.
Now you might have got to this point in the article and wondered how
much over the kool-aid limit yours-truly really is. Don’t drink and write.
The truth is, I’ve never touched the stuff. And you might understand
my excitement if you’ve ever been to a concert or festival where you
are just swept up in the atmosphere and energy of the people around
you. I floated through the 55-minutes – when normally I would do
anything but float through any kind of cardio. But that’s the power of
working out in a group.