What Is Les Mills? And Why I Love It!

You may or may not have heard of Les Mills, the creators of the original barbell class, BODYPUMP, among other group fitness formats, such as BODYCOMBAT, BODYATTACK, CXWORX, RPM, and more. I started teaching BODYPUMP a little over five years ago and RPM four years ago, and I’ve been in love with the formats ever since.

Les Mills is a New Zealand based company that originated in the 1960’s. They have built a great reputation of creating fitness programs that are science and evidence based, which stands them apart from conflicting and confusing health and fitness advice. I know that when I teach, I am confident that what we are doing in my classes are backed up by sound and scientific research. Not to mention, their mission is on point.

We’re on a mission to create a fitter planet. This doesn’t mean making people workout. It means helping people fall in love with fitness so they want to workout.

This isn’t to say other group fitness formats aren’t awesome or effective. In fact, I love some great variety in the group fitness room! But, as an instructor, I feel the most confident and equipped as a Les Mills group fitness instructor. Les Mills requires their instructors to go through intensive trainings and send in a video of us teaching before we are officially certified. It’s challenging and not easy, but I appreciate that this means Les Mills instructors are top notch and they don’t allow just “anyone” to teach.

BODYPUMP is one of Les Mills’ original group fitness formats, and is easily the most popular. It’s a full body strength training class that uses light to moderate weight with lots of reps to get you toned and lean quick. It emphasizes strength endurance which pushes your muscles to fatigue and delivers results.

RPM is an indoor cycling workout where we ride to the rhythm of the music. It improves your cardio fitness, is low impact, and best of all — FUN! We go through a journey of hill climbs, sprints, and flats to offer a good variety so that your bodies are challenged and get results.

This week, it’s “launch week” at the gym where I teach. Every quarter, Les Mills comes out with new releases for each format, which means we have new music and workouts to challenge us and give us more variety. I’ve taught BODYPUMP 111 a couple times already this week, and I will be teaching RPM 84 tomorrow for the first time.

BODYPUMP 111 has become one of my favorite releases! The music is awesome, and the workout is challenging and includes some new innovative moves. My all time favorite tracks from BODYPUMP 111 are track 3 (chest), track 4 (back), track 5 (triceps), track 6 (biceps), and track 8 (shoulders) … so basically almost all of them! Each of my favorites have some great music, and the workout is on point! I haven’t taught RPM 84 yet, but I’ve been reviewing it, and it looks to be full of some good music and a challenging workout!

If you haven’t tried a Les Mills class yet, I highly recommend checking to see if there’s any of them in your area! They are effective AND fun! Please don’t hesitate to reach out via email or in the comments below if you have any questions!