Hello,
Well, I was at spin class last night and the instructor was raving about this new program called Body Pump (i’m currently in Canada). And he says, it’s HUGE in New Zealand and Australia. Is it worth giving a try… Apparently it’s super high repetitions with low weights? Enlighten me.
They’ve got it at my gym in Sydney - it is pretty frenetic. The instructor is 4’9" and extremely loud. Everyone has these adjustable bar bells, and it is synchronised chaos with high-reps and a total body workout.
Looks good, but I’d be embarassed to go with my coordination.
ahhh, a subject i can speak intelligently on. i used to work for the company that was the u.s. distributor of body pump. my wife is a bodypump trainer which means she travells the country on the weekends teaching other instructors how to do it. the program was originated in nz at les mills world of fitness. it’s now in like 40 countries and it pulls in 200+ people per class in many countries.
basically it’s weightlifting set to music. the class is broken down into 10 (i think) tracks. warm-up, legs (squats), chest (bench), back, bi’s, tri’s, etc. each track lasts the length of a song (3-4 minutes). the movements are set to music and vary in temp and duration. in the leg track for instance you may do 130 squats total. the weight is relatively light but when i used to do it, i would load the bar with about 40-50 lbs. believe me after 100 bicep curls, your arms are on fire! great for muscular endurance.
i did it 3X/week for 3 years and got really lean/cut. i was sick of lifting weights in the gym so to get in the aerobics room without having to worry about dancing around with moves i couldn’t follow, this really worked for me. plus the “sights” are much better than the weight room.
one more layer. the classes are prechoreogrpahed. meaning a bodpymp class in nz is the same as in the us. why? quality control. the same reason a big mac is the same in rochester as it is in san diego. with bodypump you always know what you’re going to get. it’s not up to an instructor who knows crap about lifting weights. she has to deliver the program exactly as she’s taught.
ok, one more thing. the instructors go through a rigorous 4 day training (over 2 weekends). then they have to submit a video of themselves teaching a class for assesment. they could fail and not allowed to teach the class. that’s quality control.
any other questions? you can ask me or check out bodytrainingsystems.com. they have 4 or 5 other programs just like bodypump, including rpm which is a prechoreographed spinning class - can’t leave it up to some of those spin instructors to put together there own program can you???
If you are going to lift weights then lift weights. If you want cardio then do cardio. Combining the two is a mistake.
Doing hundreds of reps with a super light weight will not help with any strength or power issues. By combining the two you are not getting as good of a workout for either cardio or strength as if you were to do them separate.
It is just another fad in the exercise world that we see all of the time.
If that’s what gets someone who needs to workout to the gym then that is fine, but it is a fad, a new program that will soon bite the dust. Just like tae bo and all of the spin off’s from that. There are a thousand other programs out there that have been the big thing and then fade away.
Stick witht the tried and true forms of exercise.
if by fad you mean been around since 1989 and is now in over 40 countries worldwide, 8,000 clubs with over 80,000 instructors then yes, definetely a fad.
If that’s what gets someone who needs to workout to the gym then that is fine, but it is a fad, a new program that will soon bite the dust. Just like tae bo and all of the spin off’s from that. There are a thousand other programs out there that have been the big thing and then fade away.
Stick witht the tried and true forms of exercise.
I say if it is sound in design and motivates some people to exercise who normally wouldn’t then great. They have “body pump” at my gym. It’s not my speed so I don’t do it but i have seen people who are exercising consistently and enjoying it. It is definitley better than eating chips in front of he tv.
That’s where it fails. It is not sound in design. Like I stated earlier, doing hundreds of reps with a light weight serves no purpose. It will not increase power or strength and does not develop muscular endurance any more than doing pushups or the like.
Circuit training is the closest thing there is to being able to combine weights and cardio into one workout. But only if you keep the reps in the 8-12 range and the rest between exercises to a minimum.
You can also increase power with circuits with a rep range of 5-7 and using full body exercises such as deadlifts, squats, cleans, etc…
I also covered in my post that if that’s what gets somebody to the gym then it served it’s purpose. Then, hopefully that person will move onto a better program.
who said anything about a cardio workout? i
seeing that it’s been so successful there have been several studies done on its effectiveness. you can read them here:
http://www.bodytrainingsystems.com/participants/html/frameset.htm
Yes a fad. It has already come and gone in most of the gyms and clubs where I live.
Tell me you don’t really mean that doing Bodypump can take the place of weight training. Doing 100 squats with 40 lbs. is not lifting weights.
4 days of training? What about 4 years of studying anatomy and physiology and then a certification course for personal training?
Would you wnat a triathlon coach who had 4 days of training and then had to follow, verbatim, a triathlon plan that was provided to them?
The only purpose that Bodypump or any other similar type of ‘one size fits all’ program serves is to get people to start working out. That is great. However, once that person makes a habit of exercising, hopefully they will seek out a program that is specifically designed to meet their needs and goals.
"Who sais anything about a cardio workout?
What do you call doing a hundred reps with a lightweight? It is much more cardio then weightlifting.
Also, you might want to check the scientific facts on ’ the burn.’ It means absolutely nothing in terms of improvement. The burn or pump is simply blood and lactic acid rushing into the muscle being worked. It does nothing to improve the strength, power or endurance of a muscle.
read the research.
also, the reason why some clubs have gotten rid of it is that they don’t want to pay the license fee. they think they can do it better on their own which is usually not the case.
I have read the research. Less than impressive. Not to mention that you can find research on any topic that is skewed the way you want.
