Madonna Hard Candy Fitness: Les clubs russes arrivent comme il faut.

From Hard Candy Fitness Facebook:

The Russia clubs are coming along nicely. Can't wait to share some photos.
April 25, 2011

Hard Candy Fitness: Le Making of de Accro au cours de Sueur.

From Hard Candy Fitness Facebook:

Check out our new video. Nicole Winhoffer and Donna Cyrus have been working hard with Madonna on some cool new classes for HCF. This one was shoot in Mexico City for the new Addicted to Sweat class. Enjoy.

The Making of Addicted to Sweat
by Hard Candy Fitness
A sneak peek behind the scenes of the making of the Addicted to Sweat classes at Hard Candy Fitness.

The Making of Addicted to Sweat from Hard Candy Fitness on Vimeo.

Le Yoga parfait pour un Yogis intense comme Madonna!

Healthy Hollywood: Wellness Wednesday - The Perfect Yoga For Intense Yogis Like Madonna!
Access Hollywood – Wed, 23 Mar, 2011 12:12 PM EDT

In fickle Hollywood, diet and workout trends change at a head-spinning pace. It's hard to keep up with what's hot.
That is, except for Yoga.
The mind/body workout trend seems to be here to stay. Madonna, Jennifer Aniston, and Gwyneth Paltrow all praise their time spent on the mat. Why not - yoga never gets boring - there's always a new practice popping up.
Healthy Hollywood is on to the latest style of yoga to soothe your soul with the power to kick your butt! New York Yogi Carlos Rodriguez has developed his own brand of heart-pumping yoga called Caponyasa. It's a hybrid style of yoga fusing traditional vinyasa with Capoeira (a form of Brazilian martial arts), and modern dance.
"The class is primarily in a vinyasa yoga based form, often times revolving in 360 degrees (making use of all 4 corners of your mat). Sequence and technique is challenging and requires open ears and open mind," reveals Carlos.
Did I mention it's also in a heated class - with the room temperature at 90 + degrees.
"Benefits of the heat in the class is that you're able to detox the body, while the heat penetrates into muscles faster and enhances flexibility," states Carlos.
Caponyasa starts off with a brief meditation. Then, the action begins and it's a non-stop hour of rotating high lunges, core planks, squats, rock star back bends, and one-legged balances and kicks. Phew! Exhausted just thinking about it!
"Caponyasa is a full body workout with a lot of core-induced motion and awareness to core strengthening. (There are) lots of squats for the butt and thighs," reveals Carlos. "Aside from all of that, the constant motion is great cardio and keeps the heart rate up. Mental benefit is simple, there's no time to think, so for at least an hour, you're out of your mind - just moving to the beat of your heart and breath." Plus, you're burning major calories - Carlos estimates upwards of 800 calories in an hour.
Healthy Hollywood stumbled across this fierce yoga a few months back at New York's Pure Yoga. I love an intense yoga practice - especially one that has me dripping in sweat by the end of the class. BUT I am hardly a limber, handstand yogi. I have to work hard at my poses - balance - and overall grace. So, while the fast-paced martial arts elements and high kick balances initially made me feel like the class klutz, soon I found my pace (not my grace). Hey, it's progress not perfection! Now, I don't walk - but run to Caponyasa.
Oh, and if you're like me, and your balance is on the shaky side, Carlos suggests standing on one leg, bending the knee of your other leg and bringing it in to your chest. Try to hold this position for a minute. With practice, your balance will improve. Tip: Be sure to pick one spot and keep your focus on it - this helps balance.
So, Madonna, if you happen to be reading this - Healthy Hollywood challenges you to a class of Caponyasa. Take it if you dare!

Source: Healthy Hollywood Wellness Wednesday.

New York yoga teacher Carlos Rodriguez

Madonna va ouvrir un 3ème Hard Candy Fitness à St. Petersbourg, Russie.

