LesMills, the world’s biggest company for group exercises, has launched a biking-meets-high intensity interval training (Hiit) programme called Les Mills Sprint in the UAE.
The 30-minute workout blends elements of Hiit, which involves alternating short periods of intense exercises with short recovery periods, and indoor biking. The aim is to get rapid results with minimum joint impact, and burn calories long after the workout.
It’s different from LesMills RPM, the cycling workout, says master trainer Amir H Behforooz, who launched the new programme at an event hosted by Reebok at The Aviation Club in Dubai.
Fitness enthusiasts endure the LesMills Sprint at the Aviation Club in Dubai. Clint Egbert/Gulf News
“RPM is more focused on riding where we do some good aerobic exercise. But with Sprint, you train on a bike,” says the 43-year-old, who is a certified trainer in six LesMills fitness programmes.
“Sprint is just 30 minutes and designed to get results in a short time. I am sure it will be popular soon in the UAE.”
Behforooz, says LesMills changed his life after he discovered it 12 years ago, a year after moving to Dubai.
“I was 135kg and unhappy with my lifestyle. It was my brother who took me to attend my first LesMills Bodypump class at the Aviation Club in Dubai,” he recalls. “I remember I loaded my barbell with two light plates of 2.5kg each side and I couldn’t finish the class and left in the middle.”
Fitness enthusiasts endure the LesMills Sprint, a high-intensity interval bike training, at the Aviation Club in Dubai. Clint Egbert/Gulf News
But he persevered and turned his life around. The road to becoming an instructor was not easy, though.
“I had to be at a certain fitness level. I wasn’t fit enough and my English wasn’t good enough. So I watched a lot of the LesMills DVDs and practised every day.”
A few years later, Behforooz gained his certification and taught at the same club he first walked into as an overweight man. Today, after helping hundreds of people achieve their fitness goals, he’s not just a certified instructor and trainer, he is also a presenter, appearing in videos that instructors use to learn their courses.
Like all LesMills programmes, Sprint is for everyone irrespective of fitness levels, he says.
Eat at least three hours before the class and wear any comfortable sports wear. Reebok, the official partner, also sells LesMills-branded products.
Behforooz suggests a maximum of two LesMills Sprint classes a week.
“RPM you can do three times a week. But I suggest you mix it up with other LesMills classes like Bodypump and Bodyattack.”
LesMills International is named after New Zealand Olympian Leslie Mills whose son Phillip Mills founded the company in 1997 in Auckland after developing the first Bodypump programme. The company now licenses its programmes to more than 17,000 fitness centres in more than 100 countries including the UAE.
LesMills Sprint is currently only available at the Aviation Club. To book a class, call 04-2308560.