I understand that you have a vested interest in Bodypump. I still believe that all of these programs eventually are replaced by ’ the new improved program.’
The things that are never replaced are the sensible programs that are designed to fit the needs of that individual program. A sensible weightlifting program abd cardio program that are designed for that individual.
It’s like putting every person on the same diet…oh yeah, we’re doing that too. Or putting every triathlete on the same program regardless of strengths and weaknesses, or injuries. ‘One size fits all’ does not work, never has, never will.
People are individual and need programs that fit their strengths, weaknesses, and goals.
These one size fit all programs, whether they be Bodypump or the South Beach diet, or (Insert name of program here), serve an initial purpose of geting people involved, but the main purpose is to make a lot of money for the creator of that program/product.
They are smart, the Les Mills people. They have a big range of these sorts of classes. Pump and Spin I have no problem with.
My beef is with their body combat classes. In my gym we used to get heaps of people coming to us who had done these classes (and others like them), and rather than treating them as a good way to use fighting techniques to get fit, they thought it actually had a self defence benefit! I found the type of confidence these people had really dangerous. For example, the guys from these classes would want to spar almost immediately - despite the fact that their punching technique was crap and they had no defence. When we’d tell them it would take about 6 months of coming four times per week to our boxing tech. classes before we would *consider *letting them spar, they would slink off.
Rant over. Les Mills - very successful company. Fitness as a business? I think member’s health comes a long way behind profits.
I had been to an official “Body Pump” seminar as well as their combat class at an ECA (East Coast Alliance) seminar, basically a convention for personal trainers and aerobic instructors. That was in 1999 I believe, maybe 2000. It was originated by that company someone has mentioned here and is strictly choreographed, and many thought if it as “canned”. I thought it was a great class, very innovative for it’s time. The reason why it has come and gone here in America is just as Herschel says - gyms have by passed the licensing fees, attained the equipment from another manufacturer and named the class something different. It is still offered in most gyms but is probably not called “Body Pump”.
I think you all have some good points. Here is my 2 cents.
Circuit traning can take on many types of forms and this would be considered circuit training since it moves from one body part to another, usually alternating between upper/lower with a bit of rest in between.
It is a muscular endurance exercise - lower weight combined with high reps. Anyone who believes muscular endurance work should be done in a range of 12-15 reps would only need muscular endurance for an activity that requires that same movement for about 12-15 reps. In other words, if a triathlete were to come to me and ask how many squats they should do to create muscular endurance in their legs for cycling I would ask them to think of how many times they would have to do that motion in the actual activity of cycling. If you are cycling at a cadence of 90 that is way more than 12-15 in even 1 minute which is why, when I prescribe the squat for muscular endurance the rep count is quite high.I don’t always prescribe it because I do believe muscular endurance is better accomplished on the bike, but sometimes prescribe one phase of a weighted squat that eventually works its way up to 10 minutes of reps in an off-season. Very tough but transfers well. Why do it in the weight room? Simple - overload.
Power is usually created by an explosive movement, sub-maximal weight with full recovery in between sets. Power endurance, which is what triathletes need, is an explosive movement done many times with or without additional sub-maximal weight with a full recovery in between sets. ie. Bounding for maximum times with good form, with 3-5 minutes rest in between or cleans with 50% max load, 10-15 reps, 3-5 min rest.
I would not consider this a “cardio” class, even if it is done to music. The tempo is quite slow, about 2-3 seconds for each movement direction. While the sets are long it is still considered anaerobic. However, it will get your heart pumping and breating hard, similar to an aerobic class.
What I do not like about any large group class is that it is impossible to meet everyone’s needs and keep it safe. When I taught this class there were so many beginners who would not heed my warnings and did way too much too early and became injured. Very common in any group class.
Even though the maker required a certain amount of hours to learn this style, most instructors were already certified by afaa or ace which requires a minimum education.
The practice of clearing lactate from a muscle is indeed training the muscle for endurance.
Unfortunately, there is so much that people do not know about strength training since they equate it only to body building type exercises. I am not advocating Body Pump as a means for a triathlete to get fit however the squat (done in Body Pump), walking lunge and swimmer’s cable, exercises that mimic the athlete’s movements, with low weight and very high reps will indeed help to increase muscular endurance specifically for that triathlete.
Maylene Wise, CSCS
My wife and I are both certified BP instructors, although since 24H fitness dropped it we don’t teach. My wife is a presenter for 24H fitness and also another competitor of Body Training Systems. In fact, I’d lay good money that my wife would know Hershel’s wife, or at least knows of her.
As far as effectiveness, it is effective. I’ve seen many people move up in the weight they can use rapidly and then steadily as they have taken my class for a year or more. If you do not believe that you can gain strength by doing high repetition lifting (btw, about 55 reps for most sets), then please explain the difference in ATP utilization when doing 8 reps to the point of failure vs 55 reps to the point of failure…in either case you will use whatever energy source is available to the muscle to meet the strength needs. Of couse you have to set your weight appropriately to get the benefit.
The real effectiveness is that it is entertaining, covers a lot of muscle groups, and has someone cueing proper technique. My wife took classes at Les Mills every day while we were in NZ, they have some great instructors. Probably because they can actually make a living off it in NZ, as opposed to here where you have to do it as a hobby.
JAJ, you sound like one of the personal trainers that were always getting pissed because they loose their clients to BodyPump. Very few personal trainers I have met are really qualified to design a customized program, mostly they put the fat people on the treadmill and put the skinny people on the bench press and that is about it…nothing you couldn’t figure out by yourself with a cheap book. The clients figure out what they really need is motivation, and they come to these classes for that.