Official Press Release - Communiqué Officiel de Presse

Madonna to Open Third Hard Candy Fitness Center in St. Petersburg, Russia
Additional Hard Candy Centers In Planning Stages
PR Newswire
Press Release Source: New Evolution Ventures On Thursday February 24, 2011, 12:47 pm

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Madonna's third Hard Candy Fitness Center in St. Petersburg, Russia, a beautifully designed 52,000 square foot space in the center of the city is projected to open in mid-2011, it was confirmed today by Mark Mastrov, Chairman of New Evolution Ventures (NeV). The announcement of this latest facility follows the recent opening of the Mexico City Hard Candy Fitness and confirmation of plans for a Hard Candy Fitness Center in Moscow.
The St. Petersburg location holds special meaning for Madonna. "St Petersburg, Russia was one of the most magical nights on my 'Sticky & Sweet' Tour and I'm thrilled that we've found the perfect location and ideal environment there for the next Hard Candy Fitness," commented Madonna.
Both the Moscow and St. Petersburg location will be in partnership with Irina Razumova, founder of the well-known Russian chain Planet Fitness. "We are honored to collaborate with Madonna and her team in designing and developing a beautiful facility like no other in the world," stated Razumova.
NeV's Mastrov, his partner Jim Rowley, along with Madonna and Guy Oseary are also exploring options of building additional Hard Candy locations in Italy, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia, Argentina, and Brazil, for facilities that will offer a unique member experience. Hard Candy Fitness Centers will include state of the art equipment, exclusive curriculum along with Mind Body Studio, The Great Wall, Sculpting, barre3, a Bike Studio, Capoeira, the newest trends in Yoga, a Juice Bar/Cafe and lavish locker rooms.
"The early success of the first Hard Candy Fitness Center in Mexico City - where Madonna taught a dance class to members at the opening - has inspired us all to create similar facilities and seek out local partnerships around the globe which embody Madonna's workout philosophy. St. Petersburg and other locations of Hard Candy Fitness will be a place where members will enjoy their workout experience in a beautiful environment in each city," commented Mastrov.
Due to tremendous interest and the many inquiries NeV has received from all over the world about Hard Candy Fitness Centers, fans have been asked to voice their choice for the next location by going to www.madonna.com/hardcandyfitness and vote on the interactive map for your dream location.

About New Evolution Ventures (NeV)
Based in Northern California, New Evolution Ventures (NeV) is a private equity firm focused on acquisition, development, management and operation of fitness, media and sports entities both domestically and internationally.  Co-Founded in 2008 by Mark Mastrov, Jim Rowley and Mike Feeney, the current team of NeV professionals is shaping the world of fitness, media, and sports one brand at a time.  With a foundation representing over a century of business experience, NeV currently has operations and investments in over 20 countries worldwide.  For more information, please visit http://www.newevolutionventures.com.

Source: PR Newswire.

Faites venir un Centre de Fitness Hard Candy de Madonna dans VOTRE ville!

Where would you like to see a future Hard Candy Fitness Center?
Click the pic below to answer.

Où voulez-vous voir un prochain Centre de Fitness Hard Candy?
Cliquez sur l'image ci-dessous pour répondre.
 

Madonna: Hard Candy Fitness Flash Demo.

04/02/2011

We've been working hard on the Hard Candy website. Getting close. I have a little piece of the flash file for the home page. Anyone want to check it out and give us some feedback?
Check it out and let me know what you think. Keep in mind that this is a VERY short out take so there is a lot more to it than what you see. Just a taste. :-)

Source: Hard Candy Fitness Facebook.

Click here / Cliquez ici: Hard Candy Fitness Flash Demo
 

Madonna, Gwyneth et les gyms; Tracy Anderson sur Hard Candy Fitness.

Crunch time for Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow in battle of the gyms
Michael Kirkham
14 Jan 2011

Will the new year bring new hope for world peace? Ask an observer of the boutique celebrity gym scene and you are likely to elicit a mirthless laugh. Amid the heady scent of Chanel body spray and ruinously expensive cellulite preparations, a whiff of gunpowder is in the air. Early 2011 will see former locker-room buddies Madonna and Tracy Anderson, 'personal trainer to the stars', go head-to-head for high-end, hard-body-honing domination. For both are in the process of rolling out their own international gym chains. Anderson, 35, already has three North American studios. Next step London, she tells ES. But Madonna boasts that her own Hard Candy project is 'the most anticipated new fitness club in history'. A disturbingly muscled arms race is on.

How could it have come to this? It seems only yesterday that the two tiny Titans were inseparable. Anderson, a five-foot-nothing blonde sylph, was credited with transforming the barely taller singer's half-century-old body into a machine capable of undertaking a world tour in hotpants and fishnets. Then, suddenly, the partnership chilled and they went their separate ways. In public they claimed that they were still friends. But their stories of other commitments and new interests didn't stack up. Now it's war.

