That´s the opening of every fairy tale, but my life wasn´t a fairy tale. Especially not when I checked my body weight
If you had told me 10 years ago that I would one day be an Instructor for BODYPUMP™, BODYCOMBAT™ and BODYFLOW™ I would definitely have laughed and said to you, “Are you kidding me?! What a crazy thought – me, an Instructor? No way!”
But things changed. And Les Mills is the reason.
I was overweight. I hated my flabby belly, my buns and thighs and my butt. But I always had the heart of a real warrior inside me, and I decided to take out a membership at a local studio.
The first BODYPUMP class – oh my God – what a disaster! The Instructor – a beautiful, shredded lady – showed me the moves, and I admired her strength and power. She had a lot of weight on her bar. Me? Well, just the smallest ones.
The same happened in my first BODYCOMBAT class. The fighters in the studio, a great team, had the whole choreography in their heads. I stumbled along. But it was in this moment that something magical happened – and it really was like a fairy tale. In this case, the fairy came along and promised me I would be able to be like these people in the studio.
So I activated my willpower and the new Super-Franzi was born. I visited the classes regularly, and my results were great. I fought, I sweated, I struggled – and sometimes I wanted to give up. But my inner warrior said “NO!”
The voice inside me, and my new strength gave me the power to survive – I lost a lot of weight and I was so proud. And then, one fine day, my favourite BODYPUMP Instructor told us she was leaving. She asked me if I would like to complete the BODYPUMP Instructor training. Yeah, she really asked me that! And I said “YES!”
On that day my idol Instructor turned into the fairy in my personal fairy tale. And my inner ugly duckling became a beautiful swan, all because of Les Mills.
Now I´m also a BODYCOMBAT and BODYFLOW Instructor. It makes me so proud to tell the people in my classes of my personal and private story. My changing, my transformation. My determination is to teach, to be an idol, to teach them the moves and to show them that dreams can come true. If you never give up, the heart of a warrior is inside of you. Sometimes it´s hidden, but you have to find it. Fight for your health, fight for a better life, and try to be the best version of yourself.
Franziska Maier lives in Ostfildern, a small town near Stuttgart/Baden-Württemberg in Germany, and has been a teacher since 2013 ( BODYPUMP, BODYCOMBAT and BODYFLOW).
