What is Nike Rockstar

Nike Rockstar, a hip-hop class that is being touted as exclusive to Fitness First, was recently launched in the Fitness First Philippines branches. It is choreographed by Jamie King, who has worked with the likes of Madonna and Britney Spears, and who has a two-year endorsement deal with Nike.

Aside from doing the choreography for Nike Rockstar, Jamie King is a spokesperson and creative consultant for Nike Woman, plus he gets to design shoes and apparel for Nike.

I attended a Nike Rockstar class to find out for myself what a program that allows “participants the opportunity to showcase and celebrate their individual sense of style, and give them permission to be a star for an hour” means.

My Assessment

Remember that Jamie King is a dancer and choreographer, which does not automatically mean that he can design a workout for the general population, because moves that will seem so easy to dancers will not be picked up by students just as easily, plus the pace and manner of teaching has to be different.

And so, therein lies the weakness of the Nike Rockstar workout. It is designed like a dance class, with a warm up that includes floor work, corner to corner movements (when students are asked to go from one end of the room to the other end in pairs) and center choreography (when the class comes back to the center of the room after doing corner to corner).

But its major fault is the fact that the choreography is divided into 16-count blocks, which may not seem much, but when you add the fact that the hip-hop world has the numbering called the “and” count, which means that aside from having steps for 1, 2, 3… you can add choreography that goes and 1, and 2, and 3… the whole class can easily become complicated.

And the manner of teaching Nike Rockstar is to present the choreography in slow motion first, then a-tempo (regular time).

In effect, the more difficult parts of the choreo are not broken down. What has been found most effective in the aerobics world is to cut down the steps into smaller blocks, like 4 counts, and even 2 counts if the step is really challenging. Moreover, these steps are repeated before more moves are added.

I’m not expecting Jamie King to know these details, but I am expecting the experts at the Nike Fitness Academy to, because they have been in the fitness world for several years, and, as consultants, they should have been able to correct the presentation of the choreography.

The Nike Rockstar workout is one of several programs that the Nike Fitness Academy is offering the general population, as part of the Nike marketing strategy. The other workouts include Xtreme Step and Cardio Striptease.

So, when you attend the Nike Rockstar workout at Fitness First Philippines, be patient with yourself when you don’t get the steps immediately. With the way it has been presented, it’s not that easy to pick them up. But like with any new choreography, you’ll get it eventually after regularly attending the class.

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