RickInOz

Here it is, hot off the gym-floor! That’s right, we’ve just had the launch of BodyPump 63 tonight. Here’s my review of this release (the fourth in the series now!):

Warmup: A fairly typical first track. It was rather brief on the shoulder presses and squats. Instead they concentrated on the biceps, even including some bottom-half pulses for the first time. Music: All For You - Kate Ryan.

Squats: This was the weak link of the whole release. 3 rounds of the same choreography were a bit boring. The track is reasonably hard, but included long breaks between each round so any fatigue was recovered before starting again. Music is a bad, bad remix of the Savage Garden song Truly Madly Deeply by Cascada.

Chest: LesMills have tried something original with this track. They are encouraging pumpers to put on extra weight for the first part of the track and then reduce it for the final “Drop Set”. The track was reasonably hard as a 4 x 4 bottom half pulse set appears both before and after the break. Otherwise it’s pretty much standard fare for a chest track. I didn’t drop my weights for the final set as I wasn’t that fatigued by the break and felt I could carry on at the same intensity. Music is: Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance.

Back: Be warned, this is a pretty hard track. It has a lot of rows and dead-lifts, so many in fact that there were only 2 sets of clean-and-presses. The limiting factor on this one will be stamina in the forearms, as mine were pretty sore by the end of the track. Music: Think About The Way (Extended Mix) - Frisco vs Ice MC.

Triceps: Those dreaded pull-overs from the previous release are back. This time I didn’t find them too bad as we’ve done them a fair few times recently. The track is 3 rounds, with the first 2 a mix of pullovers and presses, a quick break, and the last round just extensions. I didn’t find it too hard as it’s a fairly short track. Music is Faster Kill Pussycat (Club Mix) mixed by Paul Oakenfold feat Brittany Murphy.

Biceps: Another short track, but this one has a sting. It has 2 sets of middle-range pulses. The beat is quite quick so even the slow movements feel quite rushed. The pulses are 25 to 75% range and there are a lot of them! I found it quite hard to keep good technique and not just swing through your shoulders instead of keeping the movement in the elbows. Fortunately there is a long break in the middle as I was feeling the lactic acid and really needed it! Music is the poorly executed Ain’t No Other Man (Radio Version) by Christina Aguilera.

Lunges: This is quite an easy track by comparison to some of the recent ones, possibly because you don’t need the bar. Instead they ask you to do static lunges with a weight held next to the back leg. This will tend to pull you off balance, so this encourages concentration on core stability and strength. The latter part of each side is a set of back-stepping dynamic lunges. There is the option to do the track with a foot on the step in case you are a glutton for punishment. Music: Love Sensation ‘06 (Hi_Tack Burnin’ Up Radio Edit) - Loleatta Holloway.

Shoulders: This starts as a predictable shoulders track. There are rear-deltoid raises, lateral raises, upright rows and then overhead presses. Then comes the variation! The final act is push-ups but instead of having your hands on the floor, you have to hold the bar. This effectively makes you do a knuckles-down push-up which is harder than normal. Yet another contribution by the Freestylers with Fast Life.

Abs: This track carries over many movements from the previous release. It starts with side twists and straight leg extensions. Then you add in some twists with bicycle kicks before going round again. At the end there is another variation. You need a bar and kneeling down you roll forward while holding the bar before pulling backwards to kneeling. I’m sure there is a technical term for this movement, but I’ve no idea what it is! I actually found this made the track quite difficult, but I’m sure those of you who do Pilates will find it straightforward. Music is: The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani feat Akon.

Warm-down: Not much to say here. I didn’t recognise the music (It Ends Tonight - The All American Rejects) and it wasn’t that relaxing, so this warm-down wasn’t as enjoyable as it could have been.

So my impressions then? On balance I thought this was a better effort than some of the recent releases. There were some nice touches to add variety like the drop set in Chest, the mid-range pulses in Biceps, the bar push-ups in Shoulders and the bar-roll in Abs. This shows they are trying to inject some interest into what was fast becoming a monotonous class.

With the exception of Back and Biceps I didn’t find this release that hard. I’m sure some of you (no names mentioned, Mark!) will say all the tracks are very easy. If this is the case, then you know what to do!

The only downside was the atrocious music choice. I don’t mind a mixture of styles, but there were too many R&B / hip-hop tracks with poor beats that didn’t really lend themselves to the choreography. Perhaps a return to the rock and dance tracks and less emphasis on what’s in the charts.