BodyPump Grumbles
Posted on Monday 19th January 2009
There is much to like about BodyPump. It has inspired a generation over the past 15 years to push their bodies like never before. We can also credit the LesMills classes with making group exercise the phenomenon it is today. True, other classes like aerobics were popular in their time, but something in the order of 15 million people in over a 100 different countries worldwide do BodyPump. That’s no mean feat.
Anyway, in the spirit of being a wingeing Pom, here are some of the things that irritate me in and about BodyPump.
Participants who:
- turn up late and expect everyone to wait for them
- put their kit away in the middle of the class (inconveniencing those around them)
- chatter during the warm-down
- can’t even follow the basic beat let alone the choreography
- do every rep as a single (even the 4:4s – I’ve seen it happen)
- refuse to do even one proper (on toes) press-up
- turn up month after month and still only put 1 little plate on the bar
- haven’t shed a drop of sweat in the whole class
- don’t adjust/improve their technique even when told to
- won’t stand right at the front, but block anyone from standing in front of them
- do lunges facing across the studio even though there is more room facing the front
Instructors who:
- run over from the class before making BodyPump start late
- can’t sing well, yet still do it
- clearly don’t know the choreography and are just making it up
- do know the choreography, but deliberately do different moves
- don’t take the prescribed breaks
- talk too much during the warm-down
- take unnecessarily long breaks between tracks
- coach shoddy technique
- don’t correct participants with bad technique
- can’t balance the volume of microphone and music
- don’t cue properly and rely on participants to know the choreography
- cue too sparingly on chest and triceps when we can’t see what they’re doing
- mumble into the microphone
- won’t do the new releases even though they are obliged to by the licensing agreement
Fortunately the vast majority of participants and instructors are safe, enthusiastic and technically proficient, but the bad eggs are always there to spoil it for the rest of us.
Anyway, feeling much better now all of that is off my chest!
Oi Ricky wot are trying to say about the instructors
THIS IS SO TRUE AND YOU KNOW WHAT I AM GOING TO PRINT THIS OUT AND PUT IT ON DISPLAY AND ALSO DO HANDOUTS.
DON’T WORRY DUDE YOUR NAME WILL NOT BE MENTIONED.
C’mon Rick get if off your chest if you have anything else to say, you will feel much better, you know what they say… BETTER OUT THEN IN
Hey agree with you on a lot of that stuff, unfortuately in our gym the room gets so packed we do have to put our steps away half way thru the class, just so that we have room to do pressups and abs.
And I promise I have tried to do a pressup on my toes, I just can’t, honestly!