Fitness Instructor Journey, Part 3: Les Mills Live

Have you ever taken a trip for a destination race? Ever driven a long distance to see a band you like? That’s the best way to describe Les Mills Live. It’s like a crazy rock concert where people lift weights, punch stuff, ride stationary bikes, and strike yoga poses. I’ve never seen anything like it. 

When I heard that Les Mills would be having a “Les Mills Live” I literally had no clue what it was but people online seemed really excited about it and it sounded neat. Then they announced it would be in New Orleans. Cool, that’s actually not too far. An 8 hour drive from Austin. So I pitched the idea to Roger, who was fine with me leaving for the weekend to do this crazy thing. I asked some of my instructor friends here and not one of them was interested. Pretty sure the word “NOPE” was uttered by a couple. The pandemic will be waaaaay better by then (HA) plus LM was requiring that everyone be vaccinated. All will be well. (Spoiler alert: all was well. I didn’t get sick and unlike our last cruise, I haven't heard crazy stories of super sick people after the fact.) 

I was so excited because I was going to be able to take classes from some of the top Les Mills presenters. The people I saw every quarter on the masterclass videos! Tickets went on sale and I purchased mine selecting which classes I would like to do. Well, obviously BODYPUMP. I also signed up for BODYCOMBAT which I had taken all of like 3 times (once in person and twice on demand), Les Mills Tone, which I had only seen briefly online once when Les Mills live streamed the recording of their masterclasses once in New Zealand, Les Mills Core, which again, saw live streamed and did once or twice on demand and BODYBALANCE which I knew to be, basically, Yoga.

As we led up to the event, I started to second guess myself. Was I completely crazy to do this. What on earth was I doing?! I was going to drive all by myself for 8 hours, wake up the next morning and do 5 workouts and then jump into the car and drive BACK home, by myself. It would be my longest ever road trip. 

Friday dawned and I went in and taught my usual Friday morning online cycle class. After I wrapped up my class, I went home, had a snack, showered, packed my lunch, and finished my packing. I loaded my things into the car and set out for New Orleans by 11 AM. For the most part, my drive was uneventful. I had about an hour of the trip where it rained off and on, sometimes super hard, for about an hour not long after I crossed into Louisiana. 

On the road I rotated between “Song Exploder” podcasts (if you haven’t listened to them, I highly recommend them), the latest audiobook by Guy Gavriel Kay, and my “car music” playlist off my phone. I also chatted with my mom for a little bit, as well as my step mom for a few minutes who was also on a road trip as she moved from Colorado to her new home in Michigan. 

By around 6:30 I was passing through Baton Rouge and was ready for dinner. It’s pretty hard to be a vegetarian on a road trip. My choices are limited. I can’t just drive through a McDonald’s or something. So I found a Chipotle a bit off the freeway in Baton Rouge and ate dinner there. I was sort of getting tired of the car up to that point so stopping to actually eat something not in my car really helped refresh me. 

I arrived into New Orleans after dark, a little after 8, found the parking garage I had pre-reserved for my car (because the hotel wanted $45/day to valet my car - hard pass) and checked into my hotel. The parking garage was mostly a cruise ship parking garage and I had to laugh at the sign. Maybe someday we’ll be back for a DCL cruise out of NOLA. A girl can dream. So Hilton has this thing where you can preselect your room and I selected a room on the back of the building thinking it would be quieter than the street side. I was wrong. My window faced out into a nightclub. *face palm* I organized my belongings and got ready for the next day and actually didn’t sleep too badly. 

The next morning I had set an alarm, but woke up early anyway and rested for a while before getting up and getting ready. I didn’t really need to do much to get ready because it wasn’t like I was going to be showering and such. For breakfast I ate some cereal I had brought from home and made myself a small protein smoothie, again, with stuff I had brought with me. Then I packed my backpack with my water, extra clothes and nutrition and set off for the convention center a couple of blocks away.

I arrived at the convention center around 8:10 AM and checked in, flashing my vaccine card and ID and was given my event badge for the day. Then I dropped my larger backpack at the bag check and got in line for my first class, BODYPUMP, at 9:00 AM. There was already a huge line! Wow! So I got in line and waited for the next 45 minutes for the class to start.

