Being trained in 3 Les Mills programs (Body Attack, Body Pump and Body Balance)(update: as of September 2016 I am also trained and video certified in BodyVive 3.1) you’d think I’d have this whole video certification process down pat. Well I have a confession to make, I am only video certified in one program, Body Balance. Still to this day I am not even certified in Body Pump and I got my certification for Body Attack by doing AIM1 (Advanced Instructor Module).

Video certification can be a very daunting process for a lot of people as I learned when I did my Body Attack AIM1. Of the 5 of us that attended training, only one person was actually video certified. What surprised me most was that the girls I attended training with had all done their training within the previous year so their free video certification pass was still valid and available to them.

Now, I had good reason to go through AIM to get my certification in Attack. I had trained 4 years prior and after my module I was plagued with injury and illness so my “freebie” had long since expired. Rather than pay $50 to do a video for a program that had evolved so much since my module, and not even be guaranteed a pass, I thought it’d be better to spend $200, get upskilled and learn about the changes to the program, as well as get certified.

I have no excuses for why I didn’t do my Pump video after training in 2013, I just couldn’t be bothered.

So why did the instructors that still have the free video certification option available to them not use it? It could have been many reasons: too hard to find a class to film at; too much trouble to set up a camera; couldn’t be bothered; fear of failing the video. Let’s look at that last one. Fear of failing the video. If you haven’t submitted a video but have Cert III, you can still teach, you are just not certified. But if you have submitted a video and failed yet have your Cert III, you can still teach, you are just not certified, oh and you failed your video. Doesn’t sound as good with that last part attached does it? (Please note that this applies in Australia only for LMAP instructors. Other countries have much stricter certification for registration requirements.)

Well for those who have not done a video yet and have that fear of failure, I’m telling you now, it’s not as bad as you think. When I did my Body Balance module, I was adamant that I was going to get video certified so I got to work and only 4 weeks after my training I had filmed my video. I had made a couple of small mistakes but after discussing it with my module trainer I decided to just bite the bullet and send it in. What’s the worst that could happen? Oh yeah, I’d fail. So what? Would I die? No! The good news is that I didn’t fail, I actually got some great feedback from my anonymous assessor and I got my shiny certification PDF attached to my email. YAY! I was certified!

Back to the errors I made during my video, for example, track 3 I was supposed to go to warrior 1 and instead I started to go to triangle pose, I realized my mistake very quickly and altered my pose within 8 counts of music. Also in track 4 and 8, I transitioned into the next pose too quickly meaning I held certain poses a few counts too long. Now these were classified as choreography errors but because I only made a couple of these types of errors, I was ok. When I recently filmed the Body Pump video that I never sent in (I no longer had my free pass and was going to have to pay), I made a mistake where during the lunge track I did the first leg 2-2 then 3-1 and then did the same on the other leg when it was actually supposed to be 3-1 then 2-2, after speaking to an assessor about this I was told that would be classified as 4 major choreography errors and could potentially be a fail. For $50, I wasn’t gonna bother risking it so my video went in the recycle bin.

Here are my tips based on my own personal experience:

• Ask your mentor or another instructor who has been through the video certification process to come to your class and watch then ask them  how they felt you taught.
• Have a few practice runs, setup a video camera and teach to an empty room if you need to just so you can see how you will come across in your video.
• Know your choreography inside and out. While a couple of mistakes are allowed, they will not pass you if you make a lot of mistakes. Especially be sure to watch your video back with the master class DVD side by side to ensure that you are doing the right moves to the right timing.
• Place the video camera on an angle rather than facing head on so that the assessor can see your moves from all angles and if possible, film your class at a gym where you have a mirror behind you as that will give an even greater aspect for technique advice. Also, try to place the camera up high so that participants can move freely around the room and so their butt is not in the camera the whole time.
• Speaking of participants, apparently LMAP requires that there be a minimum of 4 participants in your class for filming. However I know one person who filmed their video to an empty class because there was no available class for them to film in. They still passed.
• Include a letter with a brief self assessment for your assessor to read so they know the kinds of things you are aware of. Note any mistakes you made and ask any questions you may have about your performance in this letter so they can respond with some ideas for you outside of the things they will pick up themselves.

 

HAVE NO FEAR! It’s not the end of the world. You have the free pass as part of the cost of your initial module training, you are better off using it because even if you fail at least you tried. If you simply let the pass expire then you have wasted an opportunity. If you want to go to AIM1 to get certified within your first year after module training, just remember that you are only being assessed on one track. When you do a video, you get assessed on all of your tracks. Take the opportunity and use the feedback to better yourself in all of the tracks of your chosen program.

If you have any questions about video assessment, contact LMAP or if you’d like to know more about my video assessment journey, contact me.