Bodycombat at YJC

I wanted to update this blog cos I just had one of my most enjoyable classes ever. And it wasn't even at a gym. It was a corporate class at YJC as part of their sports CCA camp. Kids today are super lucky. There's so much more to experience. When I was in JC, I think BODYCOMBAT was just being created!

Because I was a JC boy once (and not too long ago haha), I knew how young adults think, so it wasn't too difficult for me to rack my brains to capture their attention.

May seem a surprise to some who are used to my 'serious' demeanour in my classes, but I was cracking jokes half the time and I'm glad the JC kids responded very well with their natural laughter, so I think I succeeded. (Sidenote: Anyway, I think I've lightened up a lot in my recent classes already...)

As I was alone, the best thing to capture their attention was to get them involved, and I called for people to sabotage their friends by calling out names to come up on stage to be my sparring partner, where I would demo the moves and combo before I start each track. I did that for each track, so a fair number of young adults came up!

The crowd was about 60-70 and it was from the sport CCA groups like floorball, bowling, sailing, soccer, basketball, etc. So each time someone came up, I would ask them for their names and CCA, and then disturb them a bit. It was all in the name of a good laugh.

The girls were terrified cos they kept thinking I'm going to punch and kick them each them I demoed the combo.

It was a very good experience cos these young people are natural athletes and they process physical instructions relatively well. A few who were not used to the program had co-ordination problems at the start, but I think by the 5th or 6th track, they were really getting the hang of it.

Before the class, I was told by Sebestian to just teach them about 5 tracks, but one of the PE teachers told me to 'give it to them' since they're all athletes haha. Together with all the showmanship, getting names and people to come up for me to demo the combos, we still managed to do 8 tracks. I was definitely very pleased.

And in today's class, I did So What by Pink from BC39. I have the song, I remember the choreo, but I did the pre-filming version, which has a simpler choreo. So these young kids actually had the privilege to do something which all the hardcore members have to wait 4-5 months to get a taste of. I guess I just couldn't resist. Something funny though, when I asked the class if they wanted to do push-ups, everyone kept silent.

After the class, I had a chat with some of the PE teachers. They loved BC very much and they all think it would be good if they have incorporate this into their PE classes or Sports Education Program. They noted that having music to exercise with engages the participants and keeps their concentration and focus. Energy levels are also higher. They mentioned they had some kickboxing and Muay Thai classes before but it was all done without music so it was kinda boring.

I'm sure Lynn will have something to say about this... I know Les Mills don't pay me to market their stuff, but I actually promoted BJ to them! Showed them a couple of BC and BJ videos I have in my ipod and got them all interested. I even wrote down for them what the programs were and how to get access to these program for their students. Seriously, LM should employ me to be their ambassador!

The teachers enquired how much I charge for each class if they wanted to have another session again. I almost wanted to say I don't mind doing it for free cos the satisfaction of seeing enthuasiastic young faces outweighs any monetary reward. But in the end I didn't say free of cos, because all the other instructors would hate me.

Finally, one of the teachers mentioned something which has always been my belief. She said it was nice to see the students working out and most importantly have fun and enjoying it. This has always been my philosophy - have fun while working out.