Is Body Pump real strenght training?

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nashai01
nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Do you guys consider Body Pump and Barbell Strength type classes good for strength or do I need to do some other type of heavy lifting type of workouts.

I take a barbell strength class once a week and I have a few barbell strength DVDs that I do 3 days a week for 55 minutes and then after I’ll complete a half an hour of cardio. The DVD segments include rows, dead lifts, squats, abs, triceps, shoulders, biceps, back, chest, abductors, adductors and lunges. I only use around 35 pounds for my squats, dead lifts, and rows. I use 5, 8, and 10 pound dumbbells for pretty much everything else.

I noticed here that some are using a lot heavier weights than I use and I was just wondering if I will see results with the weights I’m using and with body pump type of workouts.
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  • nashai01
    nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
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    Bump
  • samntha14
    samntha14 Posts: 2,084 Member
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    IDK, I know plenty of people who do high rep stuff like that and have pretty good results. I don't really like Body pump because is more cardio. I'm tired after the class, but I don't get any kind of muscle soreness. That's a red flag to me because it's telling me that I'm not breaking down and rebuilding muscle which is what you need to do to build strength. It was fun to do while I was healing from an injury though.
  • nashai01
    nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
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    Ok thanks! I really needed someone's opinion on it. I'm going to look into some other ways to get my strength training in.
  • nashai01
    nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
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    Anyone else?
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
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    I started out doing body pump three days a week. If you go from sitting on your coach to body pump (like I did) you will see *some* muscle development (some call it "newb gains"...). But it is more of a cardio workout if you really look at it. High reps with low weight is more of an endurance workout, burning tons of calories. I used to average around 450 cals/hour in class with an HRM.

    I since then have ditched the body pump and I now do heavy strength training 5 days/week and I've seen MUCH more muscle gain (ditched bp and zumba about a year ago). Body pump is a good class if you're looking to drop some weight, but if you're looking for a real strength workout, lifting heavy is your best bet.
  • nashai01
    nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
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    I since then have ditched the body pump and I now do heavy strength training 5 days/week and I've seen MUCH more muscle gain (ditched bp and zumba about a year ago). Body pump is a good class if you're looking to drop some weight, but if you're looking for a real strength workout, lifting heavy is your best bet.

    Can you give me some examples of what type of heaving lifting you do? I just don't know where to start.

    SN-- Pittsburgh is my hometown! :)
  • Jerrypeoples
    Jerrypeoples Posts: 1,541 Member
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    body pump while not a true strength training you will see improvement.

    but since it is mostly cardio you will see more definition than muscle mass.

    i will say this, it is no joke. i took it for a while and though oh these girls are doing 20-30lbs i should easily be able to do 40-50.

    damn near died after the first class and my biggest concern was trying not to puke in front of everyone

    yes i know its sexist and macho and all that but i learned my lesson
  • nashai01
    nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
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    I'm actually not doing a body pump class now. I started with body pump. I do take a barbell strength class which is very similar. I use Jari Love DVD's for my at home strength workouts, have any of you heard of her?
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
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    I since then have ditched the body pump and I now do heavy strength training 5 days/week and I've seen MUCH more muscle gain (ditched bp and zumba about a year ago). Body pump is a good class if you're looking to drop some weight, but if you're looking for a real strength workout, lifting heavy is your best bet.

    Can you give me some examples of what type of heaving lifting you do? I just don't know where to start.

    SN-- Pittsburgh is my hometown! :)

    When I first started out, I did this program--->http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/felicia-romero-muscle-building-program.html
    Gained a decent amount of muscle while on it. I lifted as heavy as I could for each exercise.

    Now I'm on my last week of ---> http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html
    My favorite program that I've tried. It's based on 4-week microcycles. The first week you do 10-12 reps, the next you do 8-10, 3rd week you do 6-8, the fourth you do 3-5. So each week you're raising your weight lifted, for less reps. I've seen good progress with this program, as well.

    The DVD you mentioned that has all of the lifts sounds like it should work well. If you're feeling like you could be lifting more weight, it might be time to hit a gym so your weights lifted can grow along with muscle.

    I'm not bashing body pump in the least bit either, I loved that class. It'll knock you on your butt if you walk in with a big ego for the first time. I was just looking to build more muscle after I hit my goal weight =)
  • nashai01
    nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
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    Ok thanks, I'm going to check your programs out.
  • Elegra2006
    Elegra2006 Posts: 144 Member
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    Another vote for not knocking Body Pump. I've seen the big pumped up guys come to a BP class and struggle!

    One thing I also see is people using far too light weights, you really need to push yourself in Body Pump, you will get toned and defined muscles - good for girls! And you WILL get stronger but put your weights up, regularly! Especially on the squat, lunge and chest tracks.

    Not to mention doing the exercises properly, using in the mirrors, get deep on the squats, don't hunch on the deadlifts etc. It helps if you've got a good instructor, I once had a BP instructor scream her head off at me for going 'too low' on my squats, despite the fact that my technique is spot-on - let's say that she didn't last long at the gym.

    Anyways, I'm an advocate for Body Pump but no, it won't make you a power lifter but it will make you stronger.
  • nashai01
    nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
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    Anyways, I'm an advocate for Body Pump but no, it won't make you a power lifter but it will make you stronger.

    Thanks!!
  • mgclark7
    mgclark7 Posts: 1
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    I know who Jari Love is - she's pretty much an icon here in Calgary. I have a tape of hers and it's excellent.
  • nashai01
    nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
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    I know who Jari Love is - she's pretty much an icon here in Calgary. I have a tape of hers and it's excellent.

