She’s here to pump CG-Belgium up

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press staff

Rhonda Holland has seen fitness trends come and go as a group instructor for the last 35 years.

It’s when she heard about Body Pump from her sisters in North Carolina that she got really excited.

“I realized what it was all about,” she said. “I need this in Wisconsin.”

The program uses a high-rep, low-weight system to quickly tone muscles.

Holland, who runs Help Me Rhonda Wellness in Kohler, loves a few things about the program.

Instructors, she said, are not just pulled off the street. They have to be licensed.

Holland went through three days of training in 2008, which included a video assessment. She was mentored and served as a mentor.

“We know it’s quality,” she said. “I trust the product.”

Holland at one point wanted to be a professional body builder. Body Pump, she said, is different. Instead of 12 to 15 reps with heavy weights to a total of 100 reps per workout, the program uses low weights with high reps that can reach 400 to 1,200 per session.

Body Pump builds the body in a functional way, making it easier to do daily tasks such as reaching back and grabbing a seat belt in a car.

Accompanying the physical movements is a specific musical accompaniment.

“The music license is second to none,” Holland said. “Each 10-song class takes you on a journey.”

Variety is also maintained.

“The music is always changing. The moves are always changing. Every three months new choreography and music are released,” Holland said, adding she learned on Body Pump 69 and she’s now on 121.

The moves, she said, are scientifically researched, and she regularly receives studies on nutrition or obesity.

She is also required to take continuing education classes throughout the year to maintain her license.

Holland brought the program to Port Washington, the Sheboygan area and offers classes at Cedar Grove-Belgium High School.

Group classes used to draw 20-some people, but the pandemic kept everyone home. Now, classes are slowly making a climb back to pre-pandemic numbers.

Holland said group fitness has several draws.

“Some come for the moves, some for the music, some for the socialization and some for the accountability,” she said.

That fourth is a big one.

“I’m here vs. self-motivation,” Holland said. “I’d like every person to understand that their greatest, unrealized asset about themselves is their potential and performance.”

The pandemic also led people to fall out of shape physically and mentally.

“I’d like them to understand that group fitness and exercise used to be a nicety, an easy vitamin, something to make you feel good,” she said.

“Post-pandemic, group fitness and wellness have become a necessity, and a real means of an entrance to the future of ending pain. It’s something to make your life better and solve your problems now.”

She has seen people make new friends through classes, and said socialization and exercise are important for stress relief, especially after the isolation of the pandemic.

“The benefits of movement,” she said, “suppress the negative effects of stress.”

For more information on Holland, visit helpmerhondawellness.com. For more information on Body Pump, visit www.lesmills.com/us/workouts/fitness-classes/bodypump.