Has Anyone Tried Body Pump

joanthemom8

I loved the class! Trying to take more, but they aren't offered at convenient times for me! I really felt the "pain" 2 days after---could barely move! Strength - training is my weakest area, so this class was hard (physically) for me, but fun!

CaffeinatedConfectionist

Ya this was the first time i lifted in months typically I stick with cardio, but someone told me weights was the better way to go so I tried it.

They were right. But the class isn't what they meant. Once you get a feel for proper form you will need to take it outside the glad and do higher intensity compound work. Using the squat rack and bench.

This ^^ I still love Body Pump, and do it once a week or so (or did, until my gym membership lapsed), but people seem to view it more as cardio or interval training, though it certainly involves resistance training.

I found Pump incredibly useful for a) getting me into the gym in the first place (I went with a friend) and b) making me feel comfortable with the types of lifts. Having an instructor there to correct my form was very valuable.

But Pump alone stopped being enough for me.

You might find this article helpful: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/weight-training-for-fat-loss-part-1.html

I would argue that Body Pump fits into McDonald's "Metabolic Training" classification,with lower weights and higher reps and a higher calorie burn.

Especially relevant:

Metabolic type weight training tends to generate a higher calorie burn than traditional low rep training, the glycogen depletion that occurs increases whole body fat oxidation, and the hormonal response is actually quite similar to interval training (in The Stubborn Fat Solution, this type of training can be used to kick off the more intense Stubborn Fat Protocols 1.0 and 2.0).

Of course, many find that their top end strength falls somewhat while dieting; as well, when people get very lean, joints often get a little bit wonky under heavy loads. The lighter loads used in metabolic type work can be beneficial in that regards as well.

So those are the pros for this type of training: increased calorie burn, a nice hormonal response, easier on the joints, depleting muscle glycogen enhances fat oxidation.

Here’s the bad.

As I’ve mentioned repeatedly on the site, the primary stimulus for muscle growth is progressive high tension overload (e.g. adding more weight to the bar over time). Without getting into a big old technical discussion of protein synthesis and breakdown here (you can read The Protein Book if you’re interested); I’ll simply say here that the high tension stimulus that builds muscle is the exact same high tension stimulus that will maintain muscle mass when you’re dieting.

And that’s the bad of metabolic type weight training: while it has certain benefits that I listed above, it is an insufficient stimulus, for maintaining muscle mass (with one exception). At least if used by itself.

That exception is beginners. Complete beginners, who haven’t built any real muscle mass in the first place don’t have to worry much about muscle loss while dieting (just about any training will maintain it).

But for trained individuals beyond the beginner stage, using metabolic type weight training exclusively on a diet is a recipe for disaster. Please note the use of the word ‘exclusively’ in that previous sentence. I’ll come back to this in a second.

So pump can be great for helping you burn calories and maintain the lean muscle mass that you have while you're in your calorie deficit, especially as a beginner And if you're a complete noob, it can be very valuable. So it certainly has benefits, and if you enjoy it, keep doing it. But I would recommend reading his article and consider doing Pump less frequently and adding in heavy weights at lower reps once you are comfortable with doing so. The second part of his article goes into detail about how to combine metabolic training like Body Pump with heavy lifting.

ETA quotes to make it more readable.

alisonlynn1976

The instructor should give guidance on how much weight to add/remove for different components of the session

I know, but the way that the OP is written, it implies that she used one set of weights for the entire class.

MelodyandBarbells

I love Body Pump, however on my best day I think the most I've burned is 500 calories.

Yep. Even maxing out my weights, being totally out if breath and really going at it, the best I ever break anymore is 400. I do notice higher numbers when lifting the heels on clean and press as we do in BodyPump 87. After all, they say it's cardio with weights, so anything that gets the ol' ticker going. Propulsion moves during the legs track, etc.

AlongCame_Molly

I've been a couple times, I thought it was great! I don't go often, though, because I prefer to split my cardio and weights on separate days. I feel I don't push my muscles hard enough in Body Pump, and if I upped the weights more, I wouldn't be able to keep up with the cardio part.