As in other superpower conflicts, strategic assets appear to have played a part. In this case the loot at stake is Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 38, and the head of Madonna's Raising Malawi charity, Philippe van den Bossche. Once they were both devoted worshippers of the cult of Madonna. Then they moved into the orbit of Anderson, whose most remarkable transformation by far has been that of her own fortunes.

Barely five years ago she was a divorced single mother whose first chain of gyms had gone bust in her native Indiana. Salvation came in the shape of her patented Hybrid Body Reformer – a '1,500-move' machine built to her design by an engineer boyfriend – which she shipped to California for a new start among the beautiful people. Not everyone in Indiana remembers her fondly.

Her breakthrough came in late 2006 when a client, Paltrow's agent's wife, recommended Anderson to the actress, who had just had a baby and was struggling to lose two and a half stone prior to filming Iron Man. Dieting and two Spanx girdles couldn't shift it. But Anderson's regime did the trick. Paltrow was ecstatic, particularly with what Anderson had done to her butt. So the actress passed the word to her best pal, fellow American-in-London Madonna. Anderson had struck workout gold.

Madonna was soon exercising a near monopoly over the trainer's time and talents. The pair were reportedly working out together six days a week. Anderson described her as 'my most devoted client'. Alas, things began to fall apart in 2009. First there was unfavour-able press comment on the singer's arms, which flashbulbs rendered all muscle and sinew. Then Anderson caught the eye of the executive director of Madonna's own charity. She dropped out of Madonna's entourage for much of the singer's European tour to be with the suave van den Bossche. Worse, he then quit his LA-based post to live with her. 'Philippe and I have been together for eight months, and things are great,' Anderson trilled. 'I live wherever Madonna is, so Philippe is moving from LA to New York.' Her reasoning soon proved redundant.

Madonna was said to be 'disappointed'. Translated, that means planning a nuclear strike. Within weeks, it was reported that Anderson had been 'dropped'. A volley of anonymous sources and PR statements only served to muddy the waters. Someone 'close' to the singer was quoted as saying: 'Madonna had grown tired of the baggage that Tracy always seemed to be carrying with her. Tracy had grown to be more of a distraction than anything else.' Anderson's PR snapped back: 'This is not true. After working together for three years, Tracy and Madonna mutually parted ways because Tracy wanted to look after her son [Sam, now 12].'

This, too, appeared to be shot down by Madonna herself who offered a counter-explanation: 'I did not ditch or fire her. I simply wanted to try a new method of working out when my tour ended. We remain friends and I wish her and Philippe all the best.'

So Anderson was left with her original A-list client, Paltrow. And so devoted to her butt guru did the actress remain that she became a financial investor in the Tracy Anderson Method studio that opened in Manhattan (so far there are two others, in LA and a summer pop-up in the Hamptons). Last year there was even idle chatter that the trainer's snippy parting with Madonna had caused the actress to cool her friendship with the singer. In an interview with British Vogue, Paltrow lauded Anderson to the skies, while also remarking: 'Yeah, it's good that she doesn't train Madonna any more. It was too much. She keeps people waiting – it takes up your whole day.' Even more cryptically she admitted: 'Oh yes, I can be mean. I can cave in to gossip. I can ice people out and I can definitely harbour revenge. In fact, I'm having a situation right now with a friend where I'm feeling pretty angry. But revenge is corrosive and it doesn't make me feel good.' Was Madonna the 'frenemy' to whom Paltrow was referring? At the Diane von Furstenberg party at Claridge's last summer the two superstars were happy to pose together for photographers in what some saw as a staged 'reconciliation'. But speculation about the existence of a Madonna-Anderson rift will not go away.

When late last year Madonna announced the launch of Hard Candy as a future global chain, some saw it as a rebuff to Anderson's own ambitions, built on the Material Girl's original endorsement. According to a senior executive, the chain will be 'a reflection of Madonna's point of view and will reflect her input on every detail including music, space, light and other design cues. Madonna's touch will be every-where.' The first Hard Candy – motto: 'Harder is Better' – opened its doors in Mexico City in late November. Madonna even led an inaugural dance class. A second 35,000sq ft mega-gym is due to launch in Moscow in mid-March. There will be at least eight others in South America, Asia and Europe. A London branch seems inevitable. And this is where guru and former acolyte are likely to meet, mano a mano.

