Guys and Gals
Even without a cursory glance at statistics, it’s no surprise that Les Mills Instructors are overwhelmingly female. The program with the most even split of male:female Instructors is BODYCOMBAT followed by BODYJAM. The biggest gender gap where females outweigh males almost 4:1 is BODYBALANCE and BODYSTEP. The only program where males outnumber females is The Trip.
Jason who is now an Instructor in the ACT, was reluctant to even try group fitness “at first I thought it was a ladies only activity…the first time I attended was because I had a buddy come along too!” Damian, who is also an Instructor, had a similar introduction to group fitness “…I was dragged along” but now says he is so grateful as teaching has “given me so much”.
For both gentleman, once they actually experienced group fitness the thought never crossed their mind again that it was the domain of females. Jason confirms “since the first time I never really cared that it’s mainly females in classes” with Damian adding “I’ve never really thought about it being female dominated, I really only care if [members] enjoy the experience”.
Programs with the most Instructors currently teaching (you might be shocked)
It’s no surprise that BODYPUMP tops the list of most “active” (teaching right now) Instructors and maybe even RPM isn’t a surprise coming in at number two. But BODYCOMBAT as the third largest pool of Instructors – is thanks to our South East Asia counterparts who can’t get enough of the martial-arts inspired program.
Nina from Malaysia says that her desire to train in BODYCOMBAT came from the love of martial arts “in South East Asia, martial arts has a strong influence. It’s a culture and a strong influence”. Lydia, another Instructor based in Malaysia agrees by saying children are exposed to martial arts at a young age. “Being able to share this passion with everyone [is amazing], having an awesome workout together and helping anyone find the champion in themselves [is the best!]” enthused Jean BODYCOMBAT from Singapore. Special mention goes to Xie who says “I like BODYCOMBAT because it liberated the pent up annoyances”. Hear-hear.
Programs with the most trained Instructors overall
The top 3 programs is a slightly different story – this is the total number of Instructors trained (whether they are teaching now or not). Again BODYPUMP tops the list, RPM is at number two, and at number three BODYBALANCE.
Les Mills Asia Pacific (LMAP) Instructor Specialist Andy isn’t surprised at the top three, as the popularity of a program in a club usually reflects the number of Instructors. “I think members are drawn to BODYPUMP, RPM and BODYBALANCE because they deliver the big-3: strength, cardio and flexibility – considering all instructors were one time members, it makes sense”.
The variance from the previous statistic that saw BODYCOMBAT sneak in to the active instructors list (thanks to the popularity in South East Asia) could be due to the growth of Les Mills in that market and as demonstrated, instructor recruitment generally mirrors the popularity of the program.
One final statistic *ahem*
The largest percentage of Connect readers in the Asia Pacific region are our Victorian friends, followed by Tassie and in close third the nation’s capital, ACT.