    Great! because I been using her for my barbell strength, and I love her. Body pump was cool but I love Jari Love
  • nashai01
    nashai01 Posts: 536 Member
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    bump
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
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    Check your local library or Amazon for the book "The New Rules of Lifting for Women." It's an awesome program. There's a group of women following it here:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/102-new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-nrol4w
  • Jewelforyou
    Jewelforyou Posts: 74
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    Really depends on what your goals are. If you want to build a lot of muscle that's not going to happen. Unless you have no weight training experience at all and work at increasing your weights, then you may build some...but again not a huge amount.

    That being said Body Pump really can change the shape of your body and give you some more definition. It has for me. I do Body Pump 3 times a week and have for years. But during that time I have progressively increased my weight. As soon as I can do something with good form for the whole track without struggling too much, I up the weight a little bit. When I started I was using a medium plate and maybe a small one for most tracks. But over time I've increased as follows (give or take a kg depending on the actual track being used)

    Warm-up - 12 kg (26lb)
    Squats - 30kg (66lb)
    Chest - 25ks (53lb)
    Back - 25kg (53lb)
    Triceps-14kg (31lb)
    Biceps - 12kg (26lb)
    Lunges - 27kg (60lb)
    Shoulders -12 kg (26lb)

    And the result has been that at the same body weight as pre-Body Pump I'm a lot leaner looking. Hope this helps!
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
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    Body Pump is circuit training. Basically, it's using strength-training derived exercise in a way that has an effect on the body that is more like conditioning/cardio than real strength training. For actual strength training you would be focusing more on compound lifts, lower reps, higher weights. Actual strength training can not feasibly be done in a class environment.
  • SJ46
    SJ46 Posts: 407 Member
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    If you are willing to go into the weight room I would skip BodyPump, you will see results so much faster in the weight room and you will gain a lot of strength. Your strength gains in Pump will most likely be minimal. *Note - even the creators admit that strength gains are minimal, occurring when you are a beginner to class.

    I posted this in another thread but I consider it good info for people with questions about Pump:

    http://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/pump-fiction

    "After eight weeks, subjects didn't show significant strength gain or body fat loss. The only measurable benefit was a gain in muscle endurance."

    Even BodyPump's creators concur that it is an endurance class: "BodyPUMP promoters defend the use of light weights. "The reason for the light weight is that the program is designed to improve muscular endurance," Browning says. (Muscular endurance, experts agree, is important for activities lasting several hours, such as biking, hiking and skiing.) Browning says the Web site's increased-strength claim applies only to beginning exercisers, but this disclaimer doesn't appear on the site. "

    BUT you don't need to do a gazillion reps to increase your endurance - "However, research shows that doing the traditional eight to 12 repetitions develops plenty of muscular endurance, while also building strength, bone and enough muscle mass to boost metabolism. "When you gain [muscular] strength you automatically gain [muscular] endurance, but apparently the opposite isn't true," says Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., fitness research director at Boston's South Shore YMCA.

    Doing dozens of repetitions is not only unnecessary, Westcott says, but may increase risk of overuse injury"

    And you are kidding yourself if you believe you are burning 400+ calories in class. http://muscleevo.net/body-pump/
    "A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research looked at the calorie-burning effects of a 50-minute Body Pump workout.

    Subjects burned, on average, 265 calories during the workout. The men burned a little more calories (315) compared to the women (214)."

    Last, according to this study you aren't even getting an aerobic workout during the class duration: http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2000/05000/Physiologic_and_Metabolic_Responses_to_a_Body_Pump.5.aspx
    "Responses were below that necessary to elicit an aerobic-training effect and were lower than responses previously reported with circuit weight training."

    Really, what is the point of bicep curling 10 kilos for 5 minutes? Being able to squat a light weight for a long time? I just don't see a lot of functional benefit. On the other hand training in the weight room will give you the strength needed to move heavy stuff when you need to do so without needing to ask for help.
  • SJ46
    SJ46 Posts: 407 Member
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    Do you guys consider Body Pump and Barbell Strength type classes good for strength or do I need to do some other type of heavy lifting type of workouts.

    I take a barbell strength class once a week and I have a few barbell strength DVDs that I do 3 days a week for 55 minutes and then after I’ll complete a half an hour of cardio. The DVD segments include rows, dead lifts, squats, abs, triceps, shoulders, biceps, back, chest, abductors, adductors and lunges. I only use around 35 pounds for my squats, dead lifts, and rows. I use 5, 8, and 10 pound dumbbells for pretty much everything else.

    I noticed here that some are using a lot heavier weights than I use and I was just wondering if I will see results with the weights I’m using and with body pump type of workouts.

    No, you will not see much in terms of increases in strength with a BodyPump type workout. I did Pump for around 6-9 months/ 2-3x a week. I did not see much at all in terms of strength gain. Once a track became easier in class I would up my weights even if it meant I had to skip a few reps but the increases were very small. I gave up Pump, only trying a class every now and then, and began working with a trainer and saw much bigger increases in my strength in a shorter amount of time. This was doing a lot of functional work.

    Recently I began lifting on my own, doing compound lifts with the barbell, for the past two months (technically closer to a month and a half because I took a break to learn to swim). Here are my numbers:
    Front Squat - 45 lbs to 85 lbs
    Bench Press - 45 lbs to 60 lbs
    Bent Row - 45 lbs to 60 lbs
    Dead Lift - 65 lbs to 90 lbs
    Overhead Press - 45 lbs to 50 lbs

    AND, now I can do 5 pullups! (<---- Very proud of that!)

    In 6-9 months of Pump my increases were 4.4 lbs - 11 lbs, depending on the exercise and it was not for lack of trying.

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