Flying is incredible to watch – have you ever stopped to think how magnificent, birds, butterflies, insects and man-made aeroplanes really are? They showcase how doing the impossible, with the odds stacked against them can appear effortless, majestically taking to the air and dancing above the world like they were suppose to be there.
I have flown from my earthquake devastated hometown of Christchurch to St Albans, London. I was nominated and picked from 1500 global entrants in 43 countries to represent and showcase my style of personal training. Today as my watch reads 8:48am, I have a great opporunity to inspire and learn. I am surrounded by the globes greatest personal trainers and in a few minutes I am taking my curves and crutches to the world health, fitness and wellness stage.

Today it is my turn to fly…………………..

Keith Austin is a towering gentle giant. He fills a room or in this case a gym with calm and fun. But don’t be fooled by this jovial persona – he is a wealth and depth of knowledge in the health and fitness industry. He is also one of our seven judges, five whom are present today.

He sure means business and I am very excited that our first masterclass is a practical workshop on the magnificent LifeFitness Synrgy360. Nuffield Health is also an amazing centre. As we are seated for our briefing I catch out of the corner of my eye state of the art equipment, an indoor pool, squash courts and a welcoming cafe and hub of the centre. The energy has lifted and we are surrounded by cameras, onlookers, media and sponsors. Keith tells us to focus on us and why we are here. He says we must think of today as a learning and have fun. Of course at the end of the day someone will take home a title but he says we are all winners and we must remember that we are the top 10 from 1500 entrants nominated fro 43 countries. Again the tears are right there this is a true honour and still unbelievable! No time for them to flow, a quick bite of the bottom lip, look at my pandora and other sentiments and its show time!

The music is turned up, Keith walks me through this amazing equipment to make sure all can be achieved on my crutches. It all gets the big tick. I am so excited 🙂 The other nine join us in the centre for another reminder from our host Nick Merrell from Life Fitness UK and Europe. A quick
three, two, one FUN!!! and we are warming up to the beat of the music.

It was truey an amazing experience, catering for all levels and our quick highlights package reminds me anyone can exercise and can exercise.. I am in the right industry for inspiring wellness and changing lives.

The rest of the morning sees us in an upstairs meeting room, doing three theory based classes before lunch. One is on sharing best practices on four unique clients of the future – I loved it because these were all my typical clients now and I was able to hear from nine other experienced and top of their game trainers. We then met our clients, real clients based at Nuffield, mine is Beverley a 20 year plus member in her early 50’s, only does classes and has never used the Synrgy360 or weights. She has some old injuries from a car accident. We get to chat over lunch and find out what she likes, dislikes, her longterm fitness goals of weightloss and longevity. Our third masterclass is on the clock – we return to the arena and for the first time since we started with Keith I feel the butterflies again…. I have 55 minutes to plan, record and write down a 15minute progessive workout for Beverley. It is what I do, everyday…. but for 30seconds I am star struck, in awe of the equipment and the task. This is being streamed live around the world, the judges are watching our every move and I have a head full of ideas… at least I am not blank. I take my notebook and sit with my eyes closed for a few minutes. Breathing deep into my belly and calming my nerves, just like this morning I repeat the words ” I got here on my own merits, do this for everyone back home, do this for Riwai” Breathing, relaxing and clearing the mind. And eyes open…. I walk around the gear and ask myself – what would you do at home. Do what you know… I see Riwai arrive and I run over to him “Please can you go back to the hotel and grab the hula hoop? I need it to relax me into the session at 2:30” I have said it before but he is an amazing support crew, he doesn’t hesitate and heads off.

I get planning – Warm Up must be fun cardio and include dynamic stretching. The session will include major compound muscle work, flexion and extenstion exercises. Low impact for knees and lower back pain and no shoulder elevation due to old injuries from car accidents. Short Term Mission – to introduce Beverley to the Synrgy360, get her heart rate elevated, sweating and smiling. Long Term Mission to compliment her love of cardio classes with an alternatve resistance training to promote longevity, muscle building and disease prevention.

Thats the technical bit and in reality this Leap2it! Session sounded like this..

We will take you back to childhood with some hulahooping and hopscotch and throw the rubber duck, then we will put out some washing, spin dry it (dynamic stretching) and grapevine and pattercake around the place (cardio) then move to being a super woman (trx and rip) then we will pop in a bit of water skiing (TRX and RIP) lunge around the clock, and plank the alphabet then we will finish off with some bat wing treatment (with TRX for arms) before we have a lie down and give yourself a round of applause and angel wings. (Obie for myofascial release)

15 minutes exactly – planned and ready to go! Submitted to judges – this was so everyone was on the same level and we couldn’t change our plan.

I was number three so I got to watch Kim and Steven first – they were awesome and it really calmed my nerves. Each was so different and our styles were able to be showcased.

Next up is Cate Grace from New Zealand…..

WOW it was amazing.. a blur, a delight, a wonderment – I didn’t notice the cameras, I ran my own race, and it was so much fun.. it was great to see my clients smile and I felt like it was exactly what I was suppose to be doing. I couldn’t have done it any differently and I gave it my all. What a blast and what a memory.

There was no time to even say hello to Riwai, I literally caught my breath and was whisked away for a video interview, I didn’t even do my hair and I could feel beads of sweat and red cheeks…At least I knew it would look real. I am so stoked with the video, it is only a couple of minutes and it captured my essesnce and why I am in this industry perfectly!

Curves and Crutches – I did it – I felt like i was flying and it was JAZZFASTIC!