RickInOz

Quick disclaimer - this is (yet) another gym orientated posting. Look away now if this doesn’t interest you!

I’ve almost clocked up 2 years of BodyPump now. When I started I was in poor cardio condition and lacking strength. I can remember in that first class at Central, struggling to lift more than a couple of blues and suffering badly with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness a couple of days later. Through steady progress and encouragement I now lift more than 3 times than those initial classes. My schedule also increased from once a week to 2 -3 times a week currently. It should be remembered that lifting weights is nothing without technique. Good technique means isolating a muscle group and is intended to concentrate the effort. More importantly it is also safe as poor technique can result in injuries.

Here are some of the pointers I’ve picked up from speaking to a number of different instructors, looking at fitness websites and asking questions on web-forums. In a similar vein to my BodyPump reviews I’ll present these by track:

Warmup: This is just a warmup. I occasionally see Pumpers lifting way too much in this track. It should be the lightest weight you lift all class, and is just intended to get the heart rate up rather than being a working track.

Squats: The most common mistake Pumpers make in this class is letting their knees track outwards. To do a safe squat the knees should stay in a line from the hips to the toes. It is easier to let them track outwards as it engages the adductors as well as the hip flexors, but this puts too much torsion on the knees and will cause wear and tear injuires. The second mistake is doing too little or too much range. Too little and you might as well not bother turning up. Bodybuilders do squats below 90 degrees knee flexion, but this is wrong for BodyPump. You won’t have enough time to complete the range and again risk injuring your knees.

Chest: This one is fairly easy to get right. Remember that the arms must be out at 90 degrees from the body. If they creep closer the movement goes into the shoulders and doesn’t isolate the pectorals. On the downward move the elbows should not drop below the level of the shoulders. Body builders do chest presses with the bar touching the chest at the bottom. This is too low for BodyPump as it engages the shoulders and back rather than isolating the pectorals.

Back: Three different moves to comment on here. On the rows the only thing to concentrate on is keeping the elbows close to the body to isolate the lats. Many people get the dead lifts wrong by bending their legs too much and letting the bar come away from the body. Remember you are only supposed to go as low as your knees. The clean and press has the greatest potential to do damage as it is a large movement with a relatively heavy weight. The bar should stay as close to the body as possible during the upright row section both upwards and downwards. Letting it come away from the body puts a lot of strain through the spine and risks injury. On the overhead press the weight bar should stay slightly in front of your head. Letting it move backwards risks posterior subluxation of the shoulder joint.

Triceps: This is another easy one to get right. To isolate the triceps make sure they don’t “wing” outwards. This moves the effort into the shoulders and defeats the purpose of the exercise - literally!

Bicpes: It is very tempting to try to lift as much in biceps as in triceps. This is erroneous as the triceps is a bigger muscle so will always be able to take more strain. Most people tend to neglect their triceps leading to the misconception that the biceps are stronger. During this track make sure you keep your hands and elbows at shoulder width. Many pumpers make two other key mistakes. First is swinging through the shoulders rather than isolating the movement in the biceps. The other is using your back to provide momentum on the upwards part of the movement.

Lunges: Many Pumpers get this one wrong and continually so. In order to get it right your feet should be at hip width and as far apart as a wide stride. I see many people with their feet on a “trapeze rope” rather than “train tracks” and too close together. This again puts a lot of necessary strain through the knees and makes you lean forward also putting strain through your spine.

Shoulders: There’s not much to say on this one as it’s difficult to get these movements wrong. One important thing is to make sure your arms don’t go higher than your shoulders on the lateral and front raises.

Abs: Again not much potential to get it wrong apart from not doing enough range.

On a more generic note a common flaw many Pumpers exhibit is making the moves too quickly. They do this partly because it’s easier to throw the weight than lift it in controlled way and partly because quick movements mean a rest at the top or bottom of a move.

I know that I’m as guilty as anyone else of having less than perfect technique. Indeed to get the most out of BodyPump it is acceptable to lose technique in the latter part of a track as a sign than you are fatiguing. However there is no excuse for getting it wrong from the start.

So for all those who hide at the back hoping no-one will notice you try stepping up. There is a good reason I stand at the front. It’s not to be seen, but to see - my technique!