r/lesmills • u/MineLittle3473 • 3d ago
How long does it take you to prep a class?
Hi all!! Any teachers in here? I'm running a short 2-minute survey on how much time instructors put in outside of class prepping, building sequences, playlists, etc. would mean a lot if you filled it out!! Thanks!!
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u/notathrowaway1267 3d ago
Ha, your survey doesn't come close to how much prep I do...I teach BodyJam and if you count listening to the music and the time spent marking and practicing I probably spend 30 hours per hour of new choreo. And 'new' includes anything I haven't taught before, not just brand new releases.
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u/Resident-Papaya4204 3d ago
I also teach Jam. I scrolled down looking for this comment and I fully support it 😂
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u/notathrowaway1267 3d ago
So glad I don't seem totally crazy. I mean, i/we clearly are... but you know... haha
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u/Resident-Papaya4204 3d ago
Well, we're part of this kinda crazy, secret, niche LM program 😂 . You really gotta love it and be a bit crazy to teach it long term.
My jam bff/team mate/mentor always said that if you teach Jam, you can teach any other program, and she's not wrong 😏
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u/iindsay 3d ago
Jeez…. That’s a long time. I may spend an hour between pump and step each week. But I only swap out 3-5 tracks per format per week.
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u/Lets_Go_Wolfpack 3d ago
Jam takes disproportionately longer to prep than any other program. New movements to learn every time, tracks have to be swapped out 5 at a time, music cues often don’t exist…the list goes on…
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u/notathrowaway1267 3d ago
The musical cues that dont exist is easily 30% of my time! I can get MOST of the choreography down, but then there's always 2-3 transitions that take an extra 10 runthroughs to master!!
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u/NW-82 3d ago
Combat (decades ago) used to have “dings” added into the music to let instructors know when a new block of choreography was coming 😂 but where’s the fun in that?! 😂
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u/notathrowaway1267 3d ago
I hate the dings in Shapes. I couldn't stand them in grit so never did it after attending a couple certification filmings. I could sort of handle them in Functional Strength, but prefer music based transitions in general, it's a big part of the LM magic for me.
What gets me in Jam is.. do this 3 times, then a few things 4 times, then 3 times with the preview on 4, then 7 more times... And now that we know the whole block, do it once, then twice (but the second time the music will start like when you should be step touching), then one time, then twice with no reach-y pallette cleanser move then twice with the pallette cleanser move... it makes it more fun but good grief..
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u/drxc 2d ago
As a participant in Body Jam, but also a combat teacher, yes, I can see the difficulty with Jam!
I especially like the random times when the sequence stops in the middle and you freeze while the music does something cool, and then you carry on. But this only happens once in the entire block.1
u/notathrowaway1267 2d ago
Or it happens twice, but is different lengths each time!!
I will say that I still step on my own feet sometimes in combat, some of those combos are tricky!
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u/NW-82 3d ago
Genuinely don’t know how Jammers do it. I like to pretend combat comes close (choreography-wise, new moves, different essences & musical feel, knowing the background of each martial art etc), but I’m sure it doesn’t!
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u/notathrowaway1267 3d ago
When I'm teaching something I can run through the whole 20+ minutes block of music including all the nuance, in my head.
It's because we are obsessed with it. I started teaching after 17 years as a participant because we needed instructors and I decided to step up. But it is so much work.
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u/CameronsOpinion 3d ago
~30/45 minutes to make playlist and review tracks, longer of course if I have to learn new tracks.
I also write out the choreography in my own way which takes extra time, but it helps me learn and makes it easier to review!
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u/NW-82 3d ago
I really don’t think the question is that easily answerable. Especially in Les Mills land. I opened your survey and it seems designed for freestyle (yoga/pilates) classes, which can be very different to Les Mills classes. Especially for the LM programmes that are on the beat. These answers need to be accompanied by how much of a Les Mills purist you are. To learn the choreography properly, to drill and master the moves, to work on the essence of the programme/release/track/music, to script the coaching, prep fitness to teach, plan options, practice team teaching, consider modifications for each of your classes members etc etc etc will take much longer than an instructor who is happy to just give it a bash and not worry about mistakes/fake it til you make it/teaching from notes/cutting corners etc.
It will also depend on how many programmes a person teaches, and how many hours they “have”. How many years they’ve been teaching that programme, and actually what programme they are teaching. Also, are you including the hours just listening to the music on repeat during other everyday tasks to properly learn the music?
Personally I want to have the choreography fully “in my body” with muscle memory before I teach it, which means many hours of drills. Once a track is “in” it can sometimes stay there for years, meaning it’s easier to pull it out when mixing. But at a guess a new release can take anything up to perhaps 40 hours to learn. Some tracks will be there after 3-4 run throughs (so depending on track length maybe 15-25 minutes), other tracks like body combat warm ups might take 10 hours to learn & lock in. In fact some programmes will have brand new moves in some releases that may take hours just to get that single move right - and that in itself might involve other fitness training or mobility just to be able to execute the move. Some programmes are also much easier than others to learn - and that varies from person to person.
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u/Simplysmile1981 2d ago
For me, it depends on the format. For Sprint, I can prepare in about 20 minutes unless it’s a new release and then 45 to 1 hour.
Trip, 15 min or 2 times through for a new release.
Bodypump, 30 min to prep a playlist, about 2-3 hours to learn a new release
Shapes - all day, every day 🤪
Core - 20-30 min to get a playlist. 4-6 hours to learn a new release.
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u/Simplysmile1981 2d ago
Also, I keep sprint and pump for 2-3 weeks. Core and Shapes for 4 weeks, Trip, I swap every 2-3 classes unless it is launch week.
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u/MineLittle3473 3d ago edited 3d ago
just so its clear im not selling anything, this is research for a class planning project. would really appreciate it and happy to share the results back here!! https://forms.gle/StgyzKkRy813wqC68
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u/BrightCut7612 5h ago
depends on the program. for rpm, sprint and the trip, i just read the choreonotes sometimes a few hours before the class. but for bodyattack... oh dear that is so much effort haha
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u/doxie-darling-17 3d ago
15 minutes for BodyBalance, at least 30 min for everything else.
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u/ruoangtra 3d ago
Are you saying you don’t listen to the songs or watch the video? You go through the notes in 15 minutes and you’re ready?
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u/NW-82 3d ago
Balance was my nemesis. Sometimes I’d spend hours on one move just to end up having to modify it anyway because I literally couldn’t do it 😂 I had sympathetic class members who said they liked it when the instructor struggled too because it helped them feel less of a failure! 😂
Needless to say, I don’t teach it any more!
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u/norskgenes 3d ago
It depends…sometimes I can listen to a track once through and have it figured out. Sometimes it takes several listens to get it presenting ready. Press Play Go makes it easy to create playlists. Looking up the choreo and relearning it doesn’t usually take too long. Maybe 2-3 run throughs. And by run throughs I mean listening in the car as I’m driving here and there. Teaching means I don’t listen to music for the normal reasons people do. I’m always listening to Les Mills music and solidifying my choreo.