When they opened the doors and we filed in, everyone ran to find a spot. The room was HUGE. There were so many people and the stage was huge. I was totally overwhelmed. The guy next to me looked at me and I looked at him and we were both just like, “whoaaaaaa…” Then the presenters came out and everyone screamed and clapped, just like when the musicians come onto the stage for a concert. It was wild. 

The music started playing, my favorite presenter was teaching, and I got goosebumps and actually teared up a little bit because the warm up track was just so perfect. (“Not Alone” by Codeko and April Bender, which is likely going to go down as my all-time favorite warm-up track.) I was here. With my people. The people I found that made me a better version of me. And we were all in this moment and feeling this thing and NOT ALONE! A lot of people stopped at various points and took pictures and video during the workout, but I just was in that moment and wanted to get in every single rep. It was incredible. I snapped a couple of shots before, after and between tracks, but that was it. It was perfect. 

After Pump, I felt pretty good. I went light on my weights, both because I knew I needed to pace myself, but also because I didn’t have a huge huge selection of stuff. I grabbed a smoothie from a booth set up in the convention center and walked back to my hotel. I changed clothes and ate half a piece of pumpkin loaf I had picked up at Starbucks the day before during my drive. I relaxed for a little bit and then made my way back to the convention center. I probably should have gone early, but I reasoned that I didn’t want to wait in a long line for BODYCOMBAT. It wasn’t my chosen format and I didn’t mind being in the back. This was a mistake. 

I lined up 30 minutes early for the 11:45 AM class and the line was already nuts. When I finally made it into the room, I was so far back, like over halfway and it was so hard for me to see what was going on, which made the class tricky for me. It was a real struggle because I don’t feel super confident in that program, for which I already have a hard time figuring out, I was really having to concentrate too much. I still had fun, though and enjoyed a lot of the music quite a bit. (And totally stole several songs for my freestyle cycle classes.) 

I had almost no transition time between classes (15 minutes) so I left during core, reasoning that I would have plenty of core coming up. Les Mills Tone was scheduled to start at 1:00 PM. I grabbed a gel from my backpack and quickly squeezed it down in one gulp. (I have a lot of practice from my days in long distance racing). 

Tone wasn’t as busy as Combat or Pump; it’s just not as popular of a program. I actually really liked Tone a lot and I was trying to think of how to describe it, but it’s probably easiest just to copy/paste from LM directly. “LES MILLS TONE combines blocks of strength, cardio and core training into one complete and convenient workout. A LES MILLS TONE workout includes a mix of exercises to work the whole body and elevate the heart rate.” A couple of my favorite presenters were in this one too so that was fun. And afterwards I ran up to the stage and grabbed a super quick selfie with my favorite, Marlon. I would have liked to have met Kaylah-Blayr Fitzsimons-Nu’u but I never got an opportunity. She’s one of my new favorites. 

Actually, it’s funny, during the workout we were doing some gnarly lunge thing with the band wrapped around our thighs and we were all groaning and dying because it burned so badly and then she counts down and says, “you’re done!” but the music continues and she looks confused for a sec and says, “NOPE! Just kidding! Keep going!” with a big grin on her face so back in we went. It was just such a real and honest instructor moment and something we have all done and it made me feel way way better about every single time I’ve ever screwed up and I sort of loved it. So big thanks to Kaylah-Blayr for totally being a real and relatable human being in so many ways. 

I finished up Tone and Core was going to be in the same room, but you had to leave and come back so they could check your badge and make sure you were really signed up. I had originally been planning to change before Core because, in theory, there was a 30 minute break between. However, Tone had been running late and the line was already getting long so I just ran to the back of the line and grabbed a bar from my fanny pack (they gave us each a fanny pack and that plus water were the only things we could take into the workouts). I munched my bar while waiting in line and spotted a member of the TAP team (trainer, assessor, presenter) that I had connected with online.

A few months ago I did an assessment through Les Mills. I recorded a class and submitted my video for review and feedback, to try to continue to hone my skills and become a better instructor. I got back some super odd feedback from the (anonymous) assessor and was confused. Eric really helped me parse it and figure out what I could use to become stronger and what I should toss (and also contacted some folks at LM to perhaps assess the assessor to figure out why they said some of the odd things they said). So we chatted while I ate my bar and waited for Core. 