Anderson, who has replaced Madonna with the lithe and, at 33, so-much-younger Shakira as her A-list musical client, was in town last week to promote her new DVD The Tracy Anderson Method: Total Cardio Workout. On the cover is another breathless tribute from Paltrow: 'A miracle... you will see the results you never thought possible.' New girl Shakira also weighs in with: 'I love Tracy Anderson's Method! Her approach to exercise is smart, creative and empowering. I believe that Tracy can transform any woman.' Markedly absent is the endorsement that graced Anderson's previous fitness DVD: 'Tracy Anderson's Method has proved to be the best exercise program for my body.' Madonna changed her mind on that.

From the back of a limo somewhere in London traffic, Anderson spoke to ES about 2011 and that former client. Typically, she did not pull any pink-gloved body punches. She said she was preparing to launch a 'huge project' that had involved filming '11,670 butt lifts'. As ES's head was still spinning at the thought, she disclosed that she had also just designed a workout for Buttzilla herself, 41-year-old Jennifer Lopez. 'But the gyms are my passion,' she added. 'New York and LA both have waiting lists and people all over the world want access to my concept in person. I am sure London will be next. We already have trainers working here so it's the obvious step, and both Gwyneth and I love it here.'

Then she got down to the question of certain rival organisations. 'Expanding all over really fast is to me a bit unethical,' mused Anderson. 'Gwyneth and I are really taking our time on doing it right so that each place has integrity.' What then does she think of Hard Candy herself? A pause: 'It's like… I pride myself on inventing some new things. She is the queen of reinvention. I spent three years teaching her… I have shallow feelings for anyone who is not an expert in the field doing something on the back of their celebrity.' Ouch. Bring it on.

Source: Evening Standard.

Tracy Anderson


Madonna

Madonna à Moscou en Mars-Avril 2011 pour ouvrir le club de Fitness Hard Candy.

Madonna to open Russian fitness club
13/12/2010

MOSCOW (AFP) – US megastar Madonna will next year open a new fitness club in Moscow, the second one in her Hard Candy chain after a branch opened in Mexico, her associate in Russia said Monday.
"Madonna will be in Moscow in March-April to open the club," Mark Mastrov told reporters. "She will teach a master class and she is very excited."
Mastrov said the fitness fanatic diva had chosen Moscow as "she loves Russia she likes how people dance".
The new club will overlook the Kremlin, the seat of the Russian government.
The project is a joint venture with Russian fitness chain Planeta Fitness whose head Irina Razumova said the club would be close to Red Square and clients would be able to see the Kremlin towers while working out.
Madonna last month flew to Mexico City to open the first Hard Candy Fitness club, part of a global chain she and her business partners are unveiling around the world.

Source: AFP.

US musician Madonna poses for the photographers during the opening of her gym called "Hard Candy Fitness" in Mexico City on November 2010. Madonna will next year open a new fitness club in Moscow, the second one in her Hard Candy chain after a branch opened in Mexico, her associate in Russia said Monday.
Photo: AFP/Alfredo Estrella.

Madonna va ouvrir une gym de luxe pour l'élite de Moscou.

10/12/2010
Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman, editing by Tim Pearce.

MOSCOW (Reuters Life!) – Queen of pop and health guru Madonna will open a gym early next year near Red Square for Moscow's designer-clad elite, who spend exorbitant sums on a fitness frenzy that has gripped the capital.
The state-of-the-art gym, to open in mid-March, will be the second of Madonna's "Hard Candy Fitness" gyms. The 52-year-old launched the brand in Mexico City last month.
"I know that we will create the ideal workout environment in Moscow," the American singer said in a statement.
The spacious 35,000 square feet (3,250 square meter) gym is a partnership between Madonna, the U.S.-based private equity firm New Evolution Ventures (NeV) and Irina Razumova, founder of Russian luxury gym chain Planet Fitness.
Western-style gyms have mushroomed across Russia in recent years, with Moscow memberships costing as much as $25,000 a year. Demand for designer gym clothes has soared.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a judo black belt, has said fitness is vital for his nation, where male life expectancy is just 59.
NeV is eyeing 10 more Hard Candy gyms in Brazil, Argentina, Europe and Asia, the statement said.

Source: Reuters.

Madonna Hard Candy Fitness dans le magazine français: "Madonna, Gym Queen".

French magazine "Be", December 03, 2010.
Magazine français "Be", 03 décembre 2010.