Gaining muscle with BodyPump class

IMG_1294 by paulineb251, on Flickr

I go to bodypump at the gym. I really enjoy the class and try to go about 2-3 times per week. I have been going since January and I'm quite happy with the results. Its a full body workout, especially if you push yourself.

Look at you!! Way to go. I honestly couldn't even do all the reps that the instructors were doing, but I think if I kept at it I would be able to get closer.

Out of curiosity, what type of nutrition do you do before / after your body pump class?

Thanks! Usually it depends what time of day the body pump class is. If I go to the morning one, i will have breakfast (usually oats made with milk and a banana) and then a protein shake afterwards. If i go to a 5pm class I might have a protein shake before the class and then just have dinner afterwards. I usually eat quite healthy, no take-aways (no macdonalds, no KFC etc), I eat lots of vegetables, fruit, healthy carbs like brown rice, brown bread, oats etc. But I do like chocolate!

I also go to Les Mills Body Attack (sports inspired aerobics), sometimes CXWORX (30 minute core workout), run about 3 times per week (6-10k per run), go for a walk a few times per week. I have done NO WEIGHTLIFTING. However, I do push myself to use the weights in pump that challenge me. I also do the push ups in Pump and Attack (usually 5 minutes of push ups) on my toes.

IMG_1294 by paulineb251, on Flickr

I go to bodypump at the gym. I really enjoy the class and try to go about 2-3 times per week. I have been going since January and I'm quite happy with the results. Its a full body workout, especially if you push yourself.

Look at you!! Way to go. I honestly couldn't even do all the reps that the instructors were doing, but I think if I kept at it I would be able to get closer.

Out of curiosity, what type of nutrition do you do before / after your body pump class?

Thanks! Usually it depends what time of day the body pump class is. If I go to the morning one, i will have breakfast (usually oats made with milk and a banana) and then a protein shake afterwards. If i go to a 5pm class I might have a protein shake before the class and then just have dinner afterwards. I usually eat quite healthy, no take-aways (no macdonalds, no KFC etc), I eat lots of vegetables, fruit, healthy carbs like brown rice, brown bread, oats etc. But I do like chocolate!

I also go to Les Mills Body Attack (sports inspired aerobics), sometimes CXWORX (30 minute core workout), run about 3 times per week (6-10k per run), go for a walk a few times per week. I have done NO WEIGHTLIFTING. However, I do push myself to use the weights in pump that challenge me. I also do the push ups in Pump and Attack (usually 5 minutes of push ups) on my toes.

You look AMAZING!!! I take pump on an average of 3 times a week and I don't look like that. Do you mind telling what weights you're using? I need to friend you and I guess I need to work harder.

I love BodyPump! You have to get to my gym extra early, even for the 5:30 am class, if you want a spot. I wish they'd put out DVD sets so I could do it at home as well...

This workout started out as a home workout google Les Mills BodyPump it comes with the dvds and barbell.

Thanks Timea!

Bodypump is a great class. I usually go 3 times per week, occasionly twice a week. I also go to bodyattack and CXWORX, and also run. As for weights, I always use weights that challenge me. The last few reps should be very difficult. I also do the pushups on my toes.

My current weights are:

The bar we use is about 5kg
Warmup: 3.5kg each side
Squats: 10kg each side
Chest: 6kg each side
Back: 6kg each side
Triceps: 3.5kg each side
Biceps: 2.5kg each side
Lunges: 6kg each side
Shoulders: 2.5kg plates, pushups on toes

If you try and really push yourself with the weights (build it up slowly though), eat well (you won't build any muscle on a calorie deficit), include a good amount of protein (I usually aim for 100-120g of protein per day), you should see some results. I have a protein shake after a pump class. Learn to do pushups on your toes, that uses a lot more muscles. Planking is also a very good exercise. Do you do any other classes? Probably a good idea to include some cardio too.

As an experienced personal trainer, an Olympic Weight Lifting coach (certified), and husband to a body pump instructor (having taken it many times) I can offer some insight into this.

Body pump is a muscular endurance building exercise, not a muscular size or strength building exercise.

what does this mean? It means that when you do resistance with low weight for long periods (as in body pump), you don't trigger the mechanisms the body uses to build stronger or larger muscles. I.E. body pump won't make your muscles bigger or stronger (denser).

What WILL body pump do?
Body pump can activate existing dormant muscle fibre neurological adaptation. This means that existing but unused muscles can be re-activated with this type of activity, you may gain strength in this fashion, but those gains are limited to the total used vs. unused muscle fiber, and when you hit that top point (close to 100% fiber activation) you don't make any more gains.
Body Pump will also train those existing muscles to perform for longer periods before becoming anaerobic and failing. This is good, but doesn't equate to size or strength increases, just endurance increases.

Why is doing body pump immediately before or after a heavy resistance activity not a helpful technique?
Because the body sends out specific hormones for endurance based activity and other hormones for heavy resistance based activity, mix the two and you receive very diminished results from both. In other words, if you do heavy resistance before body pump, you're going to receive less than ideal results from both the resistance and the body pump.

While I fully agree with warming up, that's more to initiate blood flow and body temperature, not to elicit some kind of biological improvement of a muscle group.

Summary: Body pump has a very specific (and completely valid IMHO) purpose, that purpose is to enhance localized muscular endurance (as opposed to a general cardio routine which emphasizes overall cardiovascular endurance). It's the difference between doing a very specialized exercise for a long period with low weight like curling a dumbbell for a minute straight with low weight, and maybe running at a moderate speed for that same time period, 1 will train the biceps muscle to have better endurance, the other will train the whole body to have more endurance. The reasoning is that you receive better results when training a specific muscle (group) than with general cardio.

