BodyCombat 61 Thoughts – Infact I like it?

Before we begin are you a Les Mill instructor and up for answering a couple of non-personal questions?  If so please check out : http://www.siphilp.co.uk/archive/2014/10/24/les-mills-instructors-worldwide-want-hear.aspx.  If you’ve got in touch, I will be in contact soon :).

BodyCombat 60 has been and gone. What did you think of it?  Track listing for BodyCombat 62 has been posted, copied by many and re-posted. This has been the first quarter that I’ve mixed out a release to then mix some back in (BC60). 

The BodyCombat 61 track listing can be found here.  I didn’t post any sizzlers this time round as again they were very slow to hit the net and really wasn’t worth it.

Initial overall thoughts

I done the quarterly workshop in Glasgow a while back with initial thoughts here : BodyCombat 61 Quarterly workshop thoughts .

The masterclass was filmed with a nice number of 3 at Les Mills HQ in Auckland city. Seemed alot of talking/singing but not alot of doing. I got the impression participants of the room hadn’t woke up yet either that or it had been a long day?

I am tempted to Photoshop a Les Mills BodyCombat Karaoke dvd cover as every release comes with more singing. Maybe around Christmas?

Teaching this release for a nearly 6 weeks now of which I am really enjoying the music, t7 isn’t my cup of tea but hey, that’s my personal preference.   Overall the music gives the release a good feeling, with many lyrics you can easily hook into.  No new moves, am hoping the matrix kick will be back in either BodyCombat 62 or even BodyCombat 63, who knows?

Anyway onto the tracks

Track 1a – Upper body warmup – Wrecking Ball (MaLu Project Remix Edit) – Pop Pistols

No hanging about thrown into the world of boxing with simple combo’s which can be seen later on in the release.  The weave lunge, “Capoeira” was interesting to teach to start with but we got there in the end. Great start to the class.

Track 1b – Lower body warmup – Beautiful Monster (Damn-R Remix) – Mick Lion

What a transition from upper to lower warmup. Lets throw in some squats before we start the shoot lunges.  Round houses Seems the trend lately has been the back kick and front step.  It’s nice to see it being used in other tracks :).  This lower body warm up seems to just fly by covering all the bases.

Track 2 – Combat 1 – Shot Me Down ft. Skylar Grey – Up Despair

Short and sharp. Problem here is trying to get participants to stay low on the 2 front kicks, down up down and staying down.  Bit different to previous track 2’s and being the first track after the warm up throws you in the deep end of leg training.

Track 3 – Power training 1 –  Every Breath You Take – Praying Hunk 

This is much needed after the leg work out we’ve just done. The music really takes you to a happy place where you naturally want to work alot harder. Combination upper, hook, upper allows anyone of any level to throw a little more on each repetition.  The directional jabs give the track a more fun feel as you can incorporate the game tag with participants.  I always joke about giving press-ups if anyone is tagged but my participants seems to be too nice to actually tag anyone they can.

Track 4 – Combat 2 – So What! (M Edit) – Independence Days

Lots of discussion about this track over various social networking sites and it’s fairly balanced when it comes to peoples thoughts.  In all honesty this was the last track that I learned as it would not sink in for some reason.  I must admit I do like it, build up from back knee, front kick to the jump kick, followed it up with the back kick, front kick and 2 strikes. Enjoyable, a little bit of variety and lots of room to work coaching and the layering.

Track 5 – Power training 2 – Stairway To Heaven (Original Mix) –  Modulate & Petruccio

Over the last several releases I think that the 45 minute format should scrape the track 3 and replace it with this track.  Music is uplifting, working with layers and choreography  this track destroys the shoulders and certainly hits the cardio high. Don’t take options, give 100%.

Track 6 – Combat 3 – Get Low – Dillon Francis & DJ Snake

Getting the rhythm to start prepares your legs for the workout they’re about to go through.   It’s a boring track lets face it but the exercises work. Did we really expect the switch lunge and esquiva to go anywhere? The low shoot squat is a killer, not for the fainthearted.

Track 7 – Muay Thai – Ready To Rock – Airbourne

Did they mix up BodyCombat 60 track 7 and this release? Surely the “levelled” superman punch should of been in 60? Not a fan of this track, seems very thrown together. Will be the first track that’s mixed out, shame as previous track 7 stood it’s ground for most of the mixing period. Even on the masterclass dvd the presenters seems to be around their 60% of effort.

There is an opportunity to push participants and yourself with the knees.  The 7 combo of double knees to single jump knee, well, mixed views among instructors and participants.  I like the combo, but I think there is enough going on in this track already.  Maybe keeping it more simple it would of worked? Just writing about this track is boring me. Jab, hook, ascend elbow hook, knees and the superman punch.  BLAH has been filled in. Do you agree, disagree?

Track 8 – Power training 3 – Like a Rainbow (Sy & Unknow Remix) – Recon & Demand

This track is nearly 8 minutes long but passes so quickly when you’re working hard. A solid repetitive track that certainly works the shoulders, especially with the corkscrew jab. Lots of song lyrics to hook into to push participants. Lots of levels instructors can work.   While it is repetitive, I am really enjoying this uplifting last power track. More like this please.

Track 9 – Conditioning – Watch Out For This (Bumaye)  – Since Ten

I have tried teaching this track so many different ways and it would seem I am not the only one where it’s going down like a lead balloon. How are your finding it on the mats, does it work, No, tried the floor? This will be going on the back burner never to see light again as we start to mix. Surely the reaction and feedback from the last time we done something like this:”crocodile press-up” they see that it adds frustration rather than being a solid conditioning track? Would be interesting to know if they actually take on board anything from the blah feedback.

Track 10 – Cool down – Heart of a Warrior – Dizzee Rascal

Nice track for the cool down with a thrown in karate kata for a bit of fun.  Does anyone else still need to keep stretching after the cooldown?

What Next?

BodyCombat 62 track listing is out. In my previous thoughts post about BodyCombat 60 I thought we’d see the return of such moves as the matrix kick, how wrong was I? I also mentioned that with the sword being in the cool down will we see it in the next release, well no.

With the whole superman punch from 60 to 61 being kind of backwards makes me think that each release is thought about in the moment. What I mean by this is that there seems to be no layering between releases, shame really as the benefits outweigh the negatives. What will BodyCombat 63 bring?  Predictions : more Karate Kata’s, jump knees, and switch lunge…..

Lot of new moves from BodyCombat 50 through to BodyCombat 60 and they’ve been one hit wonders.  Will we see these moves again any time soon?   Roger and I will probably be chatting about this release soon so please check out his group fitness over coffee podcast.

Got launch pictures/videos you want to share?

Every release after my thoughts have been made public I do a post on “Everything BodyCombat release?”.  These can all be found : http://www.siphilp.co.uk/tag/everything-body-combat.  If you’d like to share something in the Everything BodyCombat 61 then please get in touch.

Give Feedback

If you have any thoughts about BodyCombat 61 and you’d like to share then please feel free to comment or get in touch. If you didn’t already know you can also give feedback to Les Mills in relation to any programme/release. Are you an instructor? Heard of the BLAH (be loud and heard)? http://www.lesmills.com/blah Are you a participant? You can let Les Mills know about your experiences with after class. http://www.lesmills.com/global/classes/after-class-surveys.aspx .

Whether or not this information is used correctly or at all is another question? I’d love to see all the data collated and analyse it, think of the cool information you’d be able to get out of it. Les Mills you could do so much with this data please say you’re using it.