Nike Tribal Challenge

Announcement: I've received my certificate for RPM- now I'm certified internationally to teach Body Combat and RPM. Next stop: Body Pump!



Fitness First has joined forces with Nike for the upcoming Nike Tribal Challenge in September. The Les Mills programmes involved are Body Step, Body Jam, and my beloved Body Combat.

Basically, members can form a "tribe" in either one of the programmes and compete against rival tribes, presenting 2 contrasting tracks from the workout. The tribe must consist of an instructor as the tribe leader and at least 3 ladies. Maximum people per tribe is 5.

I wasn't planning to participate in it but (un)fortunately a member left a note at the front desk of the gym I was teaching last Thursday. When I got the note, it was just the name "Ann" and her phone number,couldn't help but feel like a rich sugar mummy enjoyed my class so much that she wanted "extra service" from me. So I called her up but she didn't pick up the phone. Later she smsed me to see if I was the instructor she left the note for. I replied "yes" and her friend who introduced herself as Jean called me. Apparently they were not interested in providing me extra income there were 3 of them(all females) and they needed an instructor to lead their Body Combat tribe and asked if I was taken. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't think I was attractive enough to be a boy toy Since being an instructor means doing what you can to please your members, I agreed to lead them into the battle field. Since my gf is a gym member as well, I asked her to be in the team so that she doesn't feel left out of the things I do(yes, I try to be sensitive to her feelings).

We initially submitted our tribe to compete the preliminary round at Cheras Leisure Mall on 13 Sept, but last night at Menara Axis, Jean infomed me that she's not available for that day and they have decided to compete at Menara Summit on 4 Sept instead. After going through a couole of tracks with Ann, Jean and my gf, we've decided to do a combat track and a muay thay track(if you don't know what I am talking about, just ask an instructor who teaches BC).

With the songs selected, my job now is to make sure the 4 ladies get their act right. From what I've observed so far, Ann, Jean and my gf have good techniques but we still need to work on the side kicks and perhaps sharpens their execution of the uppercut. I have yet to see the last team member Evelyn yet, so hopefully she is ok.

We initially named our tribe "The Munks"(short for chipmunks) but since we're resubmitting our form, we are changing to "Ryu Kanojo"(Ryu="dragon" kanojo="ladies" since they wanted some mengancam name). I had actually proposed some Thai names like tom yam koong, phor kin phor chai, chi wit chi wa but they shot them down.We will start with the preliminary at Menara Summit and if we make it through, we will be representing Fitness First Menara Summit for the semi-final, competing with 2 other gyms 17 Sept. If we make the cut then, we will be heading to Menara Axis on 8 Oct for the finals.

I later found out that the ladies had initially wanted to approach another peer of mine but he had already started his own tribe. So, I am actually the 2nd option. A bit disheartening to know that but not too worry- I will make sure that in the end, they will be glad they got the second option instead. How nice if we were to beat their first choice's team Personally now that I'm participating, I'm eager and determined to make it to the finals. However, to make it all the way, the tribe needs to work as a team to execute the moves, and to perform our very best. I will be looking at polishing up the ladies' skills and techniques- 10 days to turn them into 4 tough ladies who kicka$$!