Ok it seems I need to up my protein intake then cause I'm definitely not getting in 100 grams.
As far as weights to I use
Warm up-5k on each side
Squats-12.5 on each
Chest- 7.5 on each
Clean and press - 8.5 on each
Triceps - 6 on each
Biceps, shoulders and lunges-5 on each

You have really inspired me, hopefully if I increase my protein intake I will end up with a kickass upper back! Thanks! I also run, take combat, rpm, and step. My gym is launching the new pump release on Saturday, can't wait!!!!!

Wow you do a lot of exercise! And you are right on track with your weights! are your weights in pounds or kgs?

The new release bodypump (83) is awesome with really cool music.You'll love it! We did a few tracks of bodypump 84 at my gym last week and its quite different to the other releases, but really good too.

As an experienced personal trainer, an Olympic Weight Lifting coach (certified), and husband to a body pump instructor (having taken it many times) I can offer some insight into this.

Body pump is a muscular endurance building exercise, not a muscular size or strength building exercise.

what does this mean? It means that when you do resistance with low weight for long periods (as in body pump), you don't trigger the mechanisms the body uses to build stronger or larger muscles. I.E. body pump won't make your muscles bigger or stronger (denser).

What WILL body pump do?
Body pump can activate existing dormant muscle fibre neurological adaptation. This means that existing but unused muscles can be re-activated with this type of activity, you may gain strength in this fashion, but those gains are limited to the total used vs. unused muscle fiber, and when you hit that top point (close to 100% fiber activation) you don't make any more gains.
Body Pump will also train those existing muscles to perform for longer periods before becoming anaerobic and failing. This is good, but doesn't equate to size or strength increases, just endurance increases.

Why is doing body pump immediately before or after a heavy resistance activity not a helpful technique?
Because the body sends out specific hormones for endurance based activity and other hormones for heavy resistance based activity, mix the two and you receive very diminished results from both. In other words, if you do heavy resistance before body pump, you're going to receive less than ideal results from both the resistance and the body pump.

While I fully agree with warming up, that's more to initiate blood flow and body temperature, not to elicit some kind of biological improvement of a muscle group.

Summary: Body pump has a very specific (and completely valid IMHO) purpose, that purpose is to enhance localized muscular endurance (as opposed to a general cardio routine which emphasizes overall cardiovascular endurance). It's the difference between doing a very specialized exercise for a long period with low weight like curling a dumbbell for a minute straight with low weight, and maybe running at a moderate speed for that same time period, 1 will train the biceps muscle to have better endurance, the other will train the whole body to have more endurance. The reasoning is that you receive better results when training a specific muscle (group) than with general cardio.

Interesting post! In your opinion, does this mean that you can lift heavy on one day and do Body Pump the next? Since BP is not working the muscles in the same way? I recently started lifting heavy (love it!) but I miss the social aspect of Body Pump. I hear different opinions on what types of exercise I can do on those off days, and I don't want to jeopardize my hard work.

Interesting post! In your opinion, does this mean that you can lift heavy on one day and do Body Pump the next? Since BP is not working the muscles in the same way? I recently started lifting heavy (love it!) but I miss the social aspect of Body Pump. I hear different opinions on what types of exercise I can do on those off days, and I don't want to jeopardize my hard work.

absolutely. I do the same type of thing. Not usually body pump, but similar routines.

Interesting post! In your opinion, does this mean that you can lift heavy on one day and do Body Pump the next? Since BP is not working the muscles in the same way? I recently started lifting heavy (love it!) but I miss the social aspect of Body Pump. I hear different opinions on what types of exercise I can do on those off days, and I don't want to jeopardize my hard work.

I used to do Body Pump on Saturdays and lifting on Sundays and found that some muscle groups were too sore to do the lifting with proper form if I had tried to do max weight in Body Pump the day before (that is, enough weight that I could barely finish the reps in Body Pump). Now I use Body Pump as a lifting day and try to use as much weight as possible. I suppose if you went light in Body Pump to max out the cardio that it might be ok to lift the next day, but that defeats the purpose for me.

And for those who say it's not to build muscle, I'm unconvinced. I don't lift particularly heavy in the weight room, and only lift outside body pump one day a week (BP on 2), and I'm losing body fat on a monthly basis (almost 8% since April--measured on my scale and by bodpod at my gym) and essentially maintaining lean body mass while still losing weight. I'm 47, but am currently just below 20% body fat while my LBM has stayed almost the same since August 1 (87.9 lbs. today, and I weighed 108.2), and I think at least some of that is from Body Pump.

First, congratulations on your awesome result. Great job!! Keep up the good work.

Now, if by muscle building, the kind of dormant muscle tissue that SHBoss described, I would completely agree with you. Why I read "build muscle" or "gain" muscle, I think hypertrophy. This is unlikely at best and virtually impossible at worst for several reasons. First, the type of workout BodyPump is does not produce hypertrophy adaptation. The second is that it sounds like you are eating in a deficit and it is pretty much impossible to get hypertrophy while eating in a deficit. There are 3 exceptions to this; newbie lifters, obese folks and atheltes returnin from a layoff. Other than that, it takes a calorie surplus to get hypertrophy.

You mentioned that you are not lifting heavy. Lifting heavy primarily neuromuscular adaptations that increase strength and have a minor hypertrophy component. Hypertrophy range is about 75% of 1 rep max for 8 to 12 reps per set. So, if you are getting some hypertrophy, it may be because you are in this range when you lift and are not doing BodyPump.

In any event, all of this becomes somewhat academic. If you are getting leaner stronger, better looking and perform better, it don't matter!! lol The only reason muscle building is being discussed in this context is because of the claim of the OP. Again, congrats on the hard work and great results!!