Core was fantastic. I absolutely loved it and if I had to pick another LM cert to go get tomorrow, it would definitely be Core. Alas, FC doesn’t offer Core so it doesn’t make sense for me to get a certification and pay to get the quarterly releases (in addition, I wouldn’t be able to without a gym offering Core in which to tech for my assessment video to actually pass my training). I came out of Core with all sorts of muscles talking to me that I didn’t know existed. 

Core also ran late (I think because Tone had run late) and so I was late getting to BODYBALANCE. I really wanted to change clothes and use the bathroom, but I ran into the bathroom and it had a line out the door. Forget it. I got into the BODYBALANCE line which was about twice as long as the BODYCOMBAT line. I ate the other half of my bar. I was getting tired and looked longingly at the line for Les Mills Barre which I had considered vs. BODYBALANCE, but I thought some stretching would be good for me so I picked the yoga. There was almost no line for Barre and I considered going over and asking if I could do that instead. This line was insane.

Finally it started moving and I thought they were running late because I didn’t get into the room until 3:20 (for a 3:15 class). No, they started. They had started 5 minutes earlier! It just took everyone that long to get into the room. I was at the very back. I think there were maybe three people behind me. That’s how packed it was. I was wet and cranky and really far back and my body didn’t seem to want to do any of the things it was supposed to do. There was definitely no balance happening, either in my soul or my legs. I really tried to make the best of it, I really did, but I think I was just done. Yoga has never been my thing. I’ve tried off and on for many years, but I just can’t get into it. I should have done Barre. On the positive side of things, the final relaxation was fabulous and I almost fell asleep.

I really wanted to eat and I had found a place a few blocks away but I didn’t want to go all the way back to my hotel and shower and head back out. I was hungry now and wanted instant gratification. Someone told me the Riverwalk mall next door had food so I went over there. I found a place with an overpriced salad and got that. It was terrible but was slightly redeemed by a yummy hot pretzel. There was also a mini Cafe Du Monde in the mall and I grabbed a paper sack of beignets that I ate on the walk back to my hotel. 

I showered, Facetimed my family, rested a bit and then changed for the after party. I’m not a party person and as I changed, I really questioned what I was doing. Why was I going to a party? But there at the party I met up with a couple of people from Fitness Connection in North Carolina, including the woman that I interface with for my FC at Home workouts. We had a nice time. Then at the end of the evening, I met up with Eric again and we chatted a bit more and I hope I impressed upon him how incredibly helpful he has been to my LM journey. His advice, “just be you. That’s what will make you successful.” 

Look at me rocking that fanny pack! I also met Dave Kyle who is an absolutely amazing presenter for BODYPUMP, presenting one of the most epic biceps tracks ever. He was super kind and friendly and told us about filming that masterclass. His advice, “just be you. That’s what will make you successful.” I’m sensing a theme.

I had such a hard time sleeping that night. My whole body felt tired and my muscles felt sort of weird and tingly. Not at all like I’ve felt after a longer race. This was about 4.5 hours of activity, but broken up into chunks. And some of it was definitely less intense than I’ve had during a triathlon, but some of it, like PUMP and COMBAT, were for sure more intense than anything I would do during a triathlon. It was a strange beast for sure. 

I finally fell asleep and slept fitfully. I didn’t set an alarm, just decided to head out of New Orleans whenever I naturally woke up, which turned out to be around 6:30. I took my time getting up, showering, eating a cup of instant oatmeal I had brought along, and packing everything up. I was on the road a little before 8 AM. The trip home was smooth and uneventful. I listened to all the aforementioned stuff and had a nice long chat with Dru while crossing Henderson swamp in Louisiana (the best part of the drive). I stopped around noon in Beaumont, TX (close to the border) for lunch at a Panera, then made another stop just outside Houston (which strangely had zero traffic jams) at Starbucks. The weather was great and the traffic was nonexistent. I was pretty stiff when I got out of the car but I wasn’t terribly sore. A few spots in my back and core, but that was it. 

I came back to my classes with renewed energy and excitement, ready to tackle them with all the great energy I picked up on Saturday. And a reaffirmation to be myself and the knowledge that I had a community that celebrates people for who they are. I would definitely go again!