body pump good weight trainning?

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ranz9
ranz9 Posts: 14 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
hi everyone i dont like to do free weights. my gym offers body pump and i was thinking of taking it 2 times a week as my weights.do you think thats a good substitue to free weights?
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Replies

  • thatjeffsmith
    thatjeffsmith Posts: 110 Member
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    My wife says it's as tough as her CrossFit classes. Maybe more reps and at lower weights, but she loves it.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    hi everyone i dont like to do free weights. my gym offers body pump and i was thinking of taking it 2 times a week as my weights.do you think thats a good substitue to free weights?
    not really familiar with body pump, but I am going to say no. Stick with free weight and gravitate towards a program of compound lifts - squats, deadlifts, overhead press, chin ups/pull ups, bench press....
  • crazybookworm
    crazybookworm Posts: 779 Member
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    Yes! I do BodyPump once to twice a week. I have been doing that for over a year, and it has contributed to my body completely toning up, and deminishing all of my loose skin that I had from my weight loss.
  • crazybookworm
    crazybookworm Posts: 779 Member
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    That is exactly what BodyPump is:smile: Free weight/Bar weights. Doing Squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, etc.
  • 89nunu
    89nunu Posts: 1,082 Member
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    Depends on your goals.

    'toning' and losing fat yes: the high reps low weight work like cardio with weights, so you burn lots of calories while telling your muscles that they are needed

    Building muscle: no. You might train the muscle mass you got now (which will 'tone' 'tighten' or whatever you wanna call it, the way you look) but you won't gain a significant amount of new muscle

    Edit cause my auto correct is annoying
  • aelphabawest
    aelphabawest Posts: 173 Member
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    not really familiar with body pump, but I am going to say no. Stick with free weight and gravitate towards a program of compound lifts - squats, deadlifts, overhead press, chin ups/pull ups, bench press....

    That's what body pump *is*!

    I liked body pump a lot when I did it - it's good for toning and losing fat, as another poster said. I also think that for a lot of people without the funds for a personal trainer, weight training is intimidating because you don't know how to do it, don't know where to start, and then you need to have the motivation to not only *do* it but independently figure it out. I definitely found that I had better luck with classes like body pump, or what I'm doing now which is "boot camp" - a circuit training style class.

    The short of it: Body Pump will be great if you're looking for a way to get your weight training in, it does burn calories, it has a great adjustable difficulty built into it, and it's nice to have someone figure out what the hell you're supposed to do with these weights for you.

    Good luck!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    That is exactly what BodyPump is:smile: Free weight/Bar weights. Doing Squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, etc.

    what is the rep range?
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    ^^^ The marketing is 800+ reps in any given class. It still seems strange that you'll answer a question about BodyPump without being familiar with it. Maybe drop in on a class, or something. Many gyms will allow non-members to try a class during "launch week", which happens about four times a year

    To the OP, it's certainly better than nothing for sure, especially since you won't be doing free weights on your own
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    ^^^ The marketing is 800+ reps in any given class. It still seems strange that you'll answer a question about BodyPump without being familiar with it. Maybe drop in on a class, or something. Many gyms will allow non-members to try a class during "launch week", which happens about four times a year

    To the OP, it's certainly better than nothing for sure, especially since you won't be doing free weights on your own

    i gave advice based on weight training program that I thought would be best for the OP = compounds...

    anything with 800 rep range in one class is waste of time IMO...

    OP - I would suggest something that keeps you in the 8-10 rep range and is heavy for you ...
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
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    I did Body Pump for about 4 years and LOVED it. It made a huge difference for me.

    I am now doing Group Power (same idea .. different company).

    I think you should totally do it .. it will give you a good workout. There is just something about that class like setting and the instructor pushing you that does a person good.

    I have lost 3 inches at my bellybutton in 6 weeks doing Group Power ... so it does work.
  • woolup
    woolup Posts: 1 Member
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    I love body pump. I do it once a week and spinning twice, plus abs classes. The new body pimp release we are doing is fantastic
  • qstneverything
    qstneverything Posts: 125 Member
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    I know people who have had success stories, as long as you up your weights you will see results. You can always talk to your instructor before/after class to get their insight too.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    I would compliment your BP class, with weight training as mentioned by ndj1979

    My wife does the BP classes a lot, and tell her all the time....the classes are fine, but I think she should do actual weight lifting to put on muscle.

    I don't think you can put on muscle with those classes.....but yes, it will help you build calories.
    But get you some free weight time in also. :wink:
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    Oh, and the other funny thing.

    The guy that does the class ( he is young, so early 20's), but he has a body like Adonis.
    So broad shoulders, and really narrow waste.....and just ripped.

    I see him in the free weights area on some days when he isn't teaching.....and so we talk.
    He gets all the women in there talking about how they want to get a body like his......and since he is an instructor, he has to "push" the Les Milles classes.....but he tries to hint to them, that the classes are not all he does to get the body he has.
    He does weights when not teaching.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    It's a great class - try it and see!

    But you would do well to lift heavier weights in addition to Body Pump.
  • bbrock01
    bbrock01 Posts: 1
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    Body Pump is the best free weight training you can do if your not familiar with the gym. I lost 30 lbs. doing Body Pump 3 times a week. :smile:
  • jobegone
    jobegone Posts: 91
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    I think i agree with the general concensus here that Bodypump is a great class for fitness and toning but not for gaining muscle mass.
    Iv been doing it for a few months now and im definately not getting bigger muscles, just tightening up which is just perfect for me at the minute.
    Giev it ago, you might love it or you might hate it. Never know until you try!
  • skinnyinnotime
    skinnyinnotime Posts: 4,141 Member
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    hi everyone i dont like to do free weights. my gym offers body pump and i was thinking of taking it 2 times a week as my weights.do you think thats a good substitue to free weights?

    It will give you a good workout and it's better than doing nothing, absolutely. But it's not a substitute for free weights.

    I've done this sort of stuff and now I lift free weights, really there is no comparison.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    It depends on your goals. Weight training for strength, hypertrophy, and endurance are all different. Body Pump is geared more towards muscular endurance than strength or hypertrophy...so if strength and/or hypertrophy were your goals, then Body Pump would be an extremely inefficient way of achieving those goals, etc.
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
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    I am not 100% but I am thinking body pump, and power pump are very similar. I take a power pump class at the YMCA and it also uses free weights. There are 3 different ranges depend on what you can handle, so whatever your low, medium and high weights would be. I am just now (and very timidly) entering the weight room in the Y. I love that body pump showed me how to use the free weights for basic movements such as squats, lunges, over head press, etc. This has made it a little easier to walk into the weight area feeling like I know what I am doing. I also just upped my weights in the class because the ranges I was using started to become too easy. A friend of mine on my friend list gave me info on the 5x5 program which I plan to start today, but I will still be going to body pump 2x a week becuase I love the calorie burn.

    I say give it a try! You may find that you really do enjoy free weights.

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