BodyPump is one of the many Les Mills scientifically-backed group exercise program. It is a strength and muscular endurance conditioning workout where we work on different muscles isolation work (with some compounds) together with music. I would like to highlight 2 things here in this post: the exercise and the music.
The 55-minutes workout is structured to start with warm-up and ends with core before cooling down. The muscles worked for conditioning in between are legs with specific tracks on squats and lunges; chests, back muscles, triceps, biceps and shoulders. Each muscle group will be train in isolation, creating fatigue with tension over time with high repetition – which really is the essence of BodyPump workout. The duration for each muscle work would roughly be in 5 minutes. Imagine, by the time we finish a class of BodyPump, we managed to complete 200 reps of squats (I kid you not!).
The magic in this workout is really on the synchronicity of the moves and the music chosen for each exercise. You often will find yourself struggle to go on with fatigue already building, but the upbeat music will drive you to push yourself to finish. I find myself exerting my effort more when I enjoy the music and be overwhelmed with disbelief that I did that! The music is fresh and carefully picked to give the drive we need to complete an exercise.
Because of the nature of the workout with using lighter weights than usual strength training – add that with high repetitions, you would find that your body gets more toned and defined arms and shoulders. Your core gets stronger too, which helps with body posture; as well as adds up for the strengths and endurance that we need to perform daily chores.
Those who are new to BodyPump usually struggle to cope with the tempo and muscular pressure combination. That is normal. The good news is, your body would adapt to the training as you keep practicing the moves in every class, making it easier as your body also grows stronger. Don’t be surprised that over time, you would need to add more loads to feel similar muscular pressure as you did the first time around.
If you haven’t tried the workout, you could find a class near you using this link provided from Les Mills website. Here also, I am sharing BodyPump teaser for you to get an idea what it is all about.