Who is Les Mills? How an Auckland Olympian's Gym Became a Global Brand
Les Mills was the Auckland Olympian who opened a gym in 1968. He died on 29 June 2026, aged 91. The global brand that carries his name is what his family built from that room.
Who is Les Mills? Start with the split that confuses most people. Les Mills (born Leslie Roy Mills) was the Auckland Olympian and former mayor who opened a family gym in 1968. He died on 29 June 2026, aged 91. People looking for Les Mills the person usually mean him, not just the gym logo. The global brand that still carries his name, the BODYPUMP and RPM classes taught in gyms from Tokyo to London, was built later by his son Phillip and daughter-in-law Jackie.
If you have ever lifted a bar to music in a class that had nothing to do with New Zealand, you have already touched that second story. This piece is about both.
- Born: Leslie Roy Mills, Auckland, 1 November 1934
- Died: 29 June 2026, aged 91
- Sport: Shot put and discus; four Olympic Games (1960–72); five Commonwealth medals, including 1966 discus gold
- Public life: Mayor of Auckland City, 1990–98
- Business: Opened Les Mills World of Fitness in 1968; 12 gyms in New Zealand today; global classes via Les Mills International
- Honours: MBE (1973), CNZM (2002)
Who was Les Mills?
As an athlete, he represented New Zealand in the shot put and discus across four Olympic Games, from Rome 1960 to Munich 1972, and was New Zealand’s opening flagbearer in 1960 and again in 1972. In Kingston in 1966 he won Commonwealth discus gold after tearing an adductor mid-competition and still holding the lead; overall he won five Commonwealth medals. His national shot put record of 19.81m, set in 1967, stood for 44 years. Later he coached Beatrice Faumuina to the 1997 world discus title and 1998 Commonwealth gold.
In 1968 Les Mills the founder and his wife Colleen opened Les Mills World of Fitness, a straightforward Auckland gym for athletes and anyone serious about training. Colleen was part of the business from the start and later a full-time mayoress; she died in 2005. Their son Phillip worked after school handing out magazines to people on the indoor cycles, a job he has never pretended to love. Today the New Zealand chain still runs about 12 gyms.
The idea that changed the gym
Phillip left for a UCLA track scholarship and came home with a different picture of fitness. In the United States he had watched aerobics take off: people moving together, driven by music. In 1980 he rejoined the Auckland gym with that belief, working with Jackie, a doctor and former gymnast. Group classes packed out. Queues formed. The dull gym of the 1970s started to feel like something people wanted a ticket to.
Then came the leap that took the name overseas. In 1990, Phillip and Jackie developed BODYPUMP, a choreographed barbell class built around lighter weights and high repetitions. Anyone could do it. Clubs could run it without inventing a programme from scratch each week. That made it licensable.
From Victoria Street to the world
The family flagship stayed on Auckland’s Victoria Street. The growth model did not. Instead of only opening more New Zealand clubs, Les Mills International licensed programmes, music and instructor training to gyms abroad. BODYPUMP was followed by other formats: combat, cycling, balance, HIIT and more. Every quarter, new tracks and choreography keep the classes current.
None of that was a straight line. After the 1987 sharemarket crash, the investment companies that had bought the New Zealand gyms collapsed. Phillip borrowed heavily to buy the business back rather than let someone else keep the family name on the door. The international licensing arm then took years to pay its way.
In the same year BODYPUMP launched, Les was elected Mayor of Auckland City after a by-election, and held the role until 1998. His terms covered the post-1989 amalgamation years and projects that reshaped the city centre, including work that led toward Britomart. He later returned to help steady the global business when the licensing side still needed him. He was appointed an MBE in 1973 for services to sport and a CNZM in 2002 for services to local government and sport.
According to lesmills.com, Les Mills workouts are now taught in more than 22,000 clubs, with a community of about 130,000 instructors. Phillip and Jackie’s children, Diana and Les Jnr, help lead the next chapter from the same Auckland base.
Why the story still matters
For New Zealand founders, the Mills story is a useful reminder that a local brand can travel without leaving home. The product that scaled was a repeatable class, not a chain of identical buildings in every city. The reputation sat on a real athlete’s name. The scale sat on licensing, instructors and music.
If you came here asking who Les Mills was, the short answer is this: he was the Olympian who started the gym, and later the mayor who ran Auckland City for eight years. The longer answer is a three-generation Auckland family that turned working out together into one of New Zealand’s clearest fitness exports. More on Les Mills Snr, and at lesmills.com.
Is Les Mills still alive?
No. Les Mills died on 29 June 2026, aged 91. The Les Mills gyms and the global group-fitness programmes continue under his family.
Was Les Mills a person or a brand?
Both. Les Mills was the Olympian and mayor who opened the Auckland gym in 1968. Les Mills is also the brand name for the New Zealand gym chain and the licensed group-fitness programmes his son Phillip and daughter-in-law Jackie took worldwide.
Was Les Mills the mayor of Auckland?
Yes. He served as Mayor of Auckland City from 1990 to 1998, after a sporting career that included four Olympic Games and five Commonwealth medals.
Who built BODYPUMP and the global classes?
Phillip Mills and Jackie developed BODYPUMP in 1990 and built the international licensing model. Les Mills founded the gym and lent the name; the scalable class business was the next generation’s work.
