Pump Pump Pump It Up

Have you been hearing too much chatter about Les Mills' Body Pump class and wondering....WTH?  I was. So I finally mustered up enough confidence and found a willing victim to endure the torture with me. Not realizing that my uber peppy, blonde TurboKick instructor is on vacation for the next 2 weeks (she also lives, eats and breathes Body Pump), I entered my Thursday night class only to be surprised by Kim. I swear this chick must smoke mushrooms before coming to the gym. I've never seen anyone this amped about workouts. We commence to speed ball-energy infused kickboxing class in the dark (including glo-sticks). Kim has a thing for glo-sticks. Luckily, she was NOT teaching Body Pump.

I slunk out the door when she hit the floor for abs in order to bring my heart rate back down to beating inside my chest. I swear C2-5K has sucked all my stamina and tossed it underneath the treadmill. I know understand the importance of cross-training versus running/weights and no cardio classes (oh how I missed my cardio classes).

So what's Body Pump?  Honestly, it's the same strength class you've taken before BUT using a barbell and it is supposed to be the same format for each class regardless of the instructor or gym location. It's supposed to choreographed to music and the instructor is supposed to focus on form over the stacked number of reps.

I didn't get a lot of instruction because I was too busy trying to drop weights, add weights, grab mats, etc. I can say that my upper body is SORE and I know DOMs for my lower body will sink in in about another 2 hours. When I got home last night all I wanted was to grab something quick to eat, shower, and go to bed. I was asleep by 9pm. I was excited to finally see the scale go in the right direction this morning (maybe by some stroke of genius I will see the 161s again by NYE). I am looking forward to Liza's return (she's my peppy blonde) and I can see incorporating this class into my routine at least 2 times a week (screw that nightclub cardio class).

However, checking out the Les Mills website, you'll see a wide array of prepacked classes from spinning to step to kickboxing to even a dance cardio and yoga-ish class. It will be interesting to see if these will catch on.

Do you Body Pump?