Marlon Woods Talks Social Media

Sarah Shortt: Hi Marlon! You just finished filming the latest BODYPUMP™ and BODYCOMBAT™ releases. What's it like to film multiple classes back-to-back? 

Marlon Woods: Presenting on Masterclass is scary because you film one and you think ‘That was good.’ But then you put it out there to the world and people might say something negative, or not like your performance. 

Until you’ve done it, you can’t imagine the pressure and the stress and the anxiety and the worry. You’re stressed out all week. You mess something up in a rehearsal on the Monday and then you fix it on the Tuesday. But then you mess something else up on Wednesday and then you realize you’re filming on Friday. And then all of a sudden, you’re in front of the cameras and the lights and all of the people…. and you forget how to even stand up. Seriously, for the entire first half of the Upper Body Warm-Up of BODYCOMBAT 82, I was panicked that I was going to fall over. 

It's crazy how much we put into Masterclass and then once it’s done, we put the same stress on ourselves all over again because we’re worried about what people are going to say [once it goes out to Instructors and consumers]. The thing to remember is that nobody gets up there to do the worst job possible. Nobody is ever like, ‘I’m going to get there and I’m going to really mess this up’. 

That sounds incredibly challenging. How do you cope with that stress? 

For me it’s about remembering that nothing in the world is good or bad – it’s only thought that makes it so. 

I used to be so threatened by Rene [Vogel] and Reagan [Kang] because I felt like they were so much better than me. And every time they got to film and I didn’t, I thought, well, maybe Les Mills doesn’t like me anymore. You know, a few weeks after filming, everyone starts asking each other: “Hey, did you get invited to film again next round?” And I might be like, “I didn't get that email yet” and then the panic starts to set in. The self-doubt arrives. 

I had a really honest conversation with Kylie Gates a few months before I filmed BODYPUMP™ 110. I said: “I'm really struggling with confidence. I feel like every time I don't get invited back to film, it's because I suck and I feel like I'm going to get replaced. I feel like I'm not doing a good job.” She said: “Listen. You bring something completely different from anyone else. And everyone else brings something completely different from you. You can’t be worried about comparing yourself to others. Instead, try to think about where you fit into the puzzle.”