Les Mills

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Leslie ("Les") Roy Mills CNZM, MBE, (born November 1, 1934 in Auckland) is a retired New Zealand athlete, who represented New Zealand at Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games over two decades. He competed in Shot Put, Discus and Weightlifting events. At the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, he achieved his best result, a gold medal in Discus.

After retiring from active competition, he became a gym owner in 1968 and a successful businessman. He has developed a series of group fitness-to-music classes now available internationally, the "Body..." series of classes, BodyStep, BodyCombat, BodyPump, BodyAttack, BodyBalance, BodyJam and RPM.

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[edit] Mayoral Term

Mills served as the Mayor of Auckland between 1990 and 1998. His Mayoral term commenced after the local body amalgamation which saw many of the district borough councils merged into one larger city. Mills oversaw the merger of these many district boroughs into one city with comparatively little angst. The Aotea Centre was also opened at the beginning of his term.Other initiatives which commenced on Mills' watch as Mayor included the introduction of the green "wheelie bins", metered user charges for water use, council assets like golf courses were leased to private management, and the city also quit some assets that no longer were of priority, like its abbatoir.

Other major events during Mills' reign include work commencing on the America's Cup Village at the Auckland Viaduct, the commencement and opening of the Sky Tower and Casino complex that now dominates the Auckland Skyline, the redevelopment of the Civic theatre, and refurbishment of the Auckland Town Hall. During this period, there was also a massive power black out that shut down most of the inner city, and attracted considerable criticism, although it should be noted that this event was principly the responsibility of Mercury Energy and the then Auckland Electric Power Board. Mills' Britomart Train Centre plans also came under some criticism as being too focused on property development and not enough on transport. His successor Christine Fletcher led plans for a scaled down Britomart Station without the large property development plans.

Mills was defeated in a three way contest between himself, businessman Richard Holden and eventual winner Christine Fletcher in 1998. Mills himself was absent for most of the election campaign, leading the New Zealand Commonwealth Games mission in 1998, and mentoring the gold medal winning discus thrower Beatrice Fauamina.

[edit] Athletics Career

He also has trained New Zealand throwers, such as Beatrice Faumuina.

[edit] Development of group exercise classes

Since retiring from athletics Les Mills has developed a series of fitness-to-music classes that are currently running in more than 55 countries, with an estimated four million participants a week. There are seven classes: BodyAttack®, BodyBalance (BodyFlow)®, BodyPump®, BodyCombat®, BodyJam®, BodyStep (LMI Step)® and RPM®. These are updated quarterly with a new release of music and choreography.

Les Mills International has just released a new program to add to its current range. BodyVive® is a low-impact class, incorporating aerobic exercise, resistance work for strength and stability, as well as stretching and mobility work. BodyVive® is a 55-minute workout particularly suited to active gym members in their 40s, 50s and 60s. It will also appeal to group exercise beginners and anyone attracted to such low-impact integrated exercise.

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
Catherine Tizard		 Mayor of Auckland
1990-1998		 Succeeded by:
Christine Fletcher
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