RickInOz

We’ve just tried the new release of BodyPump today. It’s been out for a week or so but this was my first exposure to it. I’ll give a brief rundown on each track:

1. Warmup: A reasonable by-the-numbers track. Nothing particularly special but there are a lot of upright-rows and shoulder presses in it, which I’m not that keen on for the warmup. Music is: Invincible by Carola
2. Squats: This is an OK track with enough single and bottom-half reps to make it a challenge, but not much in the way of variety. The music is: What’s Up from Aussie band Zander.
3. Chest: This is a fairly hard track but like the squats it was a bit repetitive, with 4 rounds of pretty much the same reps. Music is: Bon Jovi’s Have a Nice Day.
4. Back track: Another tough back track, most due to the long run to the break which tires the forearms (from gripping the bar). Music is: Africa by E-Type, which I didn’t find as motivating as the LesMills promo claimed.
5. Triceps: This was a good track because they have re-introduced dips after being left out of the last few releases. I found them really punishing after doing 3 rounds of overhead extensions. Music: Who Knew – Pink
6. Biceps: This was the best track in my opinion because it had some variety to the reps including a tough 2:2, 2 single combo. The previous tracks were rather unimaginative in their choreography so this was a welcome relief. The music was great too (Flaunt it from TV Rock) , very deep and dirty and reminiscent of Shoulders from the 56 release (I Like The Way You Move – Bodyrockers)
7. Lunges: This was a wierd one. It started simply enough with some lunge travels but being asked to do static lunges with the front foot on a step was decidedly strange. I felt off balance and didn’t really work to my potential. The idea is to encourage you to have a greater hip flexion in the front leg but I found myself putting a lot of weight on the back foot. This is not a good idea given the problems I’ve had with shin splints. Music is: Angel from B*P*M.
8. Shoulders: I thought this was a good track. It starts with a few press-ups before moving to bent-over raises and then lateral raises. It finishes with some shoulder presses that really burnt me out. Music is: One Night In Bangkok – Vinylshakerz
9. Abs: They have brought back the beloved plank which is great as we have been practicing it in circuits with weights on our backs. There is also a side plank hold and some of the usual crunches and oblique twists. Music is: Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira
10. Warm-down: Not much to say about this, as it was the usual fare of stretches. Pity they concentrated on the legs and didn’t leave much time to stretch out the upper body. Music is: So Far Away – Amici Forever

So overall impressions? I think it was a reasonable release with tracks that got better as the class went on. The initial four tracks were rather boring but biceps, shoulders and abs were good. The music left a little bit to be desired. There was more rock tracks than I would have liked as I find dance and/or disco music more motivational. Maybe we’ll grow to love it in time!

FitPro (aka LesMills) have also released a 10th anniversary edition. I’ll post a review of that once we’ve given it a go.

Mark took a few pictures of Amin, Rich and myself after the class. If he sends them to me, I’ll post a few so you can see how tired we were afterwards!