Is our hugely popular and successful weight loss program. I don't why we still call it the 12 Week Challenge (we haven't come up with a better name) since it long ago changed from the traditional format. Your typical 12 Week Challenge consists of 12 weeks of training by yourself with occasional help from a personal trainer. It requires a great deal of self motivation and to be honest the drop out rate is huge - we know this since we used to run the 'traditional format'. There are always a few who have the will power to get through and those individuals generally got a great result and then became the poster boy or girl to show what could be done. What you didn't see is the majority who either dropped out or got a poor result. After a number of years of following the traditional format we decided enough was enough! We sat down, took a step back, talked to past participants who hadn't made it through and developed a brand new format to address as many of the short comings as possible. The result is our completion rate is now over 90%- someone always gets pregnant (one shortcoming I guess we haven't managed to address)! We still get the poster boy's and girl's but more importantly we get great results from everyone. So what changes have we made and why?

Firstly it's no longer an individual journey, you're part of a team and you'll be 'competing' against other teams. You'll train together as a team once a week under the leadership of your team leader (a qualified personal trainer). We do this to build up comradely amongst team members and to develop a friendly spirit of competition. By working as a team you've more likely to continue the challenge to avoid letting your team down. You'll also work a little harder to contribute more to the team in the mini-challenges we give you.

Secondly, challenges within the challenge. 12 weeks is still a long time, so we break the challenge down in to three, one month bites. Each of the months has a mini-challenge. It might be competing against the other teams to see which one can do the most group fitness classes (great for getting men into group fitness, where they work a lot harder than on a treadmill). It might be training to complete the US Army physical fitness test (we score each participant against a table that takes age and sex into consideration) or it could be a half day boot camp session running around with logs or up to your neck in the Waikato, again competing against the other teams. The mini challenges are designed to test you and show you that with the right training you're capable of far more than you could imagine. They also serve to give you a short term focus and to keep things interesting.

Thirdly, a sense of occasion, the 12 Week Challenge finishes with a bang. On the final night of the final day, everyone comes in (with family and friends) for the final weight one. Speculation is rife as to which team or individual has won. While everyone is having their final weight-in a large screen is set up displaying the before and after photos. This is the first time participants, family or friends get to see the changes that have gradually occurred over the 12 weeks, many are stunned at the transformation. Finally with the last results in, the screen changes to show the overall weight loss each team and individual have achieved. For the winners a generous prize package is up for grabs and a little something for all who complete the challenge.

Fourthly, the follow on, in a traditional 12 Week Challenge when it finished, it finished. We found many participants would disappear only to reappear 6 months later with all the weight back on. Not a good look for us and a depressing state of affairs for the individual concerned. With the new team based challenge we have significantly reduced the rate of re-offending! Most teams continue to train together long after the challenge has ended, in-fact many teams can be found together at a BBQ or gathering together to play a game of touch on a weekend. They continue to support one another and keep everyone on the straight and narrow. Some great friendships have been formed that no doubt will endure for many years.

So as I hope you can see our special brand of the 12 Week Challenge is quite unique and continues paying for itself long after the challenge has finished.

The 12 Week Challenge takes place only twice each year - once in February and once in September. We strictly limit the numbers to 30 and it generally sells out well before the start date. A registration list is kept at reception and at about a month out we contact those on it, you need to be able to commit immediately or risk missing out.

Here's an example of what can be achieved. Check out our facebook page for loads more 'real' pictures of results.