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What's your day job?
I’m a student at University of Auckland and work reception at Les Mills Newmarket.
What got you into teaching? What inspires/motivates you with fitness?
In my last years of high school, I wanted to claim something for myself that I was good at.
I signed up for the free trial at Les Mills Britomart that month, attended my first class (6am GRIT Strength with MJ), and was hooked. Being part of a community where movement is a celebration and enjoyable was refreshing, That, and the encouragement in the coaching and emphasis on being there for yourself, on being enough was deeply healing for me.
The self-development and healing that group-fit catalysed was what sparked my love for it. It just kept growing with the more people I met. Why I wanted to instruct is an extension of that love for group fit. It’s also what keeps me long-term-motivated; it’s the ability to provide a healing space for others, to help create the highlight of someone’s day, ultimately, to share people’s successes is extremely gratifying.
What do you teach and why?
GRIT! Thursdays at 5pm and Saturday’s 3:30! Perhaps because I can’t make it through a full pump squat track, but mainly because I love the satisfaction with knowing you’ve used your body to its near-maximum capabilities. The ‘dead’ feeling afterwards is one I think regular gritters actually quite like. It brings a sense of accomplishment.
It’s also fun and dynamic. You get to move around in so many different ways, unconstrained by timing or choreography. It’s a programme where you can make it your own, in the sense that there’s always a new move that you can strive to improve on.
Feelings aside, GRIT is a 30 minute High-intensity-interval-training (HIIT) class with short rounds of work and short rounds of rest. Each of the GRIT releases gets created through lot of research and development, and it achieves the 85+% heart rate zone. GRIT comes in three flavours: Strength, with the barbell and weight plates to help add a resistance aspect; Cardio, with just bodyweight; and Athletic, which uses the step to help optimise power output.
Why Les Mills?
I believe in what they create. I’ve tried a few other group fit offerings, but the sweet spot of simple-to-do-but-not-an-easy-workout is where the Les Mills programmes do best. They’re also among the only fun ones out there, in my opinion.
What’s a motivational quote you live by?
“When I’m old and unable to move, I’ll rest easy knowing I made the most of it whilst I could,” Joe Hemi
Any other fun facts?
I am an absolute food person and love learning about regional cuisines everywhere from Banna, Yunan, to Ohio. The irony is I’m vegetarian.