Amy Tepania has always been into health and fitness and has passed on her passion by running Bootcamp classes for the community.  As part of her role with Te Oranga she undertook a new project to engage new mums and set them on a path towards a healthier lifestyle which saw the Yummy Mummy’s fitness classes born in Ahipara, Kaitaia and out at the East Coast of the Far North.  The popularity of all her fitness classes grew and Amy wanted to challenge her clients even more.  This is when she discovered ZUU. 

Designed by Nathan Helberg, Australian fitness guru and human movement expert, ZUU is high intensity interval training which uses seven primal and natural human movements for a full body workout: push, pull, bend, twist, squat, lunge, locomotion. The animal theme comes from the likeness of the movements to particular creatures: bear crawl, frog squat, donkey kick etc. The body weight training system is developed for injury prevention, mobility and game specific training and was originally purposed for military troops and elite athletes.

For Amy and her clients ZUU is more about whanau.  “It’s big not because of the workout, it’s the people and the culture.  There is a real comradery in the group with a last man standing culture that has everyone supporting each other, instead of a high five, it’s called get a touch” Amy says.

There is no age or weight restriction, no equipment needed, no egos and it can be done in relatively small spaces – as was the case on a recent flight to Chile with a group of junior soccer players, where Amy even managed to squeeze in some “frog squats” on the plane.

Amy takes her classes directly into the local secondary school Kaitaia College, where she runs lunchtime sessions every Tuesday for up to 25 students from year 10-13.  She has a range of participants from athletes to dancers to those who don’t usually participate in sports at all.   There is even a ZUU Chimps school programme for educating teachers which will be available in New Zealand shortly.

There are currently eight (soon to be nine) qualified ZUU instructors in the Far North.  They understand that there are no quick fixes or fads in getting fitter, stronger and healthier - just hard work. But they all have a passion for helping people to achieve their goals, just like Amy.

So if want to get your sweat on and go primal for your next workout, ZUU could be for you. See here for a quick glimpse

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