My quarantine days certainly had their lulls, but I also used them to get serious about fitness. Without much else to do, I reconfigured my living room into the best makeshift gym possible and dove headfirst into the world of workout apps (didn’t we all?)… I found myself doing workouts I would have never dared to in person… Kickboxing? Why not? Dance cardio in my pajamas? All about it. And through a lot of unabashed experimentation, I ended up hooked on one app, LES MILLS On Demand. I researched Les Mills to find out what it was that made this app different from others and was surprised to find that Les Mills has been making exercise videos for over 40 years, with the expert help of creative directors and exercise scientists. Les Mills himself is an iconic New Zealander: four-time Olympian; former national head track and field coach; and three-term mayor of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. Back in 1968, he opened a gym in an effort to bring elite sports training methods to the wider community. Five decades later, the business has released 21 branded workouts and offers group classes to 21,000 gyms worldwide (also streamed directly into thousands of homes via LES MILLS On Demand). As Jackie Mills, M.D., LES MILLS chief creative officer, describes: “Our job is to help people fall in love with fitness so they want to keep coming back, and they experience the huge benefits of lifelong exercise.” My experience, to a tee. But with LES MILLS On Demand, I don’t have to. As I get back into the world, this app bridges the transition. LES MILLS is the world’s only workout provider that offers an unmatched breadth of exercise options online as well as live workouts in gyms—again, LES MILLS classes are delivered in 21,000 fitness clubs across the planet. In other words: We get the best of both worlds. As we move forward into this post-pandemic lifestyle—the new recipe for fitness is a combination of home workouts and the gym time we’ve always loved. Some days we’ll have time for an in-club LES MILLS workout—enjoying the unbeatable motivation of working out with others in a live class, pumping with music. But when we’re short on time, we can experience the same science-backed workouts and world-leading instruction at home. It’s that consistency between the in-club and online fitness that truly makes LES MILLS the only fitness app I need. I’ve found that with intention and planning, this combination is actually taking my fitness to new heights. Devon’s first book, Earth Women, is coming soon. To learn more, join the mailing list, and receive updates, head to www.devonbarrowwriting.com.
