Body Pump question

mousepaws22

Apologies is this is a repeat, I have looked at some of the Body Pump threads but not seen an answer to my question.

I would like to start doing strenth training but have very little upper body strengtt. I do some weights at the gym on the machines and my trainer has just started doing Kettlebells with me. That will probably only be about twice a month though.

There are a couple of Body Pump classes at my gym that I could go to- my question is, will I get any strength training benefits from doing this class? I am asking becasue I have seen on some of the threads that Body Pump is a cardio workout and not a strength work out.

kdiamond

I haven't taken Body Pump before, but if it is mostly a cardio type workout, you aren't going to see any real strength increase...maybe minimal at best.

The best way to see a strength increase is to increase your weights, and do a good variety of weight training exercises. Upper body is my favorite. I like shoulder press, row, hammer curls, pull down lats, tricep dips, and pullups are great for increasing upper body strength. I try to do a weight that feels tough to do 6-8 reps of. I started doing shoulder press at 5lb dumbbells, and now I can do 20lb dumbbells. It takes time, and it also takes an increase in calories.

Good luck!

aussiesarah

I've been doing body pump twice a week for about 12 months now and I've noticed a real difference in my strength.

Personally I find using free weights in the gym really boring so it's good to have some tunes and an instructor to push me along.

In my opinion what you get out of Pump is all about the weights you chose. The instructor will be able to guide you, but start out easy and then gradually push yourself to up your weights regularly. e.g. I started out at 15kg for squats and now I'm up to 27kg. If you stick to light weights and don't progress then I don't think you'll get the same results.

In terms of cardio, pump it doesn't really do it for me so I use running or swimming to clock up serious calories. My HRM shows about 275-300cal per hour of body pump compared to 500-600 per hour of running but the strenth training has had a great knock on effect for my running PBs and I don't get nearly as many knee and ankle niggles now )

Good luck!

mgaither

Assumption: That all BodyPump classes are similar (I think this is a safe assumption to make).
That said...

At my gym, the BodyPump class is essentially strength-training to music with an instructor. You concentrate on one/two muscle groups at a time and burn them up (using some combination of barbells, hand weights, etc.) Then, you move on to another muscle group. Since you don't stop moving the entire class, there is definitely and increased heart rate, but I wouldn't consider it a cardio-focused work out. Also, you get to choose the amount of weight you use, which is nice. As you get stronger, you just up the weights.

If all else fails, just try out the class once and see how you like it.

mousepaws22

Thanks guys, this is really helpful, I'm going to try it!

missym357

Being new to strength training, I think you will see strength benefits with bodypump. I agree with the other poster that said it is what you put into it. Start out figuring out what weights you need- if you can get through each body part without any trouble, then you definitely need to increase your weight. It will be a bit of a learning curve though. I try to err on the side of too heavy in order to make sure I get what I consider a good workout out of it. I will go heavier and decrease my pace if I have to (and not go along with the pace of the class).

aj_gettingfit

I did BodyPump 2-3x when I first started the gym over 2 yrs ago. I went from a size 18 to a size 12. I believe that BP will give you what you